Pamela Anderson has spoken candidly about her late 1990s diagnosis with hepatitis C, a condition then considered a death sentence with no available cure. Anderson, 59, recounted the impact of the diagnosis at the 2026 amfAR Gala Venezia, an event supporting medical research.
"That’s what my doctor told me — that I probably had around 10 years to live," Anderson told the crowd, according to Variety. She described the diagnosis as something that may have "colored and corrupted [her] decisions," driven not by a fear of dying but by concern for her then-young children, Brandon Thomas, 30, and Dylan Jagger, 28.
Anderson previously shared that she contracted hepatitis C by sharing a tattoo needle with her ex-husband Tommy Lee, to whom she was married from 1995 to 1998. Medications that could cure hepatitis C were approved in 2011, and Anderson achieved a cure in 2015. The treatment, she said, required significant financial resources.
Despite being free of the disease, Anderson noted that the experience left her with a lingering "experience of shame and guilt" that felt deeply ingrained, comparing it to childhood sexual abuse and feeling like "damaged goods."
However, Anderson emphasized that she does not view herself as a victim. "I’m a victor," she stated. "I am strong and capable, more now than I could ever dream of. I’m not the damsel in distress, no matter how easy that role is to play."
Anderson was honored with the Award of Courage at the amfAR gala. She first disclosed her diagnosis in 2002 and had previously told People magazine in 2015 that she was living normally without symptoms prior to her cure.