'Had around 10 years...': Pamela Anderson reveals 'death sentence' diagnosis
What's the story
Actor Pamela Anderson recently opened up about her Hepatitis C diagnosis in the late 1990s, a time when the virus had no cure. Speaking at the 2026 amfAR Gala Venezia, she revealed, "It was a death sentence." As per Variety, she added, "That's what my doctor told me, that I probably had around 10 years to live."
Life changes
'It turned my life inside out'
The 59-year-old Baywatch star confessed that the diagnosis may have "colored and corrupted [her] decisions."
"It was not fear of death, but fear of what might happen to my young children," she said, referring to her sons Brandon Thomas (30) and Dylan Jagger (28), with ex-husband Tommy Lee.
"It turned my life inside out."
Treatment timeline
Anderson revealed how she contracted the disease
Anderson had previously revealed that she contracted Hepatitis C after sharing a tattoo needle with Lee, her husband from 1995 to 1998.
The first effective medications for the disease were approved in 2011, and by 2015, Anderson was cured.
"Ten blurry years later, there was a cure," she recalled. "I was lucky...it took everything I had in my bank to pay for it."
Emotional aftermath
The shame and guilt that continues to haunt her
Despite being cured, Anderson admitted that the "experience of shame and guilt was also an unconscious journey" that continues to "haunt" her.
"And just like the sexual abuse that I endured as a child, it felt like it was carved into my forehead: Damaged goods," she added.
However, she refuses to see herself as a victim. "I'm a victor... I'm not the damsel in distress."
Career highlights
Career resurgence for Anderson
Anderson, who became a global sensation as lifeguard C.J. Parker on Baywatch in the 1990s, has recently experienced a career resurgence.
She was in Venice to promote her new film Place To Be and to receive the Award of Courage at the amfAR Venezia Gala 2026.
The event is organized by amfAR, an organization dedicated to ending AIDS.