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THE RUNDOWN
- Pamela Anderson, 59, has candidly shared the story of her hepatitis C diagnosis while accepting amfAR’s Award of Courage
- The Baywatch actress contracted hepatitis C after sharing tattoo needles with her then-husband Tommy Lee.
- hepatitis C is now cured in 95% of cases by the use of direct-acting antiviral medication, which became common in the mid-2000s.
For much of her career, Pamela Anderson has been viewed through the lens of other people. She was the Baywatch bombshell, the Playboy pin-up and the tabloid fixture whose most private moments became public fodder. More recently, however, Anderson has been taking ownership of her own narrative.
This week, that looked like standing on stage at the Venice International Film Festival and sharing a deeply personal chapter of her life: her hepatitis C diagnosis. While accepting amfAR’s Award of Courage during the Venice Film Festival, Anderson, 59, opened up about being diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2002 and the devastating prognosis she received at the time. As described by New South Wales Health, hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral infection that causes inflammation and, if left untreated, can cause long-term damage to liver function, which can result in liver failure.
“I was told I had 10 years to live,” Anderson told the room, recalling that her immediate thoughts turned to her two young sons, Brandon and Dylan. “It was not the fear of death, but fear of what might happen to my young children. It turned my life inside out.” The 2026 amfAR Gala Venezia is held specifically to raise money for medical research, but this isn’t the first time Anderson has shared this life experience.
Related: ‘I’m So Happy’: Pamela Anderson On Style, Self Love And Success
Anderson publicly revealed her diagnosis in 2002, saying at the time that she had contracted hepatitis C after sharing a tattoo needle with her then-husband, Tommy Lee. Around a decade later, the hepatitis C vaccine finally offered Anderson a way forward, but accessing it came at an enormous cost.
“It cost me my entire savings,” she told the audience, adding that being able to afford the treatment left her with “tremendous guilt” when she considered those who could not.
She spoke candidly about the shame and guilt that followed her diagnosis and how those feelings became intertwined with trauma she had experienced earlier in life. She shared that the shame and stigma around her illness was also traumatic. “[J]ust like the sexual abuse that I endured as a child, it felt like it was carved into my forehead: Damaged goods… And I presented myself as such.
In 2015, Anderson announced that she was hepatitis C-free.
In 2023, Anderson made headlines when she arrived at Paris Fashion Week virtually makeup-free. At the time, she described the decision as “freeing” and “a little rebellious”. What could have been a fleeting beauty moment instead became something of a new chapter for the star. Since then, she has continued to appear on red carpets with little to no makeup, a striking departure from the pencil-thin brows, smokey eyes and bombshell glamour that became synonymous with her in the ‘90s.
That same reclamation has played out elsewhere, from telling her story in her memoir and Netflix documentary Love, Pamela where she spoke about her challenging experiences with early fame and experiences of sexism and harassment.
And perhaps that’s what made Anderson’s final words in Venice feel particularly poignant. “I’m not the damsel in distress, no matter how easy that role is to play,” she said. “I’m not a victim, I’m a victor.”
The post ‘A Dark Cloud’ Pamela Anderson Has Discussed A 16-Year Medical Struggle In Vulnerable Statement appeared first on ELLE.
