Pamela Anderson says a doctor told her she probably had only 10 years to live after she was diagnosed with hepatitis C, leaving her terrified about what would happen to her two young sons.
Anderson revisited the diagnosis while accepting amfAR’s Award of Courage at the organization’s Sept. 6 gala in Venice. She described hepatitis C as a “death sentence” at the time because the treatments then available had not given her the certainty that later antiviral drugs would provide.
She ultimately completed a 12-week antiviral treatment and announced in 2015 that she was free of the virus. During her Venice speech, however, Anderson said the years surrounding the diagnosis affected her decisions and left behind feelings of shame and guilt that did not disappear with the medical result.
The 59-year-old actress ended her remarks by rejecting the victim label attached to difficult periods in her life. “I’m not a victim, I’m a victor,” she told the audience. “I’m not the damsel in distress, no matter how easy that role is to play.”
Anderson Feared What Would Happen to Brandon and Dylan
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Anderson publicly disclosed in 2002 that she had hepatitis C. Looking back on that period at the amfAR Gala Venezia, she said the prognosis she received was stark.
“It was a death sentence,” Anderson recalled. “That’s what my doctor told me, that I probably had around 10 years to live.” She said the warning “colored and corrupted” some of the choices she made afterward.
Anderson was raising Brandon Thomas Lee and Dylan Jagger Lee, her sons with former husband Tommy Lee, and was preoccupied with what would happen to them if she did not survive.
“It was not fear of death, but fear of what might happen to my young children,” she said. “It turned my life inside out.” Brandon is now 30, while Dylan is 28.
Her 2015 Treatment Came With a Six-Figure Price Tag
Years later, a new generation of antiviral drugs gave Anderson a route to clearing the virus. At the Venice gala, she described reaching that point as both fortunate and financially punishing, saying the treatment “took everything I had in my bank.”
Anderson completed a 12-week course of Sovaldi before announcing in November 2015 that she was free of hepatitis C. In a January 2016 ABC News interview, she said the regimen carried a price of roughly $100,000, but Anderson said at the time that her health insurance covered the treatment.
Her 2015 announcement also acknowledged how difficult the new drugs remained to obtain for other patients. She celebrated being cured while saying she hoped the treatments would become more widely available to people who could not yet qualify for or afford them.
She Says the Shame From the Diagnosis Never Fully Left
Although the virus was no longer detectable, Anderson told the gala audience that she did not consider the entire experience finished. She said the diagnosis carried a stigma that continued to affect the way she viewed herself long after the medical danger had changed.
“My experience of shame and guilt was also an unconscious journey,” she said in remarks reported by Entertainment Weekly. “It stays with me, it haunts me.”
Anderson connected those feelings with the lasting effects of sexual abuse she has previously said she experienced as a child. She recalled carrying a sense that the words “damaged goods” had effectively been placed on her forehead and said she sometimes presented herself accordingly. She also described reaching a point where she has been able to assimilate the experience and use it differently.
Anderson Credits Her Work With Helping Her Reclaim Her Story
Anderson said acting and other creative work gave her a place to express parts of her life that she had previously struggled to address. “My truth has come through my work, finding ways to express myself through the arts,” she said.
That work has included The Last Showgirl, which earned her a 2025 Golden Globe nomination, and Rosebush Pruning, released earlier this year. Her next Venice project arrives almost immediately after the amfAR speech Place to Be, directed by Kornél Mundruczó, premieres at the festival Sept. 9.
Taika Waititi, who presented Anderson with the Award of Courage, also stars with her in Place to Be alongside Ellen Burstyn, Murray Bartlett and David Wenham. Anderson has several additional projects already filmed or in development as her late-career resurgence continues.
The amfAR evening also honored performance artist Marina Abramović with the Award of Inspiration. Mimi Webb opened the musical portion of the gala and Bebe Rexha later performed, while Italian reporting put the night’s fundraising total at approximately €2.5 million for amfAR’s research and global-health work.