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Pamela Anderson is grateful to be alive.
The Naked Gun star detailed her battle with Hepatitis C—a viral infection spread through blood that causes swelling in the liver, per the Mayo Clinic—after she was diagnosed in the 1990s.
“My experience propelled me forward, and I hope it can be of some inspiration,” she said onstage at the amfAR Gala Venezia 2026 on Sept. 6, per video shared by Variety. “Back in the late ’90s, when I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, there was no cure.”
“It was a death sentence,” the 59-year-old continued. “That’s what my doctor told me, that I probably had around 10 years to live.”
Anderson—who shares sons Brandon, 30, and Dylan, 28, with ex-husband Tommy Lee—quipped that her seemingly terminal illness may have led to some reckless choices, saying, “I’m sure that colored and corrupted my decisions.”
But she ultimately fought hard to be there for her kids, adding, “It was not fear of death, but fear of what might happen to my young children. It turned my life inside out.”
“Ten blurry years later, there was a cure,” she shared. “I was lucky. I was offered it in its early stages, and it took everything I had in my bank to pay for it. It wasn’t covered by insurance yet, and I felt tremendous guilt that others weren’t granted the same access.”
While the Last Showgirl star is “grateful” to say that she’s now officially “Hep C free,” she continues to feel haunted by her health battle.
“My experience of shame and guilt was also an unconscious journey,” she said. “It stays with me. It haunts me.”
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So, Anderson—who was recognized with amfAR’s Award of Courage—made it a priority to bring awareness to the infection, telling people to get tested and working on “reducing stigma.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever fully recovered from that news,” Anderson explained at the event. “I’ve assimilated it. I finally come to terms, maybe. My truth has come through my work, finding ways to express myself and heal through the arts. It gave me the ammunition I needed, a fertile life to use and play in.”
To look back on Anderson’s life in the spotlight, read on.
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