<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Anderson revisited the diagnosis while accepting amfAR\u2019s Award of Courage at the organization\u2019s Sept. 6 gala in Venice. She described hepatitis C as a \u201cdeath sentence\u201d at the time because the treatments then available had not given her the certainty that later antiviral drugs would provide.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The 59-year-old actress ended her remarks by rejecting the victim label attached to difficult periods in her life. \u201cI\u2019m not a victim, I\u2019m a victor,\u201d she told the audience. \u201cI\u2019m not the damsel in distress, no matter how easy that role is to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/blockquote>\nAnderson publicly disclosed in 2002 that she had hepatitis C. Looking back on that period at the amfAR Gala Venezia<\/a>, she said the prognosis she received was stark.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a death sentence,\u201d Anderson recalled. \u201cThat\u2019s what my doctor told me, that I probably had around 10 years to live.\u201d She said the warning \u201ccolored and corrupted\u201d some of the choices she made afterward.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not fear of death, but fear of what might happen to my young children,\u201d she said. \u201cIt turned my life inside out.\u201d Brandon is now 30, while Dylan is 28.<\/p>\n
Her 2015 Treatment Came With a Six-Figure Price Tag<\/h2>\n
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 \u201ctook everything I had in my bank.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/a>, she said the regimen carried a price of roughly $100,000, but Anderson said at the time that her health insurance covered the treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
She Says the Shame From the Diagnosis Never Fully Left<\/h2>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy experience of shame and guilt was also an unconscious journey,\u201d she said in remarks reported by Entertainment Weekly<\/a>. \u201cIt stays with me, it haunts me.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u201cdamaged goods\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Anderson Credits Her Work With Helping Her Reclaim Her Story<\/h2>\n