Actress Pamela Anderson has shared the personal cost of her fight against hepatitis C, revealing years of financial and emotional struggle. Now 59, she explained during a speech at the amfAR’s Award of Courage event in Venice how she depleted her savings for a revolutionary treatment not yet covered by insurance.
Anderson, recognized by the nonprofit working to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic and support hepatitis C research, spoke about her diagnosis and the stigma associated with the disease since the late ’90s. “During that time, a cure was unavailable,” she said, reflecting on how her diagnosis affected her and her family’s life.
“I’m sure that colored and corrupted my decisions. It was not fear of death but fear of what might happen to my young children,” Anderson shared.
She publicly disclosed her condition in 2002, attributing the contraction to sharing needles with ex-husband Tommy Lee, a claim he disputes. When a cure emerged, the opportunity to access it required substantial financial resources. “Ten years later, there was a cure,” Anderson recounted. “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.”
By 2015, Anderson completed a yearlong regimen approved by the FDA, declaring herself free from hepatitis C. Yet, she describes her journey as one intertwined with shame and guilt, comparable to her experiences with childhood abuse.
“My experience of shame and guilt was also an unconscious journey. It stays with me; it haunts me,” she said. “Just like the sexual abuse that I endured as a child, it felt like it was carved into my forehead: Damaged goods.”
Despite these hardships, Anderson revitalized her career. Post-diagnosis, she took roles in “The Last Showgirl,” “The Naked Gun,” and “Rosebush Pruning.” Her latest work, “Place to Be,” premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
“My truth has come through my work, finding ways to express myself through the arts. It gave me the ammunition I needed,” Anderson said. “I’m not a victim, I’m a victor. I am strong and capable, more now than I could ever dream of.”