Pamela Anderson spent everything I had in my…
For almost 20 years, Pamela Anderson lived with hepatitis C. She was told the virus would kill her.
“It was a death sentence. That’s what my doctor told me — that I probably had around 10 years to live,” the “Baywatch” actress said at a fundraiser for AIDS research on Sunday.
“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. It turned my life inside out.”
Pamela Anderson accepts the amfAR Award of Courage onstage during the amfAR Gala Venezia 2026. Getty Images for amfAR
She was identified with hepatitis C in the late Nineties, when there was no treatment.
In 1991, meds helped clear the disease in fewer than 10% of people. By 2011, they have been 50 to 75% efficient.
“I was lucky,” said Anderson. “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.”
In 2015, the actress announced she was hepatitis C free.
The infection that Anderson was ready to overcome is one of the most common varieties of liver infections in the US. While medication can treatment hepatitis C in more than 95% of people, it often goes undetected. This can lead to delayed treatment and lasting penalties.
Here’s what to know.
How people get hepatitis C
Hepatitis is a basic time period for inflammation of the liver, and could cause lasting liver harm over time. There are 5 common viral varieties: A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is transmitted through contaminated blood. Injection devices or sharp objects shared or improperly cleaned between makes use of can transmit hepatitis C — suppose needles, syringes, razors or nail clippers.
Anderson said she’d contracted the disease by sharing a tattoo needle with her ex-husband, Tommy Lee.
As many as 43% of hepatitis C instances have been related with injection medication, according to the CDC.
Parents can also cross the virus to their child, and less generally, the virus can unfold through intercourse.
Hepatitis is identified in a two step course of. First, people are screened with a blood take a look at that appears for antibodies, and diagnoses are confirmed with a second blood take a look at that appears for genetic materials from the virus.
What are the symptoms of hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is one of the most common varieties of viral hepatitis in the US — 2.4 to 4 million Americans had hepatitis C from 2017 to 2020, according to the CDC.
But many people with the disease don’t know they’ve it. Symptoms can take many years to seem, so screening is beneficial for people 18 and up.
Anderson said she was identified with hepatitis C in the late Nineties. BACKGRID
By 2015, Anderson said she was cured of the disease that was once “a death sentence.” Getty Images for amfAR
Hepatitis infections start in the “acute phase,” which hardly ever causes symptoms. If it does, it would appear like jaundice, fatigue, nausea, fever and muscle aches.
Over time, this can develop into chronic hepatitis C. Symptoms seem only after the virus damages the liver enough to trigger them.
This could make people fatigued, bleed or bruise simply, lose their urge for food, produce darkish urine or construct up fluid in the abdomen or swelling in the legs.
It could cause decline in mind operate as the liver fails to take away toxins like ammonia from the blood. This causes confusion, drowsiness and slurred speech.
Over time, this harm to the liver could cause liver failure, cancer and death. Chronic hepatitis C is the main trigger of liver cancer and liver transplants in the US.
How hepatitis C is handled
Since 2014, antiviral drugs have been accessible and treatment more than 95% of people in eight to 12 weeks.
The sooner a affected person is identified and receives treatment, the better the outlook — which is why screening is so important for a disease that often doesn’t show symptoms.
If treatment is delayed, the virus might trigger lasting liver harm, cancer and death, the CDC says.
Though there are vaccines to forestall hepatitis A and B, there’s no vaccine for hepatitis C.
While Anderson was cured, she said she felt lasting “shame and guilt” around her disease that working in the humanities helped her overcome.
“I’m not a victim, I’m a victor. I am strong and capable, more now than I could ever dream of,” she said. “I’m not the damsel in distress, no matter how easy that role is to play.”
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