Former “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson opened up about the fear she felt when she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in the late 90s. The actress said that the doctor had given her a “death sentence.” He had said that she had only 10 years to live.
Pamela Anderson recalls how her hepatitis C diagnosis and grim prognosis changed her life
Anderson looked back at the dark period in her life when a doctor had given her just 10 years to live amid a Hepatitis C diagnosis.
“It was a death sentence. That’s what my doctor told me — that I probably had around 10 years to live,” the Baywatch star recalled. She was giving a speech at the amfAR Gala in Venice, per Variety.
She also spoke about the disastrous aftermath of the diagnosis. The actress said, “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”.
The hardest part was that a cure for the disease was not available at the time Anderson contracted it. With the invention of a remedy in 2011, Anderson was able to mend herself. By 2015, she was “help C free,” but it had taken all her savings to get to the stage.
Despite being cured of the disease, Anderson spoke about the emotional impact it had on her. “But my experience of shame and guilt was also an unconscious journey. It stays with me; it haunts me,” she said.
Anderson continued, “And just like the s—– abuse that I endured as a child, it felt like it was carved into my forehead: Damaged goods. And I presented myself as such.”
Anderson has admitted that the full horror of the disease hasn’t left her but she perhaps has “finally come to terms” with it. Her career comeback has been striking, with key roles in films like “The Last Showgirl,” “The Naked Gun,” “Rosebush Pruning” and “Place to Be.”
Originally reported by Sreemanti Sengupta for Reality Tea
