Pamela Anderson Details “Death Sentence” of Her Hepatitis C Diagnosis in the ’90s

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.”