Pamela Anderson opens up on Hepatitis C 'death sentence'

Pamela Anderson delivered an emotional speech reflecting on her hepatitis C diagnosis while accepting amfAR's Award of Courage at the organization's Venice gala on Sunday, September 6, held at the Hilton Molino Stucky during the Venice Film Festival. 

Anderson, 59, recalled the moment her doctor delivered the initial prognosis after her 2002 diagnosis. 

"It was a death sentence. That's what my doctor told me, that I probably had around 10 years to live." 

She's said she contracted the virus by sharing tattoo needles with ex-husband Tommy Lee.

Anderson described how the diagnosis reshaped her decision-making in the years that followed, saying, "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." 

She also connected the shame she felt around the diagnosis to earlier trauma in her life, saying, "But my experience of shame and guilt was also an unconscious journey. It stays with me; it haunts me. And just like the sexual abuse that I endured as a child, it felt like it was carved into my forehead: Damaged goods. And I presented myself as such." 

A cure for hepatitis C became available in 2011, and Anderson announced she was declared hepatitis C-free by 2015, though she noted paying for treatment cost her nearly her entire savings at the time.

Despite acknowledging she hasn't "fully recovered" emotionally from the experience, Anderson said she's come to terms with it and has channeled it into her recent career resurgence, which includes roles in The Last Showgirl, The Naked Gun, Rosebush Pruning and the upcoming Place to Be, premiering at the festival Wednesday. 

She closed her speech on a note of resilience. 

"I am strong and capable, more now than I could ever dream of. I'm not the damsel in distress, no matter how easy that role is to play. I'm not a victim. I'm a victor." 

The award was presented to her by Taika Waititi, her Place to Be co-star.