Pamela Anderson says one diagnosis turned her life inside out. Honored Sunday with amfAR's Award of Courage in Venice, the 59-year-old star recalled being told in the late 1990s she had about a decade to live after learning she had hepatitis C—a diagnosis she described as "a death sentence" that upended her life as a young mother and fueled "shame and guilt," NBC News reports. "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."
There was no cure for the viral infection when Anderson was diagnosed, but one was discovered in 2011. In her speech Sunday, she said it cost "everything I had in my bank" to access the then-new cure, which wasn't yet covered by insurance, leaving her feeling "tremendous guilt that others weren't granted the same access."Anderson, who publicly disclosed her hepatitis C status in 2002 and announced she was cured in 2015, told the crowd she now sees herself not as "damaged goods" but as "a victor," with a revived acting career and a renewed sense of strength.
"I am strong and capable, more now than I could ever dream of," Anderson said, per People. "I'm not the damsel in distress, no matter how easy that role is to play. The amfAR nonprofit, formerly known as the American Foundation for AIDS Research, is dedicated to finding a cure for HIV/AIDS and has also supported hepatitis C research. The award was presented to Anderson by Taika Waititi, her costar in Place to Be, which premieres at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday.
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