Pamela Anderson Got Hepatitis C from Sharing a Tattoo Needle with Tommy Lee, and a Doctor Told Her She Had 10 Years Left
· Thought Catalog
Updated 6 minutes ago, September 9, 2026
When Pamela Anderson was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in the late 1990s, a doctor told her she might have a decade left. Her greatest fear wasn’t for herself — it was what would happen to her young sons, Brandon, born in 1996, and Dylan, born in 1997.
Anderson revisited that diagnosis on September 6, 2026, while accepting amfAR’s Award of Courage at Gala Venezia during the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. The honor recognized her advocacy around Hepatitis C and other health issues. Artist Marina Abramović received the Award of Inspiration.
The diagnosis came during her marriage to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, which lasted from 1995 to 1998. When she disclosed it publicly in March 2002, during their custody dispute, she said Lee knew he carried the virus but hadn’t told her. Lee denied having or transmitting it, while Anderson began outpatient treatment at UCLA Medical Center.
Highly effective treatments became available around 2011. “I was lucky. I was offered it in its early stages, and it took everything I had in my bank to pay for it,” Anderson said. “It wasn’t covered by insurance yet, and I felt tremendous guilt that others weren’t granted the same access.” She announced in November 2015 that treatment had cleared the virus.
At the gala, she said the shame still haunted her, connecting it to the effects of the sexual abuse she endured as a child, which had long left her feeling like “damaged goods.” She credited art with pulling her out of it: “My truth has come through my work, finding ways to express myself through the arts. It gave me the ammunition I needed.”
She closed on a reframe: “I’m not a victim, I’m a victor. 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.”
The speech comes amid Anderson’s acting resurgence following her 2023 memoir, Love, Pamela, and the Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story. The Last Showgirl earned her a Golden Globe nomination, followed by roles in The Naked Gun and Rosebush Pruning. Place To Be, co-starring Ellen Burstyn and gala host Taika Waititi, premiered at Venice on September 9, 2026.
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