Pamela Anderson thankfully outlived her heartbroken prognosis

Back in 2001, a routine appointment with the doctor turned into a potential death sentence for former Playboy bunny Pamela Anderson.

The Canadian-American model was dealt the devastating blow of a Hepatitis C diagnosis, and was informed that she’d unlikely live any longer than 10 years.

Heartbroken, Anderson went public with her condition, and speaking on CNN at the time, she alleged that she’d contracted the disease from her ex-husband Tommy Lee – to whom she was previously married to for three years between 1995 and 1998 – by sharing a needle (though the rock star denied these allegations).

What is Hepatitis C?

Hepatitis C is a virus that affects an individual’s liver, and can be deadly if not immediately treated.

Usually passed from person to person via blood, sharing needles is the most common form of transmission. In some rarer cases, Hep C can be caught through having sex.

The tragic reality is, however, that there are often no initial symptoms of the disease, which can make it difficult for this initial treatment to be received. When symptoms do emerge, they usually present themselves in the form of muscular aches, a fever, general fatigue, and/or intense stomach pains.

The mother-of-two received her diagnosis in 2001 (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Anderson’s recovery from the virus

Thankfully, the years that followed saw the iconic blonde bombshell overcome her condition, and in 2015, she revealed she’d been cured by a 12-week Sovaldi drug regimen.

This year also marks almost two and a half decades since her original diagnosis, emphasising how far the star has come.

She recently revealed in an interview with ABC News: “They said I would die in 10 years. When someone tells you something like that you kind of act differently subconsciously.”

“Twelve weeks and gone, yes,” Anderson added in the press conversation. “I feel like I got back 20 years back of my life.”

The beauty icon went on to admit she’d dropped a staggering $100,000 on the life-saving drug – having used her life insurance.

The colossal cost of the treatment is not lost on the star, however – who also told People back in August that a ‘dark cloud lingered over’ her throughout the 10 years she expected to pass away.

Anderson thankfully made a full recovery (Raul Terrel/Europa Press via Getty Images)

Being able to afford treatment

Taking to Instagram recently in a since-removed, Anderson made a pointed remark about the expense paid to save her life.

“I pray anyone living with Hep C can qualify or afford treatment,” she wrote, adding the hashtags #dontlosehope #itworkedforme #thereisacure #love #happy #americanliverfoundation #celebration #Idontknowwhattodo #iwanttohelp #cannes #iloveboats #onthesea #free.

“It will be more available soon. I know treatment is hard to get still…”.

Pamela Anderson revealed Hugh Hefner’s disturbing request that forced her to leave Playboy Mansion

The former model previously set the record for the most Playboy front pages in history

In the late 1990s, Pamela Anderson made the decision to depart from the Playboy Mansion for good, only revealing over two decades later that it was Hugh Hefner’s controversial behaviour that had spurred it on.

She might be a household name now, but after being discovered by model scouts at a baseball game in 1989, the blonde beauty used her stint at the men’s magazine – and Los Angeles mansion of the same name – as a means of first securing her status as a star.

Under editor-in-chief Hefner, the blonde bombshell became a global sex symbol, featuring on cover after cover.

In fact, to this day, she holds the award for the most Playboy front pages in history.

In the years that followed, Anderson would transition into acting, landing a minor role on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement, which would later see her starring as ‘C.J. Parker’ on the beachside action drama Baywatch.

Anderson left the mansion in the late 1990s (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)

Today, the 58-year-old remains one of the most widely sought-after stars, appearing in blockbuster movies, hosting cooking shows, rocking up to exclusive fashion shows, and conducting broadcast television interviews.

Such was also the case in 2018, when she reflected on her career during a catch-up with presenter Piers Morgan.

During the show, the mother-of-two, who shares her sons with ex Tommy Lee, was asked about her early days at Playboy, after which she dropped an almighty bombshell about her former boss.

In line with claims made by countless other Playboy bunnies – including Holly Madison and Kendra Wilkinson – Anderson said Hefner enjoyed group sex with his considerably-younger models, and would expect them to service him at any given moment.

It wasn’t until following her fellow models up to bed one night that Anderson discovered this, however.

Anderson reflected on her time at Playboy (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

“Hef was charming and generous, but that night changed how I saw everything,” she told Morgan on the show. “I followed some of the girls upstairs, curious about what was happening.”

After being led into a bedroom in which seven other women were sitting around Hefner, she realised she’d been invited to take centre-stage.

“I stood at the end of the bed, watching the scene unfold,” Anderson continued. “I realized this wasn’t a movie. It was real life. And I needed to leave.”

“There were screens showing crazy things,” Anderson confessed, adding it was ‘not for me’.

Hefner died in 2017, after which Anderson expressed deep gratitude for the ways in which he helped her career.

She described her ex-employer as a ‘true gentleman’ at the time, writing on Instagram: “Everything people love about me is because you believed in me.”

 

 

Pamela Anderson Breaks Silence on ‘Intimate’ Romance with Liam Neeson — and Where They Stand Now (Exclusive)

Pamela Anderson reveals memories of her private relationship with costar Liam Neeson for the first time in this week’s PEOPLE cover story

NEED TO KNOW

• Pamela Anderson explains the romantic connection she shared with Liam Neeson after the two filmed The Naked Gun together
• After their “lost week” at his home, they parted ways to work on other projects, but reconnected to promote the film
• Anderson tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story where the two stand now

As she celebrates the close of her red-hot year, Pamela Anderson is ready to address what really happened with Liam Neeson, her co-star in the summer box office hit, The Naked Gun.

While the headlines of their surprise romance were met with enthusiasm by many and skepticism by some, Anderson, 58, shares her memories of their private relationship for the first time in this week’s PEOPLE cover story.

“If you must know, Liam and I were romantically involved for a short while but only after we finished filming,” she says. The two spent an “intimate week” together at his home in upstate New York. “I had my own room,” she notes. “Our assistants both came; even family stopped by.”

The pair “went to dinner at a tiny French restaurant where he introduced me as the ‘future Mrs. Neeson,’ ” she continues. They spent time in his garden, where, she says, “I tended to a rosebush overgrown with mint … I was happy to help, and he appreciated.”

Following what she calls their “romantic lost week” — during which Neeson chased off a bear from the breakfast window in his bathrobe — “we went our separate ways to work on other films,” she explains.

They reconnected while promoting The Naked Gun over the summer, cuddling and holding hands — she even gave Neeson a playful swipe of her Sonsie lip balm on Andy Cohen’s What What Happens Live. 

“We were having fun,” she says, calling their connection “a little bit like a Nancy Meyers film.”

“I always was laughing when people thought, ‘Oh, that’s a publicity stunt.’ I’m like, ‘A publicity stunt? This is real. We have real feelings.’ ”

“I adore Liam,” she adds, “but we are better friends, in full honesty.”

The two last saw each other in August when he surprised Anderson by coming to see her at the prestigious Williamstown Theater Festival, where she was performing in Tennessee William’s Camino Real.

“He is such a supporter of this new trajectory in my career and kindly tells me he is very proud of me,” she says. “I’m sure we will always be in each other’s lives.”

For more on Pamela Anderson’s year of happy surprises in her career, love, hair and more, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on stands Friday.

Why Pamela Anderson felt ‘yucky’ seeing Seth Rogen at Golden Globes

For Pamela Anderson, the Golden Globes weren’t all glitz and glamour.

The “Naked Gun” star, 58, revealed in an interview on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show that she felt “yucky” around nominee Seth Rogen, the executive producer behind the show “Pam & Tommy,” which chronicled her tumultuous romance with Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. Rogen also starred in the Hulu series.

Anderson said Rogen, who won at the awards show for his comedy “The Studio,” made the series without speaking to her first. After presenting at the Globes alongside Rose Byrne, the actress said she “left” and “went right to bed.”

“Seth Rogen, he did that [series] without talking to me, you know ‘Pam & Tommy,’ and that was another – I just felt like, ‘Eh.’ You know?” she told Cohen. “Like how can someone make a TV series out of the difficult times in your life? And ‘I’m a living, breathing human being over here. Hello.’

“I may have just felt like, ‘I’m not chopped liver over here,'” she continued. “I felt a little bit weird about it. …Sometimes it hits you and you feel kind of down.”

Ultimately, she said, “it just felt like a little yucky. But eventually, hopefully he will, maybe he’ll reach out to me and apologize. Not that that matters,” Anderson added. “When you are a public person they say you have no right to privacy. But your darkest, deepest secrets or your tragedies in your life shouldn’t be fair game for [a] TV series.”

 

 Lee and Anderson were married from 1995 to 1998 and share two sons, Brandon and Dylan. Their tumultuous union has become the stuff of pop culture lore, with “Pam and Tommy” – starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan as the couple – centering on the theft and sale of a sex tape that added further tabloid fodder to an already headline-making relationship. Rogen plays Rand Gauthier, the jilted worker who said he unwittingly stole the couple’s sex tape in a safe theft.

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