Pamela Anderson recalls being given '10 years to live' when she was diagnosed with hepatitis C and says she's 'still haunted by shame and guilt'

Pamela Anderson has recalled the time she was given '10 years to live' when she was diagnosed with hepatitis C.

The Baywatch actress, 59, contracted the blood-borne illness around 1999 after she shared a tattoo needle with her ex-husband, Tommy Lee.

Pamela said it felt like 'a death sentence' after doctors told her it was a terminal diagnosis and she would not live past another decade. 

However, she announced in 2015 that she was completely cured of hepatitis C after living with the virus for 16 years.

Speaking at the amfAR Gala in Venice last weekend, Pamela admitted she is 'still haunted by shame and guilt'. 

Pamela, who shares sons Brandon, 30, and Dylan, 28, with Tommy, said: 'It was a death sentence. That's what my doctor told me - that I probably had around 10 years to live.'

'I'm sure that coloured 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,' Variety reported.

She continued: '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 the infection was discovered in 2011 and by 2015, Pamela was 'hep C free', though at a financial cost.

She admitted: 'It took everything I had in my bank [to pay for treatment].'

Pamela still hasn't 'fully recovered' from the news of her diagnosis but has 'finally come to terms' with it and used it to fuel her career resurgence.

The Last Showgirl star said: 'My truth has come through my work, finding ways to express myself through the arts. It gave me the ammunition I needed, a fertile life to use and play in.

'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.'

Pamela is at the Film Festival to promote her new film, Place To Be, and to receive a prestigious award at the amfAR Gala. 

The actress rose to fame as lifeguard C J Parker on Baywatch in the 1990s. 

She appeared in 77 episodes, in series three to seven, and later reprised her role in the 2003 reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.

Reflecting on her time on Baywatch during a chat with Deadline earlier this summer, the screen star said: 'It was a great job, and I loved going to work every day on the beach. 

'I would have been there anyway,' she added with a laugh. 'At the time, it taught me a lot, and it gave me worldwide exposure.

'Everything I've done has led me to here, which is a blessing. But I have no plans of going back to Baywatch.' 

When she was asked if she wanted to know where her character ended up following Baywatch being rebooted, she candidly replied: 'If my kids were involved, I probably would have listened to them.'