NEW YORK (AP) - Pamela Anderson says hepatitis C, which she was diagnosed with in 2001, will probably kill her in a decade.
"I think I've got a good 10 years left in me, which is sad, too. Maybe 15, if I'm lucky," Anderson tells Us Weekly magazine in a first-person story for the Nov. 3 issue. "It's scary, but lately I've been feeling great. For some reason, my liver keeps getting healthier."
Hepatitis C causes inflammation of the liver, which can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver failure. About 3.9 million Americans have the disease. Anti-viral drugs are a standard treatment, and therapy is successful about half the time.
But Anderson isn't taking interferon, the injectable drug hepatitis patients often use. Her homeopathic doctor, Wendy Hewland, tells the magazine she "made a single remedy specifically for Pam" that Anderson is using as an alternative form of medicine.
The 36-year-old actress, who starred in the TV shows Baywatch and V.I.P., also says she's no longer planning to marry singer Kid Rock, to whom she got engaged in April 2002.
"We're not engaged anymore. Our relationship is not really something you put a label on," she says. "He wanted to buy me a house in Malibu, Calif., (in August), but the thing is, I really just need to be with my kids and work on their relationship with their father."
That would be former Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, with whom she resolved an ugly custody battle in January. The couple married in 1995 and divorced three tumultuous years later.
"There's definitely a lot of love and history between Tommy and me, that's for sure. It doesn't matter whether we're together or not. We're crazy about each other - always have been, always will be," Anderson says.
"I'm just happy that my kids (Dylan and Brandon) are having a healthier, better relationship with their dad. Now we spend a lot of time together as a family - we go to movies, we cook dinner, everything."
Pamela Anderson says hepatitis C may kill her in 10 or 15 ye
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