List of people with hepatitis C

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness.

Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.

This is an alphabetical list of notable people who are known to have or have had the infectious disease hepatitis C. This disease, four times more infectious than HIV, has infected roughly 3% of the world's population. More than 170 million are chronic carriers (most of whom are symptomless and unaware of their infection) and are at risk of developing liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure. It is the leading cause of liver transplant in the United States. Organizations such as the American Liver Foundation encourage celebrities to speak openly about their infection to raise awareness and encourage those at risk to get tested.^[1]

Name	Life	Comments
Stew Albert	1939–2006	A co-founder of the Yippies. He died of liver cancer and had previously been diagnosed with hepatitis C.[2]
Gregg Allman	born 1947	Rock musician and founding member of The Allman Brothers Band.[3]
Pamela Anderson	born 1967	TV actress famous for her role as C.J. Parker on the series Baywatch. Went public in March 2002 after being diagnosed a year earlier. Anderson claimed that she contracted it after sharing a tattoo needle with her ex-husband Tommy Lee, who denied he had the virus.[4]
Penny Arcade	born 1950	A performance artist and playwright, who was diagnosed in 2003.[5]
Jeannine Parvati Baker	1949–2005	A midwife, herbalist, author and homebirth advocate.[6]
Laurie Bembenek	born 1958	An ex-Milwaukee cop and Playboy Club cocktail waitress, convicted of murdering her husband's ex-wife.[7][8]
Rolf Benirschke	born 1955	A former placekicker in the National Football League for the San Diego Chargers. Diagnosed in 1998, he was infected by the blood transfusions he received in 1979 to treat ulcerative colitis. He actively campaigns to raise awareness and encourage people to get tested.[9]
David Crosby	born 1941	A guitarist, singer, and songwriter, well known for being a founding member of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. In 1995, he became seriously ill from hepatitis C. A liver transplant restored his health.[10][11]
Alejandro Escovedo	born ~1951	A musician, diagnosed in April 2003. Various benefit concerts and tribute albums covered his medical bills.[12][13]
Marianne Faithfull	born 1946	A singer, songwriter, actress and diarist. Diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1995, she received treatment. [14]
Freddy Fender	1937–2006	A country, and rock and roll musician. Diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2000, he received a liver transplant in 2004.[15][16]
"Superstar" Billy Graham	born 1943	A former professional wrestler. Had a liver transplant after his was destroyed by hepatitis C, which he suspects was caught through blood spilt during a match.[17]
Chet Helms	1942–2005	A music producer who helped create the vibrant San Francisco rock music scene in the 1960s. He was undergoing interferon treatment for hepatitis C when he suffered a stroke.[18]
Dusty Hill	born 1949	Bassist and vocalist with rock group ZZ Top. Their tour was cancelled when he was diagnosed in 2000. After undergoing treatment, they resumed touring in 2002.[19]
Diamanda Galás	born 1955	An avant-garde performance artist, vocalist, and composer.[20]
Allen Ginsberg	1926–1997	A Beat poet best known for the poem Howl. He died of liver cancer after suffering for many years with hepatitis C.[21]
Naomi Judd	born 1946	A country music singer and songwriter who retired in 1991 after being diagnosed with hepatitis C. She started the Naomi Judd Research Fund to help find a cure for the disease, which has raised over a million dollars for the American Liver Foundation.[22]
Ken Kesey	1935–2001	An author, best known for his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Died of liver cancer, caused by hepatitis C.[23]
Jack Kevorkian	born 1928	A controversial pathologist, noted for publicly championing a terminal patient's "right to die". He served eight years in prison for second-degree murder. His attorney claims Kevorkian contracted hepatitic C after testing blood transfusions during the Vietnam war.[24][25]
Evel Knievel	1938–2007	A stuntperson, best known for his public displays of long distance, high-altitude motorcycle jumping. Had a liver transplant as a result of hepatitis C, which he believed was contracted during an operation.[26]
Christopher Lawford	born 1955	An actor best known for his role as Charlie Brent on the soap opera All My Children in the early 1990s. He was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2001.[27]
Phil Lesh	born 1940	A musician and founder member of rock band Grateful Dead, in which he played bass guitar. He was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1992 and received a liver transplant in 1998.[28]
Lance Loud	1951–2001	A journalist, best known for his role in An American Family, a 12-part 1973 documentary. Died of complications from hepatitis C.[29]
Linda Lovelace	1949–2002	A pornographic actress, notable for the 1972 film Deep Throat. She contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion after a car accident in 1969 and had a liver transplant in 1987.[30]
Natasha Lyonne	born 1979	An actress, best known for her roles in the first two American Pie films.[31]
Mickey Mantle	1931–1995	A baseball player for the New York Yankees. Hepatitis C lead to cirrhosis and cancer. He underwent a liver transplant in June 1995 but the cancer had spread to other parts of his body and he died in August.[32]
David Marks	born 1948	An early member of The Beach Boys, Marks believes he contracted the disease through drug use. He campaigns to raise awareness, supporting the UK National Health Service's "FaCe It" campaign.[33]
Martin Phillipps	born 1962	Lead singer of New Zealand indie band band The Chills. Successfully treated with interferon, he resumed his music career in 2004.[34]
James Earl Ray	1928–1998	The confessed assassin of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Died of liver disease due to hepatitis C.[35]
Chopper Read	born 1954	An iconic Australian criminal and author, who claims to have contracted hepatitis from his time in prison, along with other prisonmates, through using a blood-stained shaver.[36]
Rockets Redglare	1949-2001	An actor and stand-up comic. Died from combination of kidney failure, liver failure, cirrhosis and hepatitis C.[37]
Anita Roddick	1942–2007	Founder of The Body Shop chain of cosmetics stores. She contracted hepatitis from a blood transfusion in 1971.[38]
Curtis Salgado	born 1954	A Blues, R&B, and Soul singer-songwriter-musician. Developed cirrhosis and liver cancer because of hepatitis C.[39]
Jerry Stahl	born ~1954	A novelist and screenwriter. His autobiography, Permanent Midnight, was adapted into a movie starring Ben Stiller.[40]
Lucy Saroyan	1946–2003	An actress who had minor roles in over 20 movies. She died from cirrhosis of the liver complicated by hepatitis C.[41]
Steven Tyler	born 1948	A musician and songwriter in the rock band Aerosmith. In September 2006, he announced that he had been diagnosed three years previous and had just completed eleven months of treatment with interferon.[42]
Francisco Varela	1947–2001	A biologist and philosopher who, together with his teacher Humberto Maturana, is best known for introducing the concept of autopoiesis to biology. Hepatitis C caused cirrhosis and liver cancer. He wrote about his liver transplant in the Journal of Consciousness Studies.[43]
Ken Watanabe	born 1959	Japanese actor best known for his role in The Last Samurai. He contracted Hepatitis C from a blood transfusion when he was receiving treatment for acute myeloid leukemia.[44]
Gene Weingarten	born 1951	A humour writer and journalist on The Washington Post.[45]
Elizabeth Young	1950–2001	A literary critic and writer.[46]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Celebrities with hepatitis C, The Kansas City Star, November 9, 2003. A newspaper article listing public figures who have or had hepatitis C, according to news reports.