Body Shop founder has Hepatitis C

by Actual News Geezer | February 14, 2007 at 06:53 am

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When I saw the headline at BBC, some part of my personality began putting its snoot up in the air in an exaggerated sense of moral superiority. "These rich sustainability freaks talk a good line but they're corrupt and venal," a voice proclaimed.

Not so with Dame Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop. Her disease was acquired through a blood transfusion during the birth of her youngest daughter. For Roddick - beyond her personal suffering - the disease is an opportunity to help a foundation raise money, as well as living "with a sharp
sense of my own mortality, which in many ways makes life more vivid and
immediate."

Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick has said she has Hepatitis C.

Dame Anita, 64, said she also has cirrhosis of the liver, one of the long-term effects of the disease.

The multi-millionaire contracted the disease through a blood transfusion while giving birth to her youngest daughter, Sam, in 1971.

She said: "I have Hepatitis C. It's a bit of a bummer... I had no idea I had this virus. I was having routine blood tests when it showed up."

In a statement posted on her website, she added: "What I can say is that having Hep C means that I live with a sharp sense of my own mortality, which in many ways makes life more vivid and immediate."