Pamela Bach-Hasselhoff’s longtime friend, Terry Ahern, is shedding light on the health struggles that tormented her in the years leading up to her passing.

Terry, who worked closely with the actress for over a decade, revealed that Pamela battled severe arthritis stemming from an accident that left lasting damage. “Pam’s body was ravaged from arthritis caused by the accident. It continued to spread and wreak havoc,” he said.

Pamela was found dead in her Los Angeles home on March 5. The L.A. Medical Examiner later ruled her death a suicide, leaving those close to her stunned. Terry, who last spoke to her a few months prior, recalled how excited she was about her granddaughter, London, born to her daughter Taylor in August.

“She was just over the moon being a grandmother — over the moon,” he recalled. Her unexpected passing left him in disbelief. “She was the last person in the world I would think [would do that],” he said. “It’s a shock.”

According to Terry, Pamela’s health struggles began in 2003 when she and her then-husband, David Hasselhoff, were involved in a serious motorcycle crash. The accident left her hospitalized with a broken neck and back, forcing her to spend months in intensive care as she recovered from crushed bones.

Over the years, complications from her injuries took their toll. “That plagued her — the arthritis from it,” Ahern explained. “Because that stuff catches up to you when you get older — injuries that are [from] earlier, arthritis sets in…”