“Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson discussed her effort to change her public image from the “cartoon character” she says she has created.
The 57-year-old Canadian-born model and actress is best known for appearing in Playboy magazine in the 90s, multiple breast implant surgeries, and her standout role as C.J. Parker on “Baywatch.” Anderson also went viral in 1995 after a sex tape of her and then-husband, Tommy Lee, was stolen and distributed.
The actress surprised fans recently by making public appearances without makeup, which is a far departure from the sex symbol, makeup-heavy look she’d become known for. Anderson discussed changing her look while promoting her upcoming cookbook.
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI
The interviewer from Better Homes & Gardens asked specifically about Anderson going makeup-free, to which she replied, “That was the beginning of me letting go of the image I had always had of myself. What is this cartoon character that I’d created? OK, that was fun. But I’m not that person anymore.”
She continued, “It was a dance I was doing that I was only partly aware of. And looking back, I can see why I did it. But I’ve always been into being a homemaker too.”
The actress said, “All the kids were always at our house. I cooked for everybody, pots of spaghetti for the neighborhood, and so my kids have always seen that part of me. And it hurt them to think that those other things are the only things people think of their mom. Yes, she’s been in Playboy. Yes, she’s done all these things, but we know who she is. It’s different now.”
Anderson also discussed what it was like for her before. “I don’t know what happened over the last few decades, but I feel now so far removed from the image of who I was. I felt very sad and lonely,” she told BHG. “I didn’t feel just misunderstood. I felt like I had really screwed up, that my whole life was a bundle of mistakes,” the former “Baywatch” star added.
“I was hard on myself, and I thought I put my family through a lot and put my kids through so much. I came to a point where I decided to move home and disappear and get into my garden.”
