In the 1990s, Pamela Anderson became a global sex symbol — and the highest paid actress on TV — for her role as C.J. Parker, a statuesque blonde lifeguard on the series Baywatch. But Anderson says she was longing to be taken seriously as a performer and an intellectual.
"People don't realize when I was shooting Playboy covers, I was also at Samuel French [Bookshop] sitting on the ground reading Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill and Sam Shepard plays wondering, 'How do I get from here to here?'" she says.
Throughout the 2000s, Anderson struggled to make a name for herself outside of her Baywatch persona. Finally, in 2022, an opportunity for reinvention came with her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in Chicago. The role was a turning point.
"I've always been carrying this secret. I feel like I've known I was capable of more, but I didn't know what," she says. "And doing Broadway really excited me and really felt like, I do have a lot to give because if I can do that, I can do anything."
In 2023, Anderson's son, Brandon Thomas Lee, produced the Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story, offering an intimate portrait of her life. In her latest film, The Last Showgirl, Anderson plays Shelly, a veteran Las Vegas performer who learns that her show is shutting down after a 30-year run. Anderson says Shelly's story of reinvention resonated deeply with her.
"If I had any other life, I couldn't have played Shelly as I did," she says. "I had this amazing, wild, messy life and that gave me a lot to pull from when I was playing this character. … I feel like my pockets are full of experience."
Interview highlights
On how her life prepared her to play a woman reinventing herself in The Last Showgirl
I feel like when you're a part of pop culture, it's a blessing, but it's also a little bit of a deficit. You have to prove to people, first of all, that you're human and then that you're capable of doing more and being in this industry. I've taken it upon myself to completely peel it back. I want people to see me as a person and then as an actress and all my life experience was just research. It was boot camp. So I was learning as I went. …
I'm not ashamed of my life. I, of course, in hindsight, might have done things differently, but I needed the life experience to teach me that. And I don't come from a family of actors or artists or cooks or anything. I've always known that I was my own unique person, that I could create the life I wanted, but I really had no references and no guidance. So this has been Wild West-ing it up till now.
On her motivation for posing for Playboy in 1989
I was a painfully shy girl and I hated that about myself. I hated it. It was debilitating. It was paralyzing. And I needed to do something to break free of that. And that was why I said yes to Playboy. It was just a cover. It wasn't nudity or anything. This was just the cover. And then once I came to Los Angeles and did the cover, they talked me into becoming a Playmate. I remember calling my mother and her going, "Do it. I would do it." And so I did it. I was also looking after my parents. And I remember up until then, I was still giving half of my paychecks to my parents. I thought everybody did that. And so it was nice to be able to pay off some bills for all of us. And I've done that since then.
On her decision to not wear makeup in recent public appearances
Everything is spontaneous. It's not calculated. So I was just at Paris Fashion Week and I was wearing this beautiful Vivienne Westwood dress and a big hat. And I thought, why do I have to sit in the makeup chair for three hours, how many inches of my face is going to show? Are people really going to fall over backwards if I'm not wearing makeup? So I decided to go to the Louvre and take a walk through the park and just put the clothes on and go. And people really resonated with it. And people around me were like, No, you need a glam team and this is the industry standard. And I said, I don't want to do the industry standard. I don't want to follow the herd. It's not that I felt like I look better without makeup. I just look more myself. And this is something that was just part of my journey that I needed to do for myself.
On working with her sons Brandon and Dylan on the 2023 Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story
[Brandon] masterminded it, him and Dylan. … But Brandon is a great producer and a great visionary. And they're very close in age — only a year and a half apart. And it has been an incredible experience to work with them as well. I never thought that would happen. That wasn't my intention. When I had kids, I didn't think they were going to grow up and be so instrumental in my career. I would never want to take up too much of their brain power. I mean, they have their own dreams, their own businesses and their own lives. And you never want to be a burden to your kids. So I struggled a little bit with that in the very beginning, but I thought, OK, as long as this is fun and you're enjoying it. And they are real producers. If I wasn't on the planet, they'd be fine.
On being a hands-on mom throughout her career
I wouldn't miss a baseball game. I had them written into my contracts, actually, when I was doing TV. I have always been there for them. I didn't even have a nanny. So this is kind of unheard of in this business. … I wanted to be a hands-on mom. If I was going to have kids, I wanted to raise them. … I also put everything aside because I wasn't getting the roles I thought that I wanted. And I was struggling a lot in my personal life, too. And my kids were everything to me. And that was really important for me to be with them and put them first.
On moving back home to her small hometown in Canada
I'm grateful. I feel the love. I feel rooted for, but this is a new feeling. That's a part of the reason I came home. I just thought I need to peel it all back and find out who I am. What are my original thoughts? I felt like I was dressing for other people. I was playing characters in my personal life. So I thought, I'm just going to go home and make a beautiful garden and make pickles and jams and write a cookbook. I felt like I have so much to give and I just don't know where to put it.
Ann Marie Baldonado and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
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