Former actor and Playboy model Pamela Anderson has revealed the reason why she decided to ditch the glittering world of Hollywood.
The Canadian actress, 57, rose to prominence back in the early ’90s after being selected as a model for adult magazine Playboy.
She then went on to star in the iconic role as one of the lifeguards of Baywatch, with the skintight red swimsuit cementing her status as a sex symbol.
After decades in the spotlight, Anderson has recently decided to her image entirely by making a conscious decision to ditch make-up for good – a move which has been received warmly by her fans.
Pamela Anderson has since embraced a more scaled back beauty look. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Anderson has now opened up on her reasons behind making such a harsh break away from her former image, revealing that she no longer identifies with her old persona.
“That was the beginning of me letting go of the image I had always had of myself,” Anderson explained in an interview with Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
“What is this cartoon character that I’d created? OK, that was fun. But I’m not that person anymore.”
Reflecting on her time as one of the world’s biggest sex symbols, Anderson went on to add that she was happy to ‘play into’ the manufactured image at the time.
“I’m glad I did all that, but I’m really glad I’m where I am now. I think the most important part is, I made it through all of it,” Anderson added.
“And now it’s such a relief that I get to be myself and enjoy this time.”
Anderson’s career hasn’t come without its low points either, with the actor forced to fight a legal battle in 1995 after a sex tape featuring herself and former partner Tommy Lee was stolen and leaked online.
Anderson was seen as a major sex symbol in the 1990s. (Mitchell Gerber/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
The legal drama would later become the subject of a controversial mini series Pam and Tommy starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan, with Anderson saying to Variety that the eight-part Hulu show was ‘salt on the wound’.
Anderson has since decided to distance herself from Hollywood by relocating back to her native Canada for a change of scenery.
“I was not in a good space when I moved back to Canada. 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 explained, adding that she has spent the past couple of years working on her first cookbook.
“It came to a point where I decided to move home and disappear and get into my garden.”