Pamela Anderson is leaving behind the trauma of her early Hollywood career—and it’s largely thanks to her new film, The Last Showgirl. As the actress recently told Entertainment Tonight“Every time you do a project you’re healing parts of yourself.”
In the film, Anderson plays Shelly, an ageing Las Vegas showgirl whose show is closing down. As she reflects on her career, she realizes that she has sacrificed things like motherhood and stability for an art form that few seem to appreciate.
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For Anderson, who famously starred as a Baywatch sex symbol in the ’90s, the new role was largely inspired by her experiences of show business as a young woman. “I was able to bring a lot of my own personal experience, my long life of dealing with beauty and glamour and aging and reassessing life choices. I got to bring my whole life into this role,” Anderson said during a Variety conversation earlier this month. “I think the past shouldn’t dictate your future. But looking back, I was always creating characters. And I feel like I know I’ve created a few Halloween costumes.”
After an early career filled with its fair share of trauma, including a private sex tape that was stolen and uploaded to the internet, Anderson retreated from public life. As she said earlier this year, “I went from Baywatch to Broadway. I don’t know what happened in between, it’s all a big blur…I think I have had depression for a couple of decades.”
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In her recent interview with Entertainment TonightAnderson reiterated that she didn’t initially “keep going” with her career. “I don’t know if I kept going, I went home to my garden to make pickles and jams,” the actress said. “I didn’t know I was going to get this opportunity, so when I got it, I grabbed it by the throat, because I am resilient and I needed to know what I was made of, for me.”
Jamie Lee Curtis also stars in the film with Anderson as her friend, an ex-showgirl, who now works at a casino. “I said yes to the movie because I knew Pamela Anderson was going to be playing Shelly. Period.” Curtis said.
She also opened up about how the film’s themes resonated for them both. “It’s all any of us want to be is complex and interesting and not just the limited idea of who we are and that’s I think something both of us have broken free from,” she said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Anderson spoke about how the film has come alongside a new makeup-free look—another way she has been shedding the past and marking a new, more authentic era.
“This whole peeling it back was kind of how I just started,” said Anderson. “I just wanted to remember who I was. I just want to be me, so this is an experiment. It’s just something I felt drawn to do. I didn’t even know anyone would notice.”
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Anderson went viral back in 2023 for ditching her makeup during Paris Fashion Week. Aside from a few subtle no makeup-makeup looks, she hasn’t looked back since. In fact, her co-star, Curtis, has taken some inspiration from her, posting a makeup-free selfie earlier this year.
