In the 1990s, Pamela Anderson and glamor were synonymous. She was the “it” girl who was fantasized about and adored. This game didn’t come without a cost. Flash forward to the present day and Pam is doing things differently these days. She is taking back her power by controlling the narrative. She released a memoir, Love, Pamela, and a documentary, Pamela, a Love Story, on Hulu at the beginning of 2023.
Pamela shocked the world when she decided to attend Paris Fashion Week sans makeup in September of 2023. She opened up to Highsnobiety, a lifestyle publication, about her decision to go natural. It’s been healing for her.
Pamela never considered herself a girly-girl. “No, I’m a tomboy! I was actually always a tomboy growing up,” she explained. “I never wanted to wear a dress. I was athletic. I made mud pies.”
Pamela makes some of her own beauty products these days. “I make rose oil, which I do with rose hips. I’m interested in my Epsom salts, olive oils, and shea butter,” she explained.
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Her sons and representatives were skeptical about her toned-down Paris Fashion Week appearance. She didn’t have her normal team of makeup artists and stylists. “My boys were like, ‘Mom, you must have a glam team.’ And my agents were like, ‘You have to have a glam team! Where’s the stylist?’ I go, ‘I know how to put a dress on myself. I don’t need someone buttoning up my blouse. I got this.’ And they were just horrified,” Pamela recalled. She believed it was the right way to go.
Jamie Lee Curtis agreed and was “so impressed and floored” by Pamela's “act of courage and rebellion.”
Pamela got her big break in 1989 when she graced the cover of Playboy. She became arguably one of the most successful Playboy Bunnies of all time. She would go on to star in Home Improvement and Baywatch.
In 1995, she married Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, just a couple of days after they first met. During their three-year marriage, they had two sons Brandon Thomas, 27, and Dylan Jagger, 26. A sex tape of Tommy and Pamela was stolen from the couple’s home and leaked without their consent. The damage this did to Pamela emotionally and career-wise was devastating. It’s a big part of why she is taking back her power now.
“People stop me on the street sometimes and say, ‘Wow, Pamela, I used to hate you, but then I watched the documentary and decided you’re not actually bad,’” she explained. “It doesn’t hurt my feelings. I’m glad people are coming around finally.”
Pamela is measuring success differently these days and hopes her kids will follow her lead. “Success is living your life as you want,” she mused. “I feel successful because I’ve overcome and gotten through certain things and feelings. And this drives my kids nuts because my kids are ambitious. They’re calculated. They’re men. They’re young, and they have all this passion. But they’re materialistic, and I keep going, ‘Eh, it’ll pass.’”
She understands why her kids think this way. “We all get roped into, ‘Oh, I want to be successful so I can have this and this, and show people that I’m cool, chic, admired,’” she stated. “And then we’re all just left with debt and a fancy car. It’s just like chasing age. You’re not going to win. A life is less conclusive than that.”
She hopes her kids will come to learn that “love is the most important thing in the world.” They still have time.
