‘I’ve never fallen into trappings that were dangerous … I had this naive understanding of the world’: Why Pamela Anderson has no regrets

Before TMZ and Kim Kardashian, there was Pamela Anderson. The OG bombshell is vowing to tell the real story of ‘Pam & Tommy’ – and why she is turning her back on Hollywood.

From her red one-piece in Baywatch to holding the record for the most Playboy covers, Pamela Anderson is known as much for her body as her body of work.
But after being haunted by that stolen sex tape, she’s taking her power back – and finding her voice.

In the wake of the unauthorised series Pam & Tommy, the 55-year-old is vowing to “tell the real story” in her upcoming memoir Love, Pamela, and reveals exclusively to Stellar why she turned her back on Hollywood for the simple life.

Stellar: You’ve previously said: “I’ve done some crazy things my whole life – I’m not going to stop now.” Why is it important to be free-spirited?

Pamela Anderson: I’ve always admired original thinkers, I don’t like to follow trends – I set trends! I prefer to just reach into that part of your mind that isn’t programmed. We watch the news, we’re on social media, we waste all this time and I feel like time is to be alone, time is to dream. You have to be brave and have faith in your own vision … There’s a quote from [American poet] E.E. Cummings, who says the hardest thing in the world is to be yourself, everyone else is telling you what to do. That’s the kind of world we’re in. So I think it’s interesting to think, who are you when you’re alone? Who are you when you’re not thinking about anything else? That’s who I want to be. I want to be the strange little mystical girl that I always was with this crazy imagination. I’m not an artist or painter, I create experiences – that’s my art form, that’s what I love to do for my kids. I make my kids [sons Brandon Thomas Lee, 26, and Dylan Jagger Lee, 24, with ex-husband Tommy Lee] laugh because I used to bathe them in rose petals when they were babies. It’s this little weird thing that they’ve been used to.

‘I don’t like to follow trends.’ Pamela Anderson is the OB blonde bombshell. Picture: Getty Images

Pamela Anderson, right, with her then-husband Tommy Lee in 1999 at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York. Picture: Evan Agostini/Liaison

S: In the wake of your success as a Playboy model, you moved to Los Angeles in 1990, before landing your career-defining role as lifeguard CJ Parker in Baywatch, which you starred in from 1992 to 1997. How do you reflect on that time in your life?

PA: I was always very mischievous and had a wild imagination. I felt like, no matter where I am, I’m always safe because I have this kind of Mr Magoo quality – I’m always taken care of, I’m always provided for. I’ve never fallen into many trappings that were dangerous; I’ve been fortunate that way. I had this naive understanding of the world. No matter where I went, I went into [it] with a deer-in-headlights way.

S: What do you mean by that?

PA: I wasn’t afraid of life. I’m just so happy that I did the things I did, I made the choices I made. I took big risks and I survived them all. There are so many things I’ve seen in the world that I would have never seen if I didn’t make the choices I did.

Pamela Anderson in THAT red swimsuit. Picture: Supplied

Back in 2000, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles. Picture: AP Pic/Michael/Caulfield

Celebrity skin! With BFF Courtney Love and Pamela Anderson in 2005. Picture: Mark Mainz/Getty Images

S: Given that much of your career, then, has been spent playing a character – whether on a show like Baywatch or for a Playboy shoot – what is it like simply getting to be yourself in the new reality TV series Pamela’s Garden Of Eden, in which you renovate your grandmother’s property?

PA: It can be dangerous – you never know what’s going to come out of my mouth. My kids even look at me and say, “Just mic her and put the camera on her – we don’t know what she is going to say or do.” It’s actually very freeing. I feel good about who I am and what I have to offer. It’s the beginning of so many new experiences for me. As women, we go through different chapters and, so far, this has to be the most rewarding chapter for me. I just encourage people to take risks and live life to the fullest, and that’s what I’m trying to do every day.

S: What has it been like returning to the place you were raised for your new show?

PA: It’s been a journey. I always planned on coming home. I think my entire career, I always kept one foot on Vancouver Island, so I knew I had this safe place to return to. I kept [my grandmother’s property], but I didn’t have the time or the resources to renovate it until just a few years ago. Gosh, it’s a whirlwind – I’m looking at my life from a different perspective being here. I’m fulfilling a promise I made to my grandmother that I’d keep the property in the family and that I’d create a gathering space for generations to come. That’s what I’ve been able to do and I think it’s part of the reason I even have my career: to create this place for my family. It’s been such an honour. It’s been triggering and emotional, and I’m very proud, too. It feels like success. I have returned home unscathed – well, almost unscathed. It was healing to come home after all that time and to be who I’ve always been, which is a bit of a tomboy: I love my garden, I love cooking, I’ve always been a homemaker. Not everybody might be able to imagine that about me.

S: What was the inspiration for renovating the property?

PA: I said to my kids, “Let’s take all of our favourite things that we’ve ever seen and bring it here to the property. To create an artists’ colony, almost. Let’s do a recording studio, art studio, let’s learn anything we want to learn.”

S: What is your day-to-day life like there?

PA: Like yesterday, I was making candles, I was baking bread, I was canning beets,

I made a vegan pumpkin pie – that’s in one day. I mowed the lawn, I planted lavender. This is what I’m doing every day. I’m lucky that I’m in that place in my life that I get to do what I do. I also kind of turned it into a job, too. I’m busy from morning until night and that’s what my kids say is best for me, “Keep Mom busy! Keep her out of trouble.” I’ve always come [to Vancouver Island] in times where I feel troubled or sad. I come here to get my head straight.

S: Given your level of fame, how do you keep your “head straight”?

PA: If I lie in the middle of a field and look up at the constellations, and I look for shooting stars, it re-energises me. It’s always been my healing spot. I have five dogs … it’s far from lonely. I always say, the capacity to love is the capacity to be alone. So this is one of those things where I’m learning to be alone and happy with myself so, in the future, I can be healthy enough to have a healthy relationship.

Pamela’s Garden Of Eden premieres at 1.30pm on Thursday on Foxtel and

Foxtel On Demand.

Originally published as ‘I’ve never fallen into trappings that were dangerous … I had this naive understanding of the world’: Why Pamela Anderson has no regrets