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When Hollywood gives you a second chance, you take it. But Pamela Anderson\u2019s second chance almost didn\u2019t come.<\/p>\n
Her acclaimed role in Gia Coppola\u2019s The Last Showgirl (2024), which earned Anderson a Golden Globe nomination, was initially turned down by her agent. The film only found its way to her thanks to her eldest son, Brandon Lee, who tracked down the producer, got hold of the script and showed it to his mother while she was tending to her garden. Anderson read it, immediately said yes, then fired her agent.<\/p>\n
That role, often described as life imitating art, proved life-changing. Stepping into the role of Shelly Gardner, an ageing Las Vegas showgirl in an industry obsessed with youth and beauty, Anderson delivers a performance that\u2019s both raw and resonant. Perhaps no one could have played this part better.<\/p>\n
Anderson\u2019s career renaissance has been fuelled in no small part by her sons, Brandon and Dylan Lee, who are fierce champions of their mother. Brandon, an actor, producer and model, produced the 2023 documentary Pamela: A Love Story, which helped her tell her story in her own words. The film was released alongside her memoir, Pamela, both projects serving as a response to the unauthorised Hulu series Pam & Tommy.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy making my own documentary I felt a little more understood,\u201d says the 58-year-old Canadian. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the most important thing to do in life, but it does feel better when people have true information and you\u2019re in control of the narrative of your life.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately for me, my personal life has overshadowed a lot of my career. I feel I have to be grateful now that I\u2019m doing films again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking from her home in Vancouver Island, Anderson is busier than ever. She made five films last year alone and returned to stage in a revival of Tennessee Williams\u2019 play Camino Real. Next, she heads to Niagara Falls to begin filming a romantic musical thriller, Queen of the Falls, with Guy Pearce.<\/p>\n
Most excitingly, she will embark on an Australian speaking tour with wellbeing company Wanderlust True North in April. Her talks will take audiences on a tell-all journey through her life; more importantly, she will share the stories behind reclaiming her place in the spotlight and lift the veil on the tabloid hype that dominated our perception of her for decades.<\/p>\n
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The stripped-back version of Anderson, now 58, is a far cry from her Baywatch days.Pamela Hanson\/Trunk Archive\/Snapper<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had this wild experience of going through so many chapters and interesting twists in my life, and now I have a whole new life in front of me,\u201d she says, referring to her unexpected comeback. \u201cI am all about embracing my age and loving myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anderson now lives not far from where she grew up in British Columbia (she says she feels most at home in her sprawling garden), a world away from the bright lights of Hollywood. Here she can delve into new scripts, work on character development, binge on classic movies and plot her next adventure.<\/p>\n
While her home is a place of refuge, it\u2019s also a reminder of where her whole journey began. After being discovered in the crowd at an American football game in Vancouver in 1989 as a 22-year-old, she quickly entered the Playboy world and landed her first centrefold. Television fame followed via the sitcom Home Improvement in the early \u201990s, before Anderson became a global icon as lifeguard C.\u2009J.\u2009Parker on Baywatch from 1992 to 1997. She also made her film debut during this time in 1996\u2019s Barb Wire.<\/p>\n
In 1995, intimate videos of Anderson with her then-husband, M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce drummer Tommy Lee, were stolen from their home and later distributed online. Though she sued the company responsible, a then-pregnant Anderson dropped the case as she was worried about the stress on her unborn baby (Anderson and Lee divorced in 1998).<\/p>\n
In the years since, raising her sons \u2013 Brandon is now 29 and Dylan 28 \u2013 has been Anderson\u2019s greatest role. Ever the protective mother, she sent the boys to a boarding school on Vancouver Island for five years to keep them away from Hollywood and the tabloids. Watching her sons grow into fine young men remains her proudest achievement.<\/p>\n
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Anderson with her son, Brandon Lee, at the Golden Globes in January.Jordan Strauss\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n
Her entrepreneurial spirit is shared with them, too. \u201cThe boys work with me on my skincare brand,\u201d she says, referring to her business, Sonsie. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to empower me to share my message in all different ways. It\u2019s really exciting to have that kind of relationship with my kids now that they\u2019re older, but they\u2019re the reason I get to have this next chapter and share it with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anderson believes mothers have a unique responsibility to their sons. \u201cIt\u2019s important to support our sons in a world that\u2019s not really helping young men right now. I want them to be successful at raising their own children, creating their own home and live a good life \u2013 one where they feel good about themselves.\u201d Brandon, she adds, is preparing to get married this year.<\/p>\n
Sonsie has also allowed Anderson to move past the beauty standards that have swallowed her whole since her 20s, to embrace a new version of herself as she lets go of the expectations that came with being Pamela Anderson. She\u2019s dropped the peroxide-blonde bombshell look of her Baywatch era and turned her back on wearing heavy make-up in 2019, something that wasn\u2019t noticed until her bare-faced appearance at Paris Fashion Week in 2023. It\u2019s reached the stage where this stripped-back, authentic version of Anderson is what we\u2019ve come to expect.<\/p>\n
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Anderson on her grandmother\u2019s property on Vancouver Island, where she now calls home.Binge<\/p>\n
She feels comfortable now in ways she couldn\u2019t have imagined at the height of her \u201990s fame, with demure gowns, lab-grown diamonds and coiffed hair-dos all part of her sartorial repertoire. She\u2019s also learnt to be kinder to herself, and to appreciate what she sees in the mirror, noting that it\u2019s the same thing you\u2019ll see in her Instagram feed, something she describes as \u201cso unique\u201d.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on her life, Anderson has no regrets. \u201cI am happy that life has happened this way for me, because I was able to learn from so many experiences and bring that into my work,\u201d she says. \u201cYou can always turn the page on things that happen in life, and I got a chance to fertilise my own garden and create a new life for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
And she\u2019s not taking a minute of her career revival for granted. \u201cThis is my second chance in this industry and I\u2019ve done it my way. When I was younger, people thought of me in a certain way, but I didn\u2019t know what I was doing. Yes, I was interested in plays and great movies, but I was so distracted and trying to do the best in that world with what I knew at that point. I\u2019m really fortunate that I get this opportunity to give it another shot. At my age, I feel like I have kind of cracked.\u201d<\/p>\n
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