For many she was the ultimate nineties pin-up, but Pamela Anderson admits she hated the objectification that inevitably came with her sex symbol status after finding fame on Baywatch.
The Canadian actress became a household name thanks to her role as voluptuous C.J Parker in David Hasselhoff's smash-hit series centered on the genetically blessed lifeguards of Los Angeles County.
But Anderson, now 58, believes being credited as one of the world's sexiest women is a 'slippery slope' that generates more than its fair share of negative male attention.
Appearing on the latest instalment of the How To Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast, she said: 'I don't like being a sex symbol. I mean, I think it's not very sexy. I think we all aspire to be sexy in our relationships, but sexy for the world is, I don't know.
'It brought a lot of attention I didn't like, but I hate to say that because I'm not complaining, but I do feel that is a slippery slope where you are presenting yourself to the world like this and you get this attention back that.'
The actress, who has opted to defy convention by attending high profile public events without makeup over recent years, insisted it was important to redefine herself and embrace a less sexualised look as she entered middle-age.
Pamela Anderson believes being credited as one of the world's sexiest women is a 'slippery slope' that generates more than its fair share of negative male attention.
The actress became a household name thanks to her role as C.J Parker in David Hasselhoff's smash-hit series centered on the genetically blessed lifeguards of Los Angeles County.
She said: 'It can be even scary at times, me not wearing makeup and me being at this age, coming into this part of my career, I felt it was important for me in my personal life, to be more natural.
'I want to challenge myself and become and to be present myself in different ways because women are many things. We're not just the wild animal between the sheets.'
As she advances through her fifties, Anderson has been widely praised for the unconventional decision to forgo makeup at a string of public events, starting with a memorable appearance at Paris Fashion Week in September 2023.
'I get people coming up to me on the street, at the grocery store, on the plane, and really loving this choice that I’ve made,' she said.
'I feel like it is resonating and it’s something I want to explore deeper too, even for myself, because I’m a rebel. I’m always challenging things. I’m always doing the opposite of what people tell me to do. I just have that in me and so I want to work with people that have the same concerns.
'We have these generational habits, the way that we’re brought up even, and just these things stick in our head, so I want to break free of that.
'I feel like this is a little bit of a rebel move to be who you want to be, like what is beauty? Beauty’s subjective? We don’t have to look like the covers of magazines.'
The actress went viral after attending Victoria Beckham's Paris Fashion Week runway show without a scrap of makeup.
It marked the beginning of a fresh chapter for Anderson, who admits the decision to travel to the French capital without a makeup artist sparked panic among her team of assistants.
She recalled: 'When I was in Paris, I thought, who's looking at me? I'm clothed from head to toe with these big hats and this much of my face is sticking out. Is anyone going to really fall over backwards if I'm not wearing makeup? And that's where it started at Paris Fashion Week.
'It just sent everybody scrambling around me thinking, no, this is not what people do and I said, well, that even gives me more reason to do it. Not that it was, world peace or anything, but it was just me challenging myself thinking, why am I sitting in a makeup chair for three hours when I'm not trying to be the prettiest girl in the room. I’m going to a fashion show.
'I just felt like it was time to, I had nothing to lose and I felt, I’m not trying to create a persona right now. I’m not trying to be famous. I need to use my position to experiment and open up conversations.'
She added: 'It's not that I'm letting myself go. I don't feel like I look like a mess when I walk out the door. I'm just peeling it back to see who I am.
It's just a starting position. I don't know what my next incarnation is, but it's not going to be what my mother tells me to do.'
The actress went viral after attending Victoria Beckham's Paris Fashion Week runway show in 2023 without a scrap of makeup.
The move is in stark contrast to her heavily made up public appearances in the 1990s.
It all began for Anderson in 1989, when she made what would prove to be a life-decision by attending a football match with her mother at Vancouver's BC Place stadium.
The then-unknown 22-year old featured on the stadium jumbotron wearing a Labatt's beer T-shirt, sparking the interest of brewing company executives who immediately employed her as a company spokesmodel.
The move would eventually lead to a call from Playboy, a move to Los Angeles and her now iconic cover shoot for the American's men's monthly.
'Playboy called me when I was in Vancouver still and I called my mom and she said I'd do it,' she recalled.
'She goes, if they asked me, I would do it and she said, I want you to get out of this town. I want you to live your life, go baby, see where this takes you."'
The following year Anderson was named Playmate Of The Month, with the actress getting her own centrefold spread in the magazine's February 1990 issue.
And she admits being independent in Los Angeles while surrounded by 'so many beautiful women of all shapes and sizes' at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion helped her overcome her initial shyness and embrace a newfound freedom 'in a big way.'
'I seem to be challenge myself in very interesting ways,' she said,
'but that was one of the things,I felt like the first flash of photography,it was just a Playboy cover,was not nudity,but it was very low jacket that I was holding shut;'[she paused]'I felt like I was falling off a building.I felt like I am free;and I know that sounds crazy,but it was freedom.It was;I’m somebody else.
'I’m going to be what this version of what a Playboy playmate would be or an actress because it was so far removed from my reality that none of it felt real;but I felt freedom.'
The full interview is available to stream on the How to Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast, out now.