Pamela Anderson says 'dealing with beauty' and 'aging' prepared her for her latest role: 'I'm free — now I can play again'

Pamela Anderson is feeling no shame about her past. The Canadian actress, 57, was part of the latest roundup of stars in Variety's "Actors on Actors" series, where she was paired up with Anora actress Mikey Madison, 25, to talk about their respective films and careers.

"I was always very curious about the craft of acting, but I didn't have to apply myself when I was running around in a bathing suit on Baywatch," Anderson said in the beginning of her conversation, adding she used to sit on the floor of the now-closed Samuel French Bookshop in Hollywood, Calif. reading plays from writers like Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill.

"I didn't know how to get from there to there, but I just had this dream. I always kept it a secret that I could be more than I was doing."

Anderson continued to thank Gia Coppola, the director of her upcoming movie The Last Showgirl, for seeing "the hunger in me as a woman who wanted to express herself." She noted she continuously tells Coppola, "You saved my life," since this was a project and character she really wanted to delve deep into.

In preparation of her leading role, Anderson said she worked with an acting teacher and was able to bring a lot of her own personal experience to her work. "My kind of long life of dealing with beauty and glamour and aging and reassessing life choices. I got to bring my whole life, really, into this role. It was such a relief to be able to play something where I could express myself that way."

During filming, she said she worked with choreographer Greg Butler, whom she previously worked with when she played Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway. Anderson performed the iconic role in 2022, calling it her "warmup" to The Last Showgirl where she got to experience first hand the back-stage banter between cast members in a live production.

Anderson also opened up about wearing a showgirl costume, noting there's a certain choreography you have to follow when you wear one because they can be upwards of 50 to 80 pounds. Moreover, they're sometimes pieces that are housed in museums and haven't been work in decades.

"They're Bob Mackie designs and they have so much history in them, I felt like I was wearing something that so many other women had wore before me," she added. "There were even name tags stitched in some still, so you really felt a community of women."

Wrapping up her conversation with Madison, Anderson touched on her early life and how she had always been creating characters in her life.

"I think the past shouldn't dictate your future. I really like to live in the moment and really want to enjoy this time in my life," she shared. "But looking back in hindsight, I was always creating characters. And I feel like I know I've created a few Halloween costumes that they were memorable characters, so I just take it as a compliment."

Anderson then opened up about working in the entertainment industry while also being a mother. She shares two sons — Brandon Thomas, 28, and Dylan Jagger, 26 — with ex-husband Tommy Lee.

"There's being a working mom and being in this entertainment world, and even having your mom be sexualized in some way. A lot of the things I went through, I didn't realize my kids were going through them at the same time," Anderson noted. "So as [they're] adult children, we talk about that a lot and you kind of beg forgiveness for your adult children — but we're such a team now.

"I'm not ashamed of my life. I'm not ashamed of the choices that I made, even though maybe in hindsight I would've done things differently. But you need life experience to know that you would've done that differently. ... You just learn along the way and apply everything you learn to what you do. I feel like now I have the freedom to focus on things instead of worrying about a relationship or my family. My kids are grown, I'm free — now I can play again."

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