Why Pamela Anderson Doesn't Wear Makeup: "I Really Didn't Know Anyone Would Notice It"

"And it felt good to look in the mirror and say, 'I'm OK just like this.'”

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Ever since she went viral for going makeup-free at Paris Fashion Week, Pamela Anderson has been the poster child for embracing bare-faced beauty. It all started when she asked herself a simple question: Why not?

“I'm makeup-free at home, so why not for Paris Fashion Week?" she told People in 2023. "I really didn't know anyone would notice it, but I'm glad it became a positive message.”

Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Since then, the Baywatch alum has stepped out at the San Sebastian Film Festival, the Met Gala, and the Oscars (to name a few) without a stitch of makeup on her face. The experience, she says, has been liberating. And she's not alone: Celebrities like Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, and Anne Hathaway have also embraced the bare-faced look as of late. And then, of course, there's Alicia Keys: patron saint of the anti-makeup trend since she first opted out in 2016.

"I don't have to be cool anymore," Anderson said, reflecting on the experience. "I can just be me. It's very freeing to be comfortable in your own skin.”

Frank Trapper/Getty Images

Frank Trapper/Getty Images

Going makeup-free in 2023 marked a dramatic shift for Anderson, who was, until recently, Hollywood's resident femme fatale. Her Playboy debut came in 1989 and that same year, she joined the cast of Baywatch, a role that defined her career until it ended in 2001. Looking back, it's an era that she no longer identifies with, Anderson says.

"[Going bare-faced] was the beginning of me letting go of the image I had always had of myself," she told Better Homes & Gardens. "What is this cartoon character that I’d created? Okay, that was fun. But I’m not that person anymore."

Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images

Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images

In 2023, it was time for a new, more authentic version of Anderson to take center stage. Recalling the moment in her Better Homes & Gardens cover story interview, the actress called the now-legendary moment "silly."

"I started thinking that I want to challenge the idea of beauty and this mask we put on. As soon as I took the mask off, the whole world opened up," she told the publication. "It just happened to be this silly thing of being at Paris Fashion Week and me saying, 'I’m not going to sit in a makeup chair for three hours. I’m going to the Louvre.'...It was such a refreshing way to see everything, and I didn’t think anyone would even notice."

As to whether she’ll ever wear makeup again? Never say never. “I'm not opposed to it, I just don't want to play the game," she told People. "And it felt good to look in the mirror and say, 'I'm OK just like this.'”

Read the original article on InStyle