As a child, she wanted to be either a nun or a showgirl – because of the costumes. Instead, Pamela Anderson rose to become the biggest global star of the nineties. And wore a polite smile as a disguise when the public drooled and cackled over her. Pam now lives like a nun and has become a showgirl for her new movie after all. A happy ending? No, a new beginning.
What is the absolute opposite of a beach in Malibu? Obviously: an internet forum dedicated to 96-year-old linguistics professor and critic of capitalism Noam Chomsky. That’s exactly where we start our story about Pamela Anderson. Or “Comrade Anderson”, as the actress is respectfully dubbed by r/chomsky users when she has once again publicly quoted the aged anti-imperialist. For it is precisely there, in the absolute opposite of a beach in Malibu, that the most exciting facets of Pamela Anderson shimmer. A Hollywood star who talks about European politics on stage with the philosopher Srećko Horvat or the former Greek finance minister and Marxist economist Yanis Varoufakis. A Playboy model who regularly visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in London prison and – really? – successfully obtained a ban on the import of Canadian baby seal fur from Vladimir Putin 15 years ago. All without the camera filming her cleavage in slow motion.
High waves
The name Coca-Cola immediately conjures up the image of a red can with white lettering. Pamela Anderson? For most people: a red swimsuit with a blonde mane. Thanks to the TV phenomenon “Baywatch”, the then 22-year-old became as famous around the world as the sweet drink. The lifeguards of Malibu” cast their buoys on screen in 140 countries. Week after week, 1.1 billion viewers gasped when the Californian hard bodies rushed into the sea because someone hadn’t waited 30 minutes after dinner to get into the water. Whether at the tile tables of Bad Oeynhausen or in the hammocks of Isla Ratón, the sun-kissed Canadian became the epitome of the All American Product – like Coca-Cola, an artificiality calibrated to perfection.
Flood of scandals
If silicone jokes were shares, we would have been shouting “Buy!” into our brick-sized Nokia every day in the nineties and sending Pamela Anderson a fruit basket every week. Sweaty radio and TV presenters on five continents allowed themselves far too intimate questions and far too tasteless jokes about her body. Pam skillfully smiled away the impertinence, flirted with the image of the hydrogen blonde and expertly curated her own permissiveness – until a handyman stole private video tapes from her and then-husband Tommy Lee’s villa and edited them into a sex tape. The intimate recordings went viral on the Internet in a way that – well – a modem allowed in 1997. (Incidentally, Wi-Fi technology, which is almost 50 times faster, was launched in the same year. Coincidence? Or horny scientists suddenly working overtime?) To date, the video is said to have generated over 100 million dollars in revenue – and not a cent of it for Anderson and Lee, even though conspiracy theories still abound that the couple staged the scandal and cashed in on it:
Success story
The misconception that a woman who once undressed for Playboy has permanently lost her right to privacy remains with Pamela Anderson to this day. In the years following the sex tape affair, her career went downhill. Olli Pocher waved Anderson into the living container as a star guest for the first German edition of “Promi Big Brother”, where careers are usually gently pushed into the crematorium fire. Even Pam’s polite smile froze on her face. But while the spotlight seemed to cool, other passions ignited in Anderson, on which she now focused her energy: animal welfare, political activism and: writing. Pam has published two novels, an autobiography and a cookbook to date, and she also maintains a blog on Substack with weekly updates.
New depth
For the past few decades, Hollywood actresses celebrating their 40th birthday has been a bit like relegating the runner-up of a “Bachelor” season to the “Celebrity Big Brother” house: the beginning of the end. But some things get better in this world. The woman who, at the height of her fame, was reduced to supposed artificiality like no other is now being celebrated for her art. In 2022, Anderson made her successful Broadway debut in the musical “Chicago”. The Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominated her for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the film drama “The Last Showgirl”. And the Zurich Film Festival honored the 57-year-old with the Golden Eye Award for her performance. Pamela Anderson has regained her glamor. She has now voluntarily renounced glamor: since 2023, Pam has consistently appeared in public without make-up and lives with her dogs in the Canadian coastal town of Ladysmith on the farm where she once grew up. As a lifeguard, she doesn’t save anyone on the beach in Malibu. But as an activist, she might save the world a little bit.
The Last Showgirl
Lights out in Las Vegas: The cabaret show “Razzle Dazzle” closes its velvet doors in the gambling juggernaut. This leaves Shelly (Pamela Anderson), who winked her eyes on stage for three decades, with nothing. Caught between a future full of uncertainty and a past full of regrets, the showgirl tries not to let her last feathers fly and make it in the glitter town one last time. Director Gia Coppola – granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola, niece of Sofia Coppola – gives leading actress Pamela Anderson her artistic career highlight with this film drama.
“The Last Showgirl” by Gia Coppola, with Pamela Anderson, Dave Bautista and others, in cinemas from March 20.
Winona Ryder is just as iconic as Pam. You can read why here.
How does Pam do as a showgirl? Watch the trailer and see for yourself.
