Pamela Anderson has opened up about the heartbreaking reasons she felt she had to leave Hollywood to start a new life in her home country of Canada.
The former Playboy model and Baywatch star, 57, made a name for herself with her larger-than-life image, as well as her blonde hair and famous figure.
She cemented herself in pop culture with her notorious relationship with Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, with whom she shares two sons.
However, in recent years, Pamela has changed her life around, opting to go make-up-free, as well as live a quieter life away from the spotlight.
She explained why she made the decision to leave her old life behind, telling Women’s Wear Daily that it was a way for her “to really kind of look at [her] life and remember who [she] was.”
Pamela added: “Not what other people were telling me I was — and I didn’t want anything that had happened to me define me.
“I wanted what I do to define me… all these realizations came to me in the rose garden [in Vancouver Island].”
Pamela decided to make the move from Hollywood to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, a few years ago, previously revealing to Better Homes & Gardens that she “needed a change” after finding she “kind of gave up at some point.”
She explained: “I don’t know what happened over the last few decades, but I feel now so far removed from the image of who I was.”
Pamela admitted she felt “misunderstood” and “very sad and lonely”, adding: “I felt like I had really screwed up, that my whole life was a bundle of mistakes.”
She also revealed that she felt disconnected from her former image as a bombshell, adding: “People have this pneumatic kind of image of me from Playboy to Baywatch, to my rock ’n’ roll type of husbands, to everything else.
“But I also played into the image that was created around me. I’m glad I did all that, but I’m really glad I’m where I am now.”
She gave herself credit for the fact she’d “made it through all of it”, adding: “Now it’s such a relief that I get to be myself and enjoy this time.”
Pamela has also made several public appearances in recent months with no make-up on, having chosen instead to embrace her natural beauty.
The star, who was famed for her iconic look in the 90s and beyond, told Glamour in September that going au naturale is the best she’s ever felt.
“I’m finding I feel more comfortable in my skin now than I probably have in the last 30 years,” she confirmed.
