Pamela Anderson is embracing vulnerability. While attending the Zurich Film Festival to accept the Golden Eye Award and promote her upcoming film The Last Showgirl, the actress opened up about a deeply personal struggle, revealing that she may have silently battled depression for years, as first reported by Variety.
“I never thought I would be on stage, receiving an award like that,” she said at the event. “I just want to keep working. I am excited to do more.”
Reflecting on her journey, she added, “I look at it now, and it feels like I went from Baywatch to Broadway. I don’t know what happened in between; it’s all a big blur. I am just happy to be here, in this moment, because I think I have had depression for a couple of decades.”
Anderson didn’t delve further into her possible struggle with depression, but she did express gratitude for where her career and self-awareness have brought her. The 2023 documentary Pamela, a Love Story and her memoir Love, Pamela have played key roles in shaping this new chapter. “Ryan [White] made that doc and that’s how Gia saw me. I always knew I was capable of more. It’s great to be a part of pop culture, but it’s a blessing and a curse. People fall in love with you because of a bathing suit. It has taken a long time, but I am here.”
In line with her commitment to being authentic, Anderson has also made headlines in recent years for embracing a makeup-free lifestyle. Discussing her shift towards minimalism recently, she said it “is really empowering. I know it seems a little bit crazy. I’m also trying to find myself and who I am, kind of, underneath it all and trying to peel back the layers. And we’re women or whoever, anybody—what we look like underneath the mask is still good enough for a cover of a magazine.
It’s important, no matter where you are in your beauty journey, to accept yourself as you are,” she continued. “I think, instead of trying to be this polished person, I’d rather be raw. One eye is smaller than the other, my nose is crooked, my lips are weird. Everyone is weird. Everyone has imperfections.”