Yahoo Lifestyle “I Really Don’t Want To Go Backwards”: Pamela Anderson Explained Why She “Had Nothing To Do With” The New “Baywatch” Docuseries
Back in July, ABC News Studios unveiled a new documentary series, After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun.
The four-part docuseries, slated to examine the cultural impact of the popular show, which ran for 11 seasons between 1989 and 2001, looked set to include interviews with original Baywatch cast members like Nicole Eggert, Carmen Electra, and, of course, Pamela Anderson, who played C.J.
But now, in a new interview with Glamour magazine as their Woman of the Year, Pamela emphasized that she had no direct involvement in the project, which premiered on Hulu in August.
“Even today, someone showed me something that Hulu’s doing, some kind of Baywatch [documentary], which I have nothing to do with,” she said in the interview, which took place around the time the docuseries was announced.
Despite being featured in the trailer for After Baywatch, Pamela clarified that the “never before seen” clips of her used in the docuseries were old and had been “dug up” by the creators.
ABC News / Hulu / YouTube / Via youtu.be
“I had nothing to do with this documentary,” she said.
Pamela also revealed that the people behind the docuseries went to great lengths to get her to contribute — even going as far as contacting her sons, Brandon Thomas Lee and Dylan Jagger Lee, and promising them “producer credits” on the show.
“They begged everybody around me. They tried to get my kids to talk me into it. They said they’d give them producer credits,” she recalled. For context, Brandon produced and was heavily involved in making his mom’s 2023 Netflix documentary, Pamela, A Love Story.
“I mean, they were trying everything,” she continued. “And I said, ‘No, I really don’t want to go backwards.’”
Of course, this isn’t the first time Pamela’s life has played out on a Hulu series. In 2022, the streamer released Pam & Tommy, which chronicled the theft and illegal distribution of her and Tommy Lee’s infamous sex tape in the 1990s.
The show was produced by Seth Rogen and starred Lily James and Sebastian Stan as Pamela and Tommy.
Pamela has previously expressed that she disapproved of the series and never signed off on its production. While speaking to Glamour, the 57-year-old looked back on the pain of Pam & Tommy, saying, “It hit me a lot harder than I even imagined.”
“It really felt like another kick in the stomach that people might find that entertaining,” she said, admitting it made her “nauseous” to “even think about it again when it came out.” “And that was…I think I lost my husband, my sanity, my career.”
“In the moment I didn’t realize it,” she continued, recalling the scrutiny she faced in that period of her life. “It’s like post-traumatic, and so then you just start acting out. And I knew that I had lots of things that happened [to me] that I could have handled differently…. In this world, it’s really important how you manage your career. And I was just Wild West-ing it.”
With all that in mind, Pamela made it clear that she’s focused firmly on the future and has no interest in revisiting her past.
“Well, it’s shedding those layers, those protective layers,” she said when asked who she is today. “I realized as a very young child, I was playing roles my whole life. I had such a strong imagination. And it’s just what I did. I didn’t realize that was a career.”
“And then as I moved here and then Playboy…or being married to Tommy, or whatever it was…I just always wanted to be the best I could be at that. What is a Playmate? What is a rock star’s wife? What is a Baywatch [star]?” she said. “This last couple of years…it was an effort to just stay alone and figure out what I love, what I like, what I want to do.”
You can read Pamela’s full interview with Glamour here.
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