Through the release of her recent memoir and documentary, actor Pamela Anderson has shared notable stories from throughout her life and career. Addressing her life in the spotlight, the Baywatch legend is hitting all of the points that you would expect, as well as some that you might not. When it comes to the subject of her famous breast implants, Anderson’s feelings on the matter have evolved over time. Partially through her new documentary Pamela, a love story, she’s reexamined the attention they’ve gotten and how she handled the issue in the past.
In the recently debuted Netflix original, the media’s obsession with talking about her body comes up pretty early on. With a mixture of candor and humor, Pamela Anderson approaches what is one of the most significant issues that’s followed her through for decades. As she starts to tell that story, she admits that in the beginning, honesty was the only policy she knew to follow:
I always said my boobs had a career and I was just tagging along. … I didn’t know to lie or withhold anything in interviews. So when people would ask me if I had surgery or anything like that, then I’d just answer. And so that just kind of set the ball rolling.
With archival footage of interviews that range from flat out inquiries to dancing around the subject, the Netflix doc shows Pamela Anderson fielding all sorts of questions about her then augmented breasts (which, according to Health, were removed in 1999). Complimenting that is the former Home Improvement star’s revelation of the decision making process that led her to getting implants. Anderson continued to explore the subject with this story, with these details from her early days at Playboy:
I remember when I was with Kimberly Hefner, and she was married to Hefner, she said, ‘Well, you know, they all had surgery.’ And I was like, ‘Really? Where do I sign up?’ So that was it. Choices in the moment. You know, not a lot of thinking went into anything. It was like, I don’t know why my boobs… people were so interested, they weren’t that newsworthy. But I was just pretty naive. And i think at the time, it was pretty nervy to say the truth. When someone asked me, I said, ‘Yeah!’
That openness about her cosmetic surgery led to her implants becoming a regular topic, as viewers of Pamela, a love story see through clips featured in the doc. As time went on, appearances on shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Larry King Live gave Pamela Anderson opportunities to voice her displeasure about the subject’s constant revival, and those moments are laid bare in the streaming doc.
In one clip, she even equates being asked about her figure to torture, telling Jay Leno that she’d treat him in kind if they ever switched places. A progression of footage shows the initially naive Anderson slowly becoming more upset about being asked the same question for years of media appearances. This change in attitude is best reflected by her own summary:
It was disturbing, because it was like, ‘Oh my God. Really? Is this what we’re talking about again?’ But you roll with it. … I don’t see how it’s so interesting. I think it’s kind of inappropriate to ask women those kind of questions. There has to be some line that people don’t cross. I always hoped something would come along where I would do something which would be more interesting to people. You know, than my body.
While Pamela Anderson is willing to be open, the cultural obsession with her breasts mutated that attitude into something a bit more guarded. Though she does get candid about them at least once in Pamela, a love story, as she offhandedly remarks that her breasts are “rough,” while joking about flashing the camera. After a life that saw her living in debt, even with Baywatch on her resume, it looks to be the dawn of a new era for Anderson and her life story.
In the course of an interview that reveals facts both heartbreaking and intriguing, Ms. Anderson has certainly gotten her wish. Revealing stories like that time she was asked to do the Baywatch movie “for free”, as well as the ongoing story that alleged Tim Allen flashing incident on the set of Home Improvement, she’s shared a lot more than her body with the world. And the results have been eye-opening, even in this early stage, which you can catch a glimpse of in the trailer for Pamela, a love story shown below:
Readers with a Netflix subscription can watch Pamela, a love story, as it’s currently streaming on the platform. You can also read, Love, Pamela, Anderson’s recently released memoir, which is available wherever you choose to purchase reading material.
