Pamela Anderson Unveils the Real Reason Behind Her Makeup-Free Transformation

Isn’t it wild how our pop culture icons outgrow the iconic images we cling to? I mean—remember the hurricane of glossy red swimsuits, fuzzy blonde hair, and impossibly perfect makeup that defined Pamela Anderson for an entire generation? Now, take a breath and imagine her saying, “Nah, I’m good. No more ‘sex symbol.’” I gotta admit, there’s something so oddly refreshing—and if we’re being honest, a wee bit subversive—about a woman who built an empire out of the fantasy, only to turn around and pull the curtain back, makeup wipes in hand. Do our fixations ever really serve the people behind the gloss, or do they just box them in? From Baywatch’s slow-mo runs to candid podcasts and bare faces, Anderson’s tossing her self-made cartoon character out the window. She’s letting us know, at 58, she’s rewriting the script—one that doesn’t require an airbrushed mask or a “sex symbol” badge. And honestly, it’s about time someone did . LEARN MORE

Pamela Anderson no longer wants to be referred to as a ‘sex symbol.’

The former actor’s name was once synonymous with Hollywood glamour, smokey eyes and messy blonde bun, thanks to her stint on 90s series Baywatch and numerous appearances in Playboy magazine.

However, the 58-year-old is now striving to put her sexualised image and skintight swimsuits behind her once and for all.

The Last Showgirl star’s decision to wave goodbye to her make-up bag and opt for bare skin previously went viral, prompting Anderson to reveal that she no longer feels the same about wearing cosmetics after the death of her make-up artist Alexis Vogel.

“I love to wear makeup too sometimes,” she later clarified to PEOPLE, adding: “It has a time and a place. I just feel in my personal life, it just didn’t really make sense.”

Pamela Anderson was considered a ‘sex symbol’ for most of her career (Mick Hutson/Redferns)

And it’s not only make-up which Anderson has changed her mind on either, with the model revealing in a new interview that she doesn’t find the phrase ‘sex symbol’ to be particularly sexy.

Speaking to Elizabeth Day on her How To Fail podcast, Anderson revealed: “I don’t like being a sex symbol. I mean, I think it’s not very sexy.

“I think we all aspire to be sexy in our relationships, but sexy for the world is, I don’t know,” she continued.

The Home Improvement actor went on to note that while she wasn’t ‘complaining’ about the term, it did bring her ‘a lot of attention’, which she found uncomfortable.

“I hate to say that because I’m not complaining, but I do feel that is a slippery slope where you are presenting yourself to the world like this and you get this attention back.”

However she is no longer comfortable with the term (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Anderson now believes that it’s important to present herself ‘in different ways because women are many things.’

“It can be even scary at times, me not wearing makeup and me being at this age, coming into this part of my career, I felt it was important for me in my personal life, to be more natural,” she added.

“I want to challenge myself and become and to be present myself in different ways because women are many things. We’re not just the wild animal between the sheets.”

Ditching make-up and transitioning away from a ‘sex symbol’ image aren’t the only changes which Anderson has made in recent years either, as she has also decided to largely ‘quit’ Hollywood.

Anderson now sports a more natural look (Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images)

“What is this cartoon character that I’d created? OK, that was fun. But I’m not that person anymore,” she told Better Homes and Gardens magazine last August.

“I’m glad I did all that, but I’m really glad I’m where I am now. I think the most important part is, I made it through all of it.”