The casting announcement of Gia Coppola鈥檚 film “The Last Showgirl” caused an immediate pop culture frisson. The film鈥攄irected by Francis Ford Coppola鈥檚 granddaughter鈥攆ocuses on Shelley, the aging star of Las Vegas鈥 last floor show, and the choices she faces when the production she鈥檚 starred in for decades closes down. The lead actor: Pamela Anderson, our own real-life longtime star with a shiny, almost too glamorous past, and a renaissance well underway, secured by reclaiming her own narrative with her startlingly vulnerable memoir, “Love, Pamela” and the documentary, “Pamela, A Love Story.”
The excitement was warranted: Anderson鈥檚 turn as Shelley in “The Last Showgirl” drew rapturous applause at this year鈥檚 TIFF. Sitting down with Anderson the week of the premiere, it鈥檚 impossible not to notice that while her face is bare and unadorned鈥攂efitting her rise as a no-makeup icon鈥攕he still shines with that rare quality: star power. She still displays a bit of that hand-twisting nervousness that has always undercut her glam image, but she is eager to talk, the words tumbling out of her.
When asked why Shelley鈥檚 journey resonated with her, she replied, simply, 鈥淲ell, we鈥檙e the same.鈥
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When she read the script, she felt like it had been written for her. 鈥淓very time I read it, the words and everything, I was just like, this is something really important for me to do, and I was so blessed to be able to get the chance to do it,鈥 said Anderson.
Pamela Anderson with her sons, Dylan Lee Jagger (behind, left) and Brandon Thomas Lee at Copenhagen Fashion Week on August 8, 2024.聽
Martin Sylvest Andersen/Getty Images for Pandora
She believes the story will resonate with a lot of women, particularly the mother-daughter relationship depicted. 鈥淎 lot of my life has been backstage; trying to balance all the things we do as women, as parents鈥攎ale or female, anybody鈥攚e’re all just trying to do the best we can, and realize our dreams at the same time,鈥 she said. 鈥淲hat do you do in your fifties, and you’ve kind of put your career first and you haven’t been there for your kids enough? You’re facing your adult children鈥攚e all have to face our adult children and beg for forgiveness at some point in our lives about how we did the best we could with the tools we had.鈥
Anderson鈥檚 devotion to her now-adult sons, Dylan and Brandon, is evident in her next project: a deeply personal cookbook coming out October 15. It鈥檚 a collection of recipes Anderson has passed along to her sons as housewarming gifts, accompanied by personal stories. It鈥檚 called, simply, “I Love You.” Clearly, she has a lot of love these days: not least for her life on Vancouver Island.
Anderson says she felt like she had been keeping a secret her whole career: that she was capable of more than she鈥檇 done. Her seaside paradise, her carefully tended garden, was a place of solace and joy. 鈥淵ou sometimes go, 鈥榃ell, it’s okay, people are going to think of me a certain way and I鈥檝e just got to live with that,鈥 she said. 鈥淸I can] go make some jam, go get some strawberries out of the garden, I can make some part of my life beautiful and creative.鈥 She described seeing these plantings and projects come to fruition as profoundly satisfying, almost transcendent. 鈥淭o see the result and go, 鈥極h, I did it, I did it,鈥 it鈥檚 like, 鈥業 can breathe. I can live. My whole life is changed.鈥欌
One part of Anderson鈥檚 life that has not changed throughout the years is her commitment to fighting cruelty, most prominently as a face of PETA. She鈥檚 been offered many major campaigns, but has turned most down as they didn鈥檛 mesh with her iron-clad values. Signing on as an ambassador for the jewellery brand Pandora鈥檚 lab-grown diamond collection, however, was a fit. 鈥淚 knew mining was bad for the environment, and with diamonds, there’s the cruelty that’s also associated with it,鈥 she said.
Pamela Anderson on the day of our interview, wearing a Pandora necklace of 0.1-carat lab-grown diamonds.聽
Norman Wong
Anderson always felt uncomfortable wearing extravagant fine jewellery on red carpets. 鈥淵ou just feel like, 鈥楳y god, I cannot lose this, I can’t afford this,鈥欌 she says.
Her much-discussed recent affection for a pared-down look with little to no makeup has inspired a move toward wearing jewellery again. Back in the day, it didn鈥檛 make sense 鈥渨ith all that going on鈥濃攈ere, her hands swept expansively over her face and body to communicate her previous penchant for heavy makeup and glitzy outfits. Now, with her her 鈥渂are-faced and relaxed鈥 style, 鈥渋t’s kind of like your expression. I feel like it works.鈥
What鈥檚 next for Anderson? She hopes to become a grandmother soon. She is continuing to hone her sourdough skills; she brings her own starter when shooting on location and bakes bread for everybody on set. And she will always return to the garden. 鈥淚 have a big, beautiful vegetable garden, and my heirloom tomatoes are coming,鈥 she said with glee. They鈥檙e behind this year, she admitted. But they are emerging at last: a little late, perhaps, but damn near perfect.
Briony Smith writes about culture, entertainment and
lifestyle for the Star.
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