Pamela Anderson says preparing for “The Last Showgirl” was a deeply personal experience.
Anderson appeared on Tuesday’s episode of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” alongside “Anora” actress Mikey Madison, where Anderson opened up about how she pulled from her “whole life” to inform her role in the Gia Coppola-directed drama.
“I was able to bring a lot of my own personal experience, my long life of dealing with beauty and glamour and aging and reassessing life choices,” Anderson told Madison, speaking about the emotional preparation she did.
“I got to bring my whole life into this role,” she added.
“The Last Showgirl” stars Anderson as Shelly, a Las Vegas showgirl whose show abruptly closes after a 30-year-run, forcing her to face her future and plan for it head-on. Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka and Billie Lourd round out the cast.
In the Variety interview, Anderson went on to talk about her two sons Brandon and Dylan Lee, who she shares with her ex, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. She said that while working on the film, she looked back on her life and came to some realizations about her kids’ experience seeing their mom be “sexualized in some way.”
“A lot of the things I went through, I didn’t realize my kids were going through them at the same time,” she said. She added that she and her kids, who are now adults in their 20s, “talk about that a lot and (I) kind of beg forgiveness… But we’re such a team now.”
Anderson earned her first-ever Golden Globe nomination for her role in “Last Showgirl.”
During Tuesday’s episode, the “Baywatch” star said she is really trying to live in the moment and enjoy this time in her life, even though the role has inspired some introspection.
“I’m not ashamed of my life. I’m not ashamed of the choices that I made even though maybe in hindsight, I would have done things differently. But you need life experience to know that you would have done that differently,” Anderson said.
She continued, “I feel like now I have the freedom to focus on things instead of worrying about a relationship or my family. My kids are grown. I’m free. Now I can play again.”
