Pamela Anderson has blunt statement about beauty following makeup-free looks
After months of keeping fans guessing with her ever-changing make-up preferences, Pamela Anderson has made her feelings about beauty crystal clear.
The Baywatch icon, 59, has opened up about her evolving relationship with makeup in a brand new interview, as well as the importance of embracing her own version of beauty.
Anderson's comments come after years of turning heads with her increasingly natural appearance, although she's made it clear she's not completely ruling out a glamorous look every now and then.
Her fresh-faced looks of late have been a far cry from the signature smoky eyes, thin eyebrows and bold lips that made her one of the most recognisable faces of the 1990s - and she's since spoken about how liberating it feels to step away from the pressure to look a certain way, while encouraging others to feel comfortable in their own skin.
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Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE this week, the blonde bombshell, 59, shared her thoughts on modern-day beauty standards in a bold statement, and why she's choosing to do things her own way.
"I really put the blinders on for what’s going on around me, and what do I love?" she questioned. "What do I want to do? It’s not necessarily about being pretty. Beauty, I think, is more of an inner radiance.
"I will not be told what beautiful is. I have my own version of beauty, and it’s ageless. And it’s not comparative to other people."
The mother-of-two first surprised fans when she arrived at Paris Fashion Week in 2023 with a completely bare face, sparking conversations about beauty standards and the pressure on women in the spotlight to look a certain way.
"I don’t know, something just kind of came over me and I was dressing in these beautiful clothes and I thought, 'I don’t want to compete with the clothes', she told Vogue France at the time.
"I’m not trying to be the prettiest girl in the room. I feel like it’s just freedom. It’s a release."
She later revealed that her decision to ditch her prior glam routine initially came after the death of her longtime makeup artist and close friend, Alexis Vogel, who died from breast cancer in 2019.
"She was the best," Anderson told ELLE in 2023. "And since then, I just felt, without Alexis, it’s just better for me not to wear makeup," she said.
Her decision became particularly noticeable when she began attending major fashion events without makeup, with Anderson later admitting she hadn't expected the choice to attract so much attention.
Since then, she's continued to embrace her natural appearance at red carpet events, film premieres and magazine shoots, while occasionally dipping back into a little glam.
In September, Anderson even surprised fans by sporting a more dramatic makeup look at Vogue World: Milano during Milan Fashion Week, proving she's still happy to experiment with her appearance.
However, speaking to PEOPLE this week, she explained that her approach to beauty is about following her own instincts rather than trying to keep up with what's popular.
"When I think about beauty, I think of ancient beauty," Anderson admitting, adding that 21st century beauty standards had become 'so tailor-made to what’s being fed to us'.
The former model also revealed that she enjoys experimenting with different looks, but doesn't feel the need to follow anyone else's expectations.
Elsewhere in her latest interview, Anderson reflected on how much pressure people can face to conform to particular beauty ideals.
"I think we’re really hard on ourselves," she said. "With stylists and glam teams and all these kinds of things, they all have their ideas and their mood boards. I want to get my own mood board. I am my own mood board.
"So I think this is all very much connected."
The actress previously admitted that her makeup-free journey has resonated with people who may feel similarly pressured by society's expectations.
Speaking to The Sunday Times in November 2024, she said: "I didn’t realize it was going to start all of this, all these people really relating to me. It’s a great message - we are good enough just the way we are.
"I have to remind myself of that every day."
Topics: Pamela Anderson, Celebrity, US News, Make-Up, Beauty
Rhianna Benson