Pamela Anderson reveals real reason she fled Hollywood

Pamela Anderson has always been in the spotlight, but behind the glitz and glamour of her Hollywood life was a growing sense of unease.

Anderson became a household name in the early 1990s, taking over Hollywood and global audiences with her role as lifeguard C.J. Parker on the TV show Baywatch.

Originally from Ladysmith, British Columbia, Anderson was first discovered in the late 1980s while attending a Canadian football game.

Anderson opened up about her moved back to Canada (Gilbert Flores/WWD via Getty Images)

Soon after, she landed her first modelling job with Playboy magazine and the rest is history.

Anderson's time in Hollywood spanned over three decades where she starred in multiple films, television shows and remained in the public eye.

However, despite her glamorous life, Anderson often hinted at feeling uneasy with Hollywood’s pressures and the relentless public scrutiny. Now, the iconic actress and model is opening up about why she made the surprising decision to step away from the limelight and leave Hollywood behind.

Back in 2020, the Baywatch actress made the decision to relocate to her home country of Canada. In a new interview with Women's Wear Daily (WWD), Anderson said her move to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, was an opportunity to reconnect with her true self.

"I guess it was a homecoming, you could say, to really kind of look at my life and remember who I was not - not what other people were telling me I was," she told the outlet.

"And I didn't want anything that had happened to me to define me. I wanted what I do to define me," she continued.

This isn't the first time Anderson has spoken about her decision to return to her roots. (Amanda Edwards/Getty Images for Film Independent)

This isn't the first time Anderson has spoken about her decision to return to her roots.

"I was not in a good space when I moved back to Canada," Anderson said in an interview with Better Homes & Gardens for its September 2024 cover story.

"I don't know what happened over the last few decades, but I feel now so far removed from the image of who I was," she explained.

"I felt very sad and lonely. I didn't feel just misunderstood, I felt like I had really screwed up, that my whole life was a bundle of mistakes. I was hard on myself, and I thought I put my family through a lot and put my kids through so much."

Anderson noted that she spent the first few years after the move personally renovating a property for her parents, writing and learning to bake. This time resulted in her 2023 memoir Love, Pamela, as well as a cookbook called I Love You, which was published in October 2024.