Pamela unmasked 'I DON'T NEED TO HIDE ANY MORE'

Turning her back on the glitz, the star just wants to be taken seriously

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Bronzed, blonde and lip-glossed to perfection, Pamela Anderson rocketed to stardom on Baywatch in 1992. Filling out her red swimsuit in all the eye-popping places, she was emulated by women and desired by men all over the globe.

Through five seasons of the hit TV show, Pamela wielded her sexual power like a legendary Hollywood vixen. But more than 30 years later - after decades in a career slump - the actor is stepping again into her power.

Yet it's a very different power from what she once had but, perhaps most gratifying to Pamela, women still want to be her. Just for very different reasons.

“She's proving that your fifties and sixties can be fabulous,” cultural commentator Laura Craik says of the 57-year- old star. “Pammy is positive proof that renaissances don't come with an expiry date.”

It's been more than a year now since the once Barbie-esque entertainer announced she'd turned her back on all the usual trimmings of Hollywood femininity - no fancy hair and make-up team. No stylists. Just her own natural visage.

Now when she leaves her isolated home in the wilds of Vancouver Island, Canada, she does so without a skerrick of make-up. And it was the same last month when she arrived on the Golden Globes red carpet as a Best Actress nominee for the critically acclaimed movie The Last Showgirl.