'I THOUGHT I WAS RETIRED!' PAMELA ANDERSON HAPPIER- AND BUSIER-THAN EVER, THE BUBBLY STAR TALKS FAMILY, FRIENDS AND WHY SHE LEFT HER 'FANTASY' LIFE BEHIND

Pamela Anderson must be sitting near a window when we reach her on the phone because she quickly notes the sun shining over her home on Vancouver Island. “It’s a beautiful day,” she says, happily. “I love days like these.”

- SARAH TRUMBLEY

It doesn’t come as a surprise that Pamela enjoys this kind of weather. In fact, it pairs wonderfully with her personality: warm, upbeat and full of life. “I’ve always had so much energy, it’s almost annoying,” jokes the former Baywatch star. “I think it’s just genetics. I look at my mother and she has a lot of energy, too.”

The first to admit that she talks “a million miles a minute” when she’s excited, Pamela, 56, says this is especially true in the presence of her children (whom she shares with her ex-husband, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee), Brandon, 27, and Dylan, 25. Both sons live in Los Angeles but come to Canada often. “They obviously just roll their eyes at me sometimes. But, you know, I’m Mom. I don’t have to be cool!” Coming a close second to her boys? “My dogs – they make me laugh every day!”

Although she chalks her bubbly nature up to family traits and “a lot of coffee” – which, she admits, is “probably not the best thing” – the B.C. native also has a number of hobbies that help keep her spirits high throughout the day. “I write every morning, I meditate and I walk around the property,” she tells us of the enchanting six-acre compound that belonged to her late grandparents. She returned home in 2019 to restore it and now lives there full time. “I’m always in the garden, too,” she says. “The wheel barrowing and the more physical things I do in the garden really help me stay centred and calm.”