Baywatch’s Casey Jean Parker may have spent her days saving lives on a California beach, but that didn’t stop Pamela Anderson from wearing a full face of makeup both on and off screen.
In the 1990s, the actress, 57, was instantly recognizable for her dark smoky eyes and heavily lined lips.
But since 2019, the mother of two has drastically moved away from her signature makeup and vowed to stop wearing it entirely following the devastating loss of a close friend.
At last night’s Gotham Film Awards in New York, Pamela kept her word when she appeared bare-faced on the red carpet in an elegant strapless yellow dress.
Although the actress had to wear a lot of makeup for her role in The Last Showgirl, Pamela told reporters on the red carpet that it no longer has a place in her personal life.
talking to people magazineexplained: ‘Makeup has a time and a place. I feel like in my personal life it didn’t really make sense.”
Last year, Pamela revealed that the loss of her close friend Alexis Vogel, who was also her longtime makeup artist, was what prompted her to stop wearing makeup altogether.
Speaking fondly of her late friend, the actress said she: ‘She was the best.
In the photo: Pamela Anderson chose to go bare-faced at last night’s Gotham Film Awards in New York.
Pictured: Pamela Anderson at Elton John’s AIDS Foundation party in Hollywood in 2006, where she opted for her signature makeup.
“And since then I felt that, without Alexis, it was better for me not to wear makeup.”
The two women became friends after meeting on the set of one of Pamela’s first Playboy magazine cover shoots in the 1990s.
Pamela and Alexis were friends for 26 years before the makeup artist died of breast cancer in 2019.
In an interview with MailOnline in 2014, Alexis explained how she helped Pamela find her signature image in Hollywood.
She explained: “I had heard of her, she had been on Home Improvement and she had just started on Baywatch, but I didn’t really have her image – she was a baby.”
‘He was quite fresh-faced, but I wanted to give him a clearer image. I really loved Bridget Bardot, that sex kitten with perfect features, but of course this was a retro version, making her my own and with her own look.’
Stunned by her reflection, Pamela told Alexis, who was then working on Playboy cover shoots and editorials: ‘I have to ask you to do my makeup every day for the rest of my life!’
In November 1994, Pamela’s next Playboy cover, she was a bleach blonde vampire.
Pictured: Pamela Anderson with her close friend and makeup artist Alexis Vogel, who died of breast cancer in 2019.
In the 1990s, the actress, 57, was instantly recognizable for her dark, smoky eyes and heavily lined lips.
Alexis says: ‘I still have her saying that on tape, I saved it. The rest is history, she has been very loyal, we have been loyal to each other.
‘We have a very, very close friendship, we are like best friends. After all these years of working together and in all kinds of conditions, it has been a wonderful and uninterrupted journey.”
What’s more, Alexis said she felt like an aunt to Pamela’s two sons, Brandon and Dylan, whom she shares with ex-husband Tommy Lee.
Alexis, excited about her friend’s fatherhood, added: “She is a very good mother, a little strict, but she had to be.”
The Canadian actress wowed in a sleeveless, body-hugging gold dress with a train at the Gotham Film Awards in New York last night.
The former Baywatch actress didn’t wear makeup for the event, having previously spoken about how the loss of a dear friend inspired her to stop wearing makeup.
‘They turned out to be wonderful, independent and small businessmen. There are no drugs. They are very, very educated and I don’t know which one is more beautiful and they are very intelligent, they brought out the best in both parents.
Elsewhere in her 2023 Elle interview, Pamela said going makeup-free has been “liberating, fun and a little rebellious too.”
She added: “I realized there were all these people doing great makeup looks, and it’s just like me to go against the grain and do the opposite of what everyone else is doing.”
Pamela also commented on aging and how it’s been a “journey” for her.
He continued: ‘I think we all start to look a little strange when we get older. And I laugh at myself when I look in the mirror. I’m like, “Wow, this is really…what’s happening to me?” It’s a trip. I feel rooted. I feel good. “I’m in a good place.”