Pamela Anderson Says She Stopped Wearing Makeup After the Death of Her Makeup Artist

Pamela Anderson is opening up about her glam evolution, revealing why she's been putting a fresh face forward in recent years.

In an interview with Elle published on Thursday, the 56-year-old Baywatch alum shares that she didn't often have a say in her appearance during the early days of her career. "I just went along with what people were telling me what to do," she says.

In 2019, Anderson's makeup artist, Alexis Vogel, died from breast cancer. The loss put Anderson's perspective on beauty in sharp perspective.

"She was the best," Anderson says of Vogel. "And since then, I just felt, without Alexis, it's just better for me not to wear makeup."

Calling her new minimalist aesthetic "freeing, and fun, and a little rebellious too," Anderson notes that she's always been one to buck trends.

"I did notice that there were all these people doing big makeup looks, and it's just like me to go against the grain and do the opposite of what everyone's doing," she admits.

"I think we all start looking a little funny when we get older," the actress continues. "And I’m kind of laughing at myself when I look at the mirror. I go, 'Wow, this is really...what’s happening to me?' It’s a journey."

Anderson's interview coincides with her fall 2023 campaign for Aritzia's Babaton collection, which sees the fashion icon posing in business attire at her rustic home on Vancouver Island in Canada. The images are in stark contrast to her famed style of the '90s, which has inspired a #Pamcore movement.

"My kids told me about it, because I don’t have these apps on my phone or anything. I refuse to," she says of the trend. Calling her looks "wild and uninhibited," Anderson adds, "I don't know if it was a defense mechanism or what. I just thought, 'I'm going to have fun.'"

The Anderson obsession dovetails nicely with Barbiecore, with Anderson revealing that she has a close personal tie to the iconic doll.

"Ruth Handler actually gave me one of the first Barbies. She was a neighbor. It was the first platinum Barbie, in a red bathing suit,” she remembers of the Barbie creator, adding with a laugh, "I resonated more with Barbarella, or maybe Barb Wire, than Barbie."

ET last spoke to Anderson at the January premiere of her Netflix documentary, Pamela, a Love Story. Her son, Brandon Lee, helped produce the project.

"Well, it's very, very touching. Very emotional. I mean, he's such a great kid, and so creative. And really, just put this whole thing together," Anderson said of her eldest son's work on the film. "He's really ... it was the reason it all kind of happened. This all feels so meant to be, it's like this divine timing. It feels surreal to me, but I'm very proud of him."

Meanwhile, Lee -- the son of Anderson and rocker Tommy Lee -- called it a "great honor" to be a part of his mother's story.

"I think for me, it was just a great honor ... to be able to tell it in any way possible," he shared. "I never thought I'd be in this position ever, nor did I really ever want to be, so I think it more to me just kind of felt like a duty and something I had to do, and I'm happy we did it."

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