Becca Anderson
speaker
136 appearances
6 recordings
1 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard Jan 2025
Becca Anderson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
Well, that's just it. What she endured, that gave her hope, right?
My guest today is Pamela Anderson. She stars in the new film The Last Showgirl, where she plays Shelly, a veteran performer from Las Vegas who learns that her show is shutting down after a 30-year run. At 57, Shelley must grapple with the sacrifices she's made in her personal life for the benefit of her career, including her relationship with her daughter, played by Billie Lourd.
The Last Showgirl was directed by Gia Coppola and also stars Jamie Lee Curtis, who is almost unrecognizable as a former showgirl and Shelley's best friend. Pamela Anderson became a pop culture phenomenon in the 1980s and 90s,
The blockbuster television series Baywatch made her a household name, and the show itself was at one time the most-watched series in the world with over a billion viewers each week, making Anderson the highest-paid actress on television at the time. International distributors of the show even enacted a Pamela Claus in their contracts. agreeing to purchase only episodes that she was in.
But throughout the 2000s, Anderson struggled to make a name for herself outside of that 90s persona until the opportunity for reinvention came with her Broadway debut in 2022 as Roxy Hart in Chicago and the Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story, which is a tender and intimate portrait of her life produced by her son Brandon. Pamela Anderson, welcome to Fresh Air.
It is such a pleasure to have you here.
You know, Pamela, I'm so fascinated by your journey over the last few years because before this role in The Last Showgirl was presented to you, I read that you had all but moved on from Hollywood. You actually looked at this script, though, and you said, I'm the only one that can do this. What was it about this script that made you just know?
But your character, Shelley, is part of this Vegas show called La Razzle Dazzle, which actually is based on this real show that was in Vegas for many decades called Jubilee. How would you describe that show?
Yeah. You mentioned you met with those original showgirls. What did they teach you about their experiences? What were some of the stories that they shared with you that really stuck with you as you embodied this character?
You mentioned how there are parallels to your life. Your life is not exact to this character, but the defining of who you really are is something you've had to do because for so long you were enshrined in the 90s, the playboy, the Baywatch Pamela. So much so that this person who was kind of representing you, I guess they were an agent and didn't even bother to show you the script.
What's the story behind that?
Pamela, I want to talk a little bit more about this role because the director, Gia Coppola, said she knew you were the one for the role after watching you in this documentary about your life for Netflix that your son Brandon produced. And we are watching this.
Your character, grappling with the ramifications of her decision to put her career above everything else, including her relationship with her daughter Hannah, which is played by Billy Lord. Your character in this movie did not raise her daughter full time because the demands of her work was the priority.
As a working mother, I think about my kids all the time in the future, how they will view the decisions that I make now that will impact the relationship that we have when we're adults. And so what is so moving for me about your story, Pamela, is that your son Brandon not only made sure that
that we saw this tender and more expansive view of who you were, but he also was instrumental in making certain that you received this script that Gia Coppola had thought you were perfect for. Your son is part of your comeback.
How does it feel to know that your children see you? They seem to see the totality of who you are. It's sort of a testament to you as a mother.
The thing about the choices we make as mothers when our kids are growing up, we just don't know what the outcome will be. We just don't.
try to do the best that we can but it must have been really hard for you to both be a mother but also deal with this level of fame that you were in the 90s I mean because you weren't just famous you were tabloid famous so that means that there were lots of stories that were out there about you that were beyond your control how did you manage that as a mother while also shielding them from this public persona that was you?
You mentioned your co-star, Jamie Lee Curtis. She plays an older, former showgirl who now works in the casino as a waitress. And you guys are really good friends. And Jamie actually told you that she took this role because of you. When did you learn that?
Because we should say this woman, the character has like a very, very orange tan.
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