Pamela Anderson has recalled how she was allegedly once paid to attend Donald Trump’s birthday party as a Playmate.
The former Baywatch star first rose to prominence after being selected as the February 1990 Playboy Playmate of the month, and went on to feature regularly on the magazine’s cover.
Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live this week, Anderson spoke about her critically acclaimed performance in Gia Coppola’s 2024 drama film The Last Showgirl and her days as a Playboy star.
Anderson, who is Canadian and lives in British Columbia, appeared unimpressed by the US president’s desire to turn Canada into the 51st state.
Kimmel then asked her about a rumour he had heard about how she was apparently paid to turn up to Trump’s birthday party.
“When you’re a Playmate, they give you $500 a day to pretty much go anywhere, so I was hired at that time for a birthday party,” Anderson explained.
“How sad that he has to hire people to come to his birthday party,” Kimmel joked.
Anderson has previously said the event was in 2005 and that Trump was “with a wife – I don’t know which one” at the time.
Trump married former model Melania Knauss in 2005. She gave birth to their son, Barron, a year later.
“He was nothing special,” Anderson said of the now-president.
Anderson’s performance in The Last Showgirl has received strong reviews and been hailed by some critics as a “comeback” as she continues to enjoy a career renaissance. The film tells the story of Shelly (Anderson), a veteran dancer in Las Vegas on the verge of retirement.
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She was also the subject of a 2023 Netflix documentary, Pamela, a Love Story, which recounted her early life and childhood, her status as an international sex symbol through her appearances in Playboy and on Baywatch, and her turbulent marriage to Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee.
In 2022, her relationship with Lee and the scandal over a stolen sex tape of the couple was depicted in the Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy, with Lily James as Anderson.
She later confirmed that she was unhappy with the show, as it incited a “painful aftershock of trauma”. She and Lee divorced in 1998 when he was sentenced to six months in jail for assaulting her.
Earlier this year, she took another swipe at Pam & Tommy as she said the critical acclaim for The Last Showgirl, along with her Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, was “the best payback”.
“I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t have any involvement,” she said of the Hulu series. “No one called me, which was so strange, and that was hurtful.”
She revealed last year that James sent her a handwritten letter prior to portraying her, which she did not read.
“I do wish things had been different and that [Anderson] wanted to be involved,” James told Entertainment Weekly.
Showrunners Robert Siegel and DV DeVincentis told the publication that they had contacted Anderson about Pam & Tommy but did not get a response.
“I mean, it’s just one of those things. It happened and now I’m here, and so this is the best payback… I’m being seen and recognised for my work and not these tawdry moments,” Anderson said.
“I don’t dwell on it, but it was kind of a strange thing to pick a very terrible time in my life and make entertainment and people were nominated for Emmys and all sorts of stuff,” she added.
“And that’s why I was laughing with someone the other day – Pete Hammond was telling me, ‘All these people have won awards basically playing you, but not you’… I guess they did it better than me.”
