Pamela Anderson’s connection to another iconic bombshell goes all the way back to childhood.
Anderson revealed how she was first introduced to Barbie by the doll’s own inventor, Ruth Handler, in an interview with Elle magazine.
“Ruth Handler actually gave me one of the first Barbies,” she said. “She was a neighbour. It was the first platinum Barbie, in a red bathing suit.”
That model of Barbie first came out in 1962, five years before Anderson was born in Ladysmith, Canada.
Years later, Anderson would find major fame rocking red beachwear and blonde tresses on the set of the ’90s hit Baywatch.
Despite her likeness to the doll, the actor said she didn’t immediately identify with Barbie.
“I resonated more with Barbarella, or maybe Barb Wire, than Barbie,” she joked, referring to Jane Fonda’s campy 1968 space adventure and Anderson’s 1996 superhero flop.
While Anderson said she wasn’t a die-hard Barbie girl, her fashion sense has become just as iconic as the doll’s.
Reflecting on her wild ’90s style with Elle, she said, “I don’t know if it was a defence mechanism or what. I just thought, ‘I’m going to have fun.’”
Barbie zeitgeist has been everywhere since the Margot Robbie-fronted Mattel movie came out last month.
Since, the Greta Gerwig film has raked in over $1 billion at the box office, making her the highest grossing female director of all time.