Pamela Anderson has shared details about a significant incident at the Playboy Mansion with Hugh Hefner that marked a turning point for her.
Throughout her career, Anderson has been vocal in her support of the controversial publisher.
Nonetheless, there were occasions that strained their relationship, including a particular episode at the Playboy Mansion that led Anderson to decide to leave.
Anderson’s journey with Playboy began when she first posed for the magazine’s cover at the age of 22.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, she explained: “I was painfully shy and I hated that feeling. That’s why I did it. I just didn’t want that feeling any more. Doing that first photoshoot gave me this little kind of portal on what it felt like to be a sensual woman. My sexuality was mine. I took my power back.”
When questioned about whether anyone in her career treated her with complete respect, she mentioned, “Hugh Hefner.”
However, not all of her interactions with him left her at ease.
During an appearance on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, Anderson recounted being at the Playboy mansion with Hefner and other women, and how she ‘followed them upstairs’.
She recalled thinking: “What could be going on up here?”
Upon reaching the upper floors, Anderson discovered ‘seven girls’ engaging with Hefner ‘one at a time’.
She continued: “I thought, ‘This is not a movie. I need to leave.'”
Despite the uncomfortable situation that led her to exit the mansion, Anderson still expressed her gratitude to Hefner after his death in 2017.
In a now-removed Instagram post, she wrote: “I am me because of you. You taught me everything important about freedom and respect. Outside of my family. You were the most important person in my life.
“You gave me my life. Everything anyone loves about me is because you understood me. Accepted me and encouraged me to be myself. Love like no one else. Live recklessly With unfiltered abandon. You said the magazine was about a girl like me. That I embody the spirit you fantasized about. I was the one. You said.”
While Anderson’s accounts of Hefner were largely favorable, other Playboy models have since come forward with accusations of sexual assault and predatory conduct against him following his death.