Actress Pamela Anderson stepped onto the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday in a mustard yellow gown, debuting a dramatic pincurl hairstyle for the screening of her new film A Place To Be.
The 59-year-old star showcased a make-up free look and a natural complexion at the Sala Giardino venue, swapping her signature voluminous waves for tight pincurls.
Her strapless golden dress featured dramatic balloon sleeves and a sweeping long train as she arrived for the evening event.
Anderson, who rose to international fame starring as C.J. Parker on the hit 1990s television series Baywatch and recently starred in The Last Showgirl, was attending the historic Venice Film Festival, which has been held annually on the Lido island in Venice, Italy, since 1932.
Earlier in the day, the mother-of-two was seen departing the historic Hotel Excelsior Venice Lido Resort Pier, where she signed autographs for fans and appeared in high spirits.
She turned heads as she made her way into the venue, posing for photographers along the red carpet ahead of the joyous screening.
Co-stars and plot of A Place To Be
Anderson was joined on the red carpet by filmmaker Taika Waititi, 51, who wore a black tuxedo and put on an animated display for the surrounding cameras.
Waititi, the Oscar-winning director of Jojo Rabbit and husband of singer Rita Ora, stars alongside Anderson in the road-trip story. The group, including director Kornél Mundruczó and actor Murray Bartlett, beamed as they posed together for photos on the red carpet.
A Place To Be follows an elderly woman named Brooke, played by Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn, and a divorcée named Nelson, played by Waititi, as they travel from Chicago to New York to return a lost racing pigeon. Anderson portrays Molly, Brooke's daughter, who worries about her mother while trying to find her footing following her second marriage.
Hepatitis C diagnosis and amfAR speech
During her time at the festival, Anderson was also honoured with a prestigious award at the amfAR Gala, an annual international charity event organized to support HIV and AIDS research.
Speaking at the gala last weekend, the actress recalled the moment doctors told her she had only 10 years to live following a diagnosis of hepatitis C, a viral infection that causes liver inflammation.
Anderson contracted the blood-borne virus around 1999 after sharing a tattoo needle with her former husband, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, with whom she shares sons Brandon, 30, and Dylan, 28.
She explained that doctors informed her the illness was terminal and that she would not survive past another decade, describing the diagnosis as feeling like a death sentence.
Variety reported Anderson saying: 'It was a death sentence. That's what my doctor told me, that I probably had around 10 years to live. I'm sure that coloured and corrupted my decisions. It was not fear of death, but fear of what might happen to my young children. It turned my life inside out.'
Recovery and career resurgence
Although she lived with the condition for 16 years, Anderson announced in 2015 that she was completely cured of hepatitis C. A medical cure for the infection had been discovered in 2011, though obtaining the treatment exhausted her financial savings.
She admitted: 'It took everything I had in my bank to pay for treatment.'
Anderson revealed that while she has finally come to terms with the ordeal, she remains haunted by lingering feelings of shame and guilt.
She continued: 'But my experience of shame and guilt was also an unconscious journey. It stays with me; it haunts me. And just like the sexual abuse that I endured as a child, it felt like it was carved into my forehead: Damaged goods. And I presented myself as such.'
Despite the lingering emotional impact, the star credited the experience with powering her recent artistic comeback in Hollywood.
The Last Showgirl star said: 'My truth has come through my work, finding ways to express myself through the arts. It gave me the ammunition I needed, a fertile life to use and play in. I'm not a victim, I'm a victor. I am strong and capable, more now than I could ever dream of. I'm not the damsel in distress, no matter how easy that role is to play.'
