Ladysmith’s Pamela Anderson reveals traumatic past in new Netflix documentary: ‘I don’t care what people think’

THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-HGTV
Actor Pamela Anderson is seen in a handout photo for the television show

For those who’ve met Ladysmith resident Pamela Anderson on her home turf, there’s a fierce protectiveness of the starlet whose life has been splashed across the pages of tabloids for decades. Now she is about to reveal even more of herself in a new Netflix documentary and memoir called Pamela: A Love Story.

Ladysmith residents told CHEK News over and over Tuesday that they hope people are kind to her in the wake of it.

“We look at her as a person, she’s a mom, she’s generous. She’s an animal lover,” said Klair Strom, whose Ladysmith Health Food Store is a regular shopping destination of Anderson’s.

“She’s a lovely lady and her advocacy for animals and the environment are very well known,” said Ladysmith Mayor Aaron Stone.

In the new documentary, Anderson tells the story about her that you don’t know.

“It’s time to take back the narrative,” she says in the trailer for the documentary.

In it, the now 55-year-old details living on welfare for a time, witnessing domestic abuse as a child and shares her own survivor story.

Anderson was molested by a babysitter for years before being raped by a man when she was just 12 years old. It was a traumatizing start to life that she said made her a survivor — but also shaped her future choices in men.

“I don’t care what people think, because that’s the only choice I had. If I cared what people think I wouldn’t be here,” she says.

Anderson has also penned a book named ‘Love, Pamela’ that has generated a huge wait list, even before its arrival at the Vancouver Island Regional Library.

“We don’t have it in the branch quite yet but it will be here soon. We have 10 copies coming in and we already have 84 holds on those copies,” said Nariel Davis, Librarian at VIRL’s Ladysmith Branch.

RELATED: ‘I’m a work in progress,’ says Pamela Anderson as she restores both her Ladysmith home — and herself

The international spotlight is focused once again on the most famous resident of Ladysmith, who to many is simply “Pamela.”

“Our children went to school together and every time I ran into her she was just very natural and very friendly,” said Ladysmith resident Shelly Anderson.

“Yeah, she was beautiful, kind and warm to everybody. Very nice lady,” said Ladysmith resident Tyler Knelson.

Now it’s time for the Ladysmith girl known as Pamela, who grew into a worldwide sensation, to show a side of her that her town already knows.

Skye Ryan

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