• Pamela Anderson shared her thoughts about the term “anti-aging.”
  • “Anti-aging is a lie,” she said.
  • She prefers to embrace change as she ages, hence her new makeup-free lifestyle.

In recent months, Pamela Anderson has become known for her makeup-free visage—a far cry from the dark eyeshadow and frosty pink lips that contributed to her ’90s fashion icon status. At 56, Anderson is embracing the changes in her reflection—be it a few wrinkles or spots—because, in her opinion, there is no other option. “Anti-aging is a lie,” she recently told Glamour.

Let’s unpack that. What Anderson seems to mean is, to attempt to reverse signs of aging with cosmetic procedures like Botox and fillers may offer temporary results, but we’re all headed to the same destination. (Yes, death.) So, instead of fighting a losing battle, Anderson (like our fave, Melissa Gilbert) is choosing to ride the wave of life and direct her energy elsewhere, like toward finding humor in her physical evolution.

“As I age, I am embracing the funny things that are happening to me. If it’s losing elasticity or some freckles are starting to join together, I have to be amused by it. Otherwise, it’s bad,” she quipped. “Anti-aging is a lie. We’re getting older no matter what. Things change, and if you can find a sense of humor in it, it’s better.”

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She continued: “It’s good to have a sense of self and to be able to be your own best friend.”

As someone who’s keeping makeup simple (aside from the campaign she recently did with Smashbox, which reminisced on her iconic smokey look) it comes as no surprise that Anderson is also a skincare minimalist. And she just announced her co-ownership of Sonsie, a skincare brand that aligns with that view.

Sonsie doesn’t make false promises to eliminate signs of aging or bring to life an entirely new complexion. “All of us have tried all sorts of different things—your friends are doing it, then you’re doing it,” Anderson told Vogue after breaking the career news. “But I just came to a point where I felt like, ‘This is it. I just want to do me, keep my skin hydrated, and look after myself, but I don’t want to have to think about tomorrow. I want to think about right now. Live and how I feel in this moment.’”

Her approach to skincare mimics her larger one to aging. “It’s about celebrating where you’re at, celebrating in your beauty journey, being OK with who you are right now,” she told Women’s Wear Daily. “Really embracing where you’re at and making yourself feel the best and representing your highest self.”

For Anderson, aging has given her the gift of coming home—to herself. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve peeled back the layers and I’ve gotten closer to myself and remember what my original thoughts and feelings are,” she told Glamour. And she doesn’t want to hide any of it, inside or out.

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Kayla Blanton

Kayla Blanton is a freelance writer-editor who covers health, nutrition, and lifestyle topics for various publications including Prevention, Everyday Health, SELF, People, and more. She’s always open to conversations about fueling up with flavorful dishes, busting beauty standards, and finding new, gentle ways to care for our bodies. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University with specializations in women, gender, and sexuality studies and public health, and is a born-and-raised midwesterner living in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and two spoiled kitties.