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Who would’ve guessed Pamela Anderson’s Baywatch swimsuit would make its way from the beach to the museum exhibit?
Anderson’s iconic red swimsuit from the 1989 show is heading to the Design Museum in London as part of a major new exhibition. The actress, who became a household name playing lifeguard CJ Parker opposite David Hasselhoff, will have her famous bathing suit on display as part of the museum’s “Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style” exhibit.
The swimsuit, now on loan from Germany’s BikiniARTmuseum, was previously part of Hasselhoff’s collection. It will be showcased as part of an exploration of swimwear history, covering everything from the evolution of the bikini to modern-day swimwear trends like the mermaid-inspired “Mermaidcore.”
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According to The Independent, the “Splash!” exhibit will include a wide variety of items, including a model of Zaha Hadid’s London Aquatics Centre, a vintage woollen swimsuit from 1933, and even an Olympic gold medal from the 1924 Paris games.
Anderson, who spent five years on the show, famously performed slow-motion running sequences in the red suit, cementing her place in pop culture history. Her role in Baywatch was just one chapter in her life, with the actress later releasing a Netflix documentary and autobiography, Love, Pamela, in 2023, which touched on more aspects of her career in Hollywood as well as her personal life.
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Anderson was famously married to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee whom she met in 1994 –– quickly marrying in a Cancun ceremony just six weeks later. The couple went on to have two children: Brandon Thomas Lee, born in 1996, and Dylan Jagger Lee, born in 1997. The couple called it quits a year later in 1998, with the drama from their infamous sex video tape leak putting some tension on their relationship.
The “Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style” exhibit is set to open on March 28, 2025.