Pamela Anderson Didn't Think People Would Notice She Went Makeup-Free at Paris Fashion Week

Pamela Anderson didn't intend for her decision to go makeup-free at Paris Fashion Week to make such big waves. The Baywatch actress, 56, opened up to PEOPLE about deciding to go without makeup during one of fashion's biggest weeks, admitting that she didn't expect to garner so much attention for a choice she makes regularly in her life. 

"I'm makeup-free at home, so why not for Paris Fashion Week?" she told the outlet. "I really didn't know anyone would notice it, but I'm glad it became a positive message." She continued of getting older in the public eye, "I call it life-ing, not aging. Chasing youth is futile. All we can do is embrace who we are at the moment we are in, and be okay with where our feet stand right now." That doesn't mean the model is done altogether with getting dressed up and wearing makeup. "I'm not opposed to it, I just don't want to play the game," she said. "And it felt good to look in the mirror and say, 'I'm OK just like this.'"

During Paris Fashion Week, Anderson opened up to Vogue France about her last-minute decision to bring a more fresh-faced look to the event. "I didn't come to Paris Fashion Week and think, 'I'm not going to wear any makeup,'" she said at the time. "Something just came over me and I was dressing in these beautiful clothes and I thought, 'I don't want to compete with the clothes.' I'm not trying to be the prettiest girl in the room."

Anderson has been living a much simpler life in recent years, living on her grandmother's old property by the water on Vancouver Island, BC, with her parents, renovating the property, gardening, meditating, growing her own food and embracing the natural surroundings. Asked what she loves about this stage of her life, Anderson told PEOPLE, "I don't have to be cool anymore. I can just be me. It's very freeing to be comfortable in your own skin."

Anderson's priorities remain focused on being a great mother to sons Brandon, 28, and Dylan, 25, whom she shares with her ex-husband Tommy Lee. "I think I've had the same priorities over my lifetime, which is to be kind, and most importantly to be a good mom," she said. "I knew I would not have kids unless I could look after them financially and emotionally, and that there would be in a safe place with or without a man in my life. As a mother I took the role seriously and I'm glad I thought that through."