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---
description: The former model and actress opened up about the childhood experiences during an event in France
title: Pamela Anderson: Baywatch Star Says She Was Raped as Child
image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6ff29c2d255bbfe/6986900dcd804df733ccaefa/pamela-anderson.jpg?branch=production&amp;width=3840&amp;quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;crop=16:9
---

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# Pamela Anderson Says She Was Raped as a Child


by 

[Dan Hirschhorn](/author/dan-hirschhorn/)


## Dan Hirschhorn


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May 19, 2014 11:53 AM CUT

![Pamela Anderson attends The Pamela Anderson Foundation launch co-hosted by Dame Vivienne Westwood in support of Cool Earth at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2014 in Cannes.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6ff29c2d255bbfe/6986900dcd804df733ccaefa/pamela-anderson.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2)

Pamela Anderson attends The Pamela Anderson Foundation launch co-hosted by Dame Vivienne Westwood in support of Cool Earth at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2014 in Cannes.

Pamela Anderson attends The Pamela Anderson Foundation launch co-hosted by Dame Vivienne Westwood in support of Cool Earth at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2014 in Cannes.David M. Benett—Getty Images for The Pamela Anderson Foundation

by 

[Dan Hirschhorn](/author/dan-hirschhorn/)


## Dan Hirschhorn


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May 19, 2014 11:53 AM CUT

Pamela Anderson [revealed](http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/18/showbiz/pamela-anderson-sex-abuse/index.html?hpt=hp%5Fc2 "undefined") recently that she suffered from childhood rape and sexual abuse, [saying](http://www.pamelaandersonfoundation.org/blog/2014/5/16/1v8oaqr5coiipyo0celwfimy4nh4f1 "undefined") that at the time she “just wanted off this earth.”

The former _Playboy_ model and _Baywatch_ actress recalled the childhood trauma on Friday at the launch of her animal rights foundation, The Pamela Anderson Foundation, during the Cannes Film Festival in France. A transcript of her comments was posted on her blog but initially didn’t get much notice.

Anderson said a female babysitter molested her between the ages of 6 and 10, and that the 25-year-old brother of a friend later raped her when she was 12\. The man, Anderson said, “decided he would teach me backgammon, which led into a back massage, which led into rape.”

“Needless to say, I had a hard time trusting humans,” Anderson said. “I just wanted off this earth.”

Anderson said she had “loving parents” who “tried to keep me safe,” but that her mother was often distraught juggling two waitressing jobs and that the “world was not a safe place.” Anderson said she never told her mother.

“I couldn’t \[bear\] to give her any more disruptive information,” she said. “I couldn’t break her heart any more than it was breaking.”

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