"Baywatch" star Carmen Electra reflected on life before fame and the struggles she faced before she was thrust into the limelight in the 1990s.
The 52-year-old revealed Saturday during a conversation at the "90s Con Florida" that she came from humble beginnings.
"I was homeless in LA, I'm not from a rich family or anything like that," she said, according to People. "I knew where I needed to be in New York or LA. So there was a lot of struggling, and I didn't really know what I was going to do. But I just started to try things and come out of my shell really. So that's the beginning."
Despite being a trained dancer, Electra said she knew it would be tough for her to make it in Hollywood, saying she felt lost and discouraged.
"I would not want to go into auditions, I'd leave and say everyone's so pretty, I can't do this, I can't memorize anything," she said.
Electra went on to portray lifeguard Lani McKenzie on Season 8 of the show from 1997 to 1998 in a role that catapulted her to success. She became the epitome of sexy with her curvaceous figure, but the model and actor recently revealed that she was told she was "too heavy" at one point.
"I never had a weigh-in but I was told sometimes that I was too heavy and I've looked back now, and I don't think I was," she told a reporter at the Los Angeles premiere of the docuseries "After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun," according to the New York Post.
Electra opened up about those early days with Extra TV, noting that she grew up studying classical ballet and being told to lose weight was a narrative she carried around with her for a long time.
"When I look back, I love my body, and I love that I was curvy and not, like, straight up and down. Those times have changed. You can't do that anymore," she said.
"It was kind of the beginning of those times where producers could come to you and say, 'You need to stop eating some snacks.' For that moment, I really did take it seriously as a professional dancer because that was always engraved into my mind growing up."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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