Pamela Anderson has recalled a frightening incident of mistaken identity on a plane.
The Baywatch star had been on the aircraft when she was attacked by a man who believed her to be a member of The Chicks, the country music icons formerly known as The Dixie Chicks.
Anderson, 57, recounted the story on Monday’s episode (6 January) of the Happy Sad Confused Podcast when host Josh Horowitz asked whether she had ever been mistaken for another celebrity.
The actor – who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in The Last Showgirl – gave an unexpected answer.
“This one time, I was on a flight and this guy came up to me and said, ‘Do you know what this country’s done for you?’” Anderson said.
“And I was like, ‘Oh, my God. What have I done?’ I was like, ‘Oh God.’ I looked back and he was [angry]. Then this stewardess had to handcuff him to the chair because he was trying to attack me.”
“Ended up he thought I was a Dixie Chick. Remember that whole Dixie Chick thing?” she said. “I almost got killed on a plane. I was scared to fly after that, a little bit.”
Although Anderson did not disclose when the incident occurred, it was likely around 2003 amid the backlash against The Chicks after lead singer Natalie Maines said that her Texan band was ashamed to be from the same place as then-President George W Bush amid the US invasion of Iraq.
As a result, the band suffered huge blows to their music sales with their CDs burnt as a sign of protest. The controversy was the subject of the trio’s 2006 documentary Shut Up and Sing.
While Maines apologised for the remark, she later told Time Magazine that she had no regrets over making the comment.
“I apologised for disrespecting the office of the president,” she said. “But I don’t feel that way anymore. I don’t feel he is owed any respect whatsoever.”
In 2020, The Dixie Chicks officially changed their name to The Chicks, expressing their desire to drop the word “Dixie” because of its historical ties to the Confederacy and slavery-era connotations.
On Sunday (6 January) at the Golden Globes, Anderson lost the award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama to Demi Moore, who won the prize for her role in Coralie Fargeat’s body-horror The Substance.
Accepting the award on stage, Moore gave a rousing speech in which she recounted a hurtful comment that a producer made to her 30 years ago – telling the crowd how it had “corroded” her.
You can see the full list of Golden Globe winners here.
