Los Angeles, Aug 9 (IANS): Actress and former Playboy model Pamela Anderson has described her image in the 1990s as a "cartoon character".

"That was the beginning of me letting go of the image I had always had of myself. What is this cartoon character that I’d created? OK, that was fun. But I’m not that person anymore," She told Better Homes and Gardens magazine while talking about her natural look at Paris Fashion Week last year.

She said she was also keen to "challenge the idea of beauty and this mask we put on", reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Anderson said she "didn't think anyone would even notice" the change, but her world has "opened up".

She added: "As soon as I took the mask off, the whole world opened up. It just happened to be this silly thing of being at Paris Fashion Week and me saying, 'I’m not going to sit in a makeup chair for three hours. I’m going to the Louvre.' Then I thought, Who am I competing with? I was appreciating it as this girl who lives on Vancouver Island that got plopped into these glamorous clothes."

Anderson felt like a "little freckle-faced kid" with a "big, beautiful Vivienne Westwood hat on."

She is happy to have moved away from the "pneumatic kind of image" people have of her.

"As much as I threw every dinner party and cooked all those meals for family and my kids, it wasn’t what was seen publicly. But I also played into the image that was created around me. I’m glad I did all that, but I’m really glad I’m where I am now. I think the most important part is, I made it through all of it. And now it’s such a relief that I get to be myself and enjoy this time."