BayWatch Star Alexandra Paul's On Set Secrets & Stories

​On how David Hasselhoff’s example kept the Baywatch cast grounded during their heyday:
 
“When you’re on a show that’s successful and there’s a lot of new actors involved, it can be a dicey thing on how they deal with fame. [David] Charvet and Pamela Anderson, you put them on a show with such a big spotlight on it, you can develop some bad habits in those actors; diva attitudes, maybe, or not professional. But because we had [David] Hasselhoff at the helm, he was such a hard worker and had such a positive attitude, especially to fans, very respectful. And Hasselhoff understood that we were there only because of the people around us like the crew and the fans and that we needed to be respectful to everybody. And so he was such a good role model for all the actors. I think that’s what really made the set wonderful, Because nobody ever was a diva.”
 
On what set fellow cast member Pamela Anderson apart from other beautiful women in Hollywood:
 
“Pamela Anderson, she became a breakout star from Baywatch in the ‘90s and became really the most famous woman in the world during that time. She worked really hard. There are a lot of beautiful, sexy women in Hollywood. So, yes she’s beautiful, yes she’s sexy, but she also really, really worked hard. And that is why she became so successful. And then of course there’s other factors; luck and sparkle, but she worked hard, she never complained, she got in that water in December in a bathing suit. So, we had a very hardworking, happy and respectful cast and crew.”

​On the feminist part of Baywatch that people overlooked :
 
“We were running around and doing as many rescues as the men, and our positions were equal to the men. Like, my [character’s] position as lieutenant was equal to Hasselhoff. There wasn’t any of what you saw in movies back in the ‘90s where the bad guy comes in and the woman cowers while the guy fights the other guy. No, not on our show. Really, when people say it was a misogynistic show, it’s not true at all. The women were powerful. I, myself, did have a different body type from everybody else on the show. I think there were only a couple of women who had breasts that were not enhanced, and I was one who didn’t have enhanced breasts. I have an A or A- minus cup (laughs). For me, I wasn’t bothered at all by women having breasts bouncing up and down on the beaches. I just thought, well it’s just bodies and people want to see it, what’s wrong with it?
 
“I supposed the unrealistic part was, yes, you needed to buy those breasts, for the most part. It’s not natural to have those breasts and have very low body fat everywhere else. Some women have it, but it’s not common at all.”
 
On Baywatch’s notorious 5lb. weight clause in the actors’ contracts:
 
“There wasn’t as much diversity as there is now. Nobody was overweight and there was even a clause in our contracts that said we couldn’t lose or gain 5 lbs. I did lose weight when I broke up with my boyfriend, and it was definitely more than 5 lbs., and I know Pamela did to. There was a time on the show when, as happens with women, when women are around each other and one loses weight, others will often lose weight. Maybe we were all going through relationship drama. But that 5 lbs. clause was for the men and the women. And the reason that rule was installed was because during season one, one of the male actors was a little too happy about his job and he partied his way into being about 15 lbs. heavier by the time he got on the set. That was the story I heard.”
 
“The men had a lot of pressure on that show, too, to keep their abs looking good. I can’t deny that on TV people were pushing a certain look, and there was definitely a look for Baywatch. 

​On her struggle to overcome bulimia and anorexia:
 
“Speaking of body image, I myself, had been anorexic and bulimic for a dozen years. The year before I was offered the part [of Lieutenant Stephanie Holden on Baywatch] I had gotten abstinent and I had stopped. I wouldn’t have taken that job, being in a bathing suit every day on the beach, if that was still going on. I went on the show feeling totally comfortable with my body, and so relieved that I wasn’t at war with it. And my body naturally went down a couple pounds, so I was actually quite happy with where I was and what I looked like. I never felt like I needed to look a different way, even though I recognized that I was looked at as less sexy, because I didn’t have the curves the other women did. But I didn’t care, because I had a loving boyfriend and plus I grew up in Connecticut where breasts were not really a thing (laughs), so I was kind of surprised that women wanted these big breasts.”
 
On struggling to overcome anorexia and bulimia before being cast on Baywatch:
 
“I tell people that when someone has an eating disorder, it’s not what really about what they eat. It’s what’s eating them. I learned through twelve years of therapy, that my eating disorder really came from not owning my own power and not being authentically me. In other words, I was trying to please everybody and then I would sort of go into my room and please myself with food. I would binge and then I would throw up. That character of Stephanie Holden helped me come into my power. I based her off of my twin sister who is very grounded, was a firefighter at the time and very powerful. So that’s what really helped me overcome the bulimia and the eating disorder, was having boundaries, saying no, realizing if I didn’t please people they wouldn’t die. I learned that in therapy and then I went to Overeater’s Anonymous, the twelve step program, and within a month of doing the twelve steps and having a sponsor, I stopped throwing up and I just celebrated my 33rd anniversary of not being bulimic.”
 
On her tight bond with former Baywatch co-star Yasmine Bleeth:
 
“Yasmine is a wonderful, wonderful person. I would always ask her for style advice, because she would walk into the makeup trailer at six in the morning and she would look so cute. She would have the most wonderful outfit on. Meanwhile, I would have on the same sweats and t-shirt that I wore to the set the day before. Whenever there was a red carpet event, she steered me towards the designers that I should go to, and I still have some of those dresses today. And then she would also say, whenever there were rescues to be done, ‘Give them to Alexandra. She wants to do that rescue.’ I guess she wasn’t as into the rescues, and I loved rescues so much. I always wanted to do more rescues. There was a show where Yasmine got to do a ton of rescues and she was like, ‘Ugh, I have to do all these rescues and they’re all at night.’ And I said, ‘I’ll do it. Give them to me instead of her.’ But of course they didn’t.” 
 
“I’ve seen Yasmine several times since the show ended. I went to visit her in rehab when she was dealing with and overcoming her addictions, and we worked together on the Baywatch movie later. Her husband is wonderful. We’ve been out to dinner with her and her husband and another cast member, Jaason Simmons. We’re all very close. She’s chosen not to involve herself in Hollywood for the last couple of decades, and I respect that a lot. I don’t know if that decision was for her sobriety, but I know it was for her happiness, and that’s linked to sobriety. She and her husband Paul have been together for about 25 years and they are so in love. When she was on Baywatch she was amazing and healthy, and she had a really positive body image which was a real inspiration.”
 
On Baywatch’s lack of diversity:
 
“My biggest beef with Baywatch was that we were all so white, which I had an issue with at the time, and I was quite vocal about it. But it was the ‘90s. It was a different sensibility and most shows were like that.”And the producers, they really tried. They’re really good people in my estimation. But it was the ‘90s, and they were white men, and it wasn’t really something that they were aware of. They had a lot of very positive storylines to help the world, but stuff like race wasn’t really on their radar.” 
 
On co-star and friend Nicole Eggert convincing her to appear in the upcoming Hulu docuseries, After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun:
 
“Nicole [Eggert] approached a lot of us actors for the documentary, and frankly I don’t know if I would have agreed to an interview unless I had somebody like her saying, ‘Yeah, this guy is cool and we’re not going to do a hatchet job on you, Alexandra.’ Because as an actor on a show like Baywatch, you get a lot of sort of, ‘Where are they now?’ articles and they all make it sound like our lives are terrible and we’ve all failed, because we are no longer on a number one show. When in reality, the actors are thriving after [Baywatch]. They have beautiful lives and families, passions and great work. So I felt good after Nicole asked me to be in it.”