‘Oh, my God. What have I done?’
Pamela Anderson narrowly escaped being attacked after a passenger on a flight she was on mistook her for one of the Dixie Chicks (now known as The Chicks).
During an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Baywatch alum was asked if she has ever been mistaken for another celebrity when she recounted a scary encounter she had on a plane when a fellow passenger thought she was one of the members of the country music trio.
“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, 57, said. “And I was like, ‘Oh, my God. What have I done?’ I was like, ‘Oh god.’ I looked back and he was (angry).”
Anderson, who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for her starring role in The Last Showgirl, said the irate passenger wouldn’t leave her alone, to the point where he had to be restrained.
“Then this stewardess had to handcuff him to the chair because he was trying to attack me,” she recalled.
Eventually, she learned it was a case of mistaken identity.
“Yeah. Ended up he thought I was a Dixie Chick. Remember that whole Dixie Chick thing?” Anderson asked. “I almost got killed on a plane.”
Back in 2003, singer Natalie Maines and her bandmates became ostracized by country music fans after comments she made about then-President George W. Bush during a concert in London.
“Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all,” Maines said onstage just days before the U.S. invaded Iraq. “We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.”
After The Guardian printed the comment, the trio was abandoned by many of their American fans, with radio stations also refusing to play their music.
“I don’t really care what the Dixie Chicks said,” Bush said in April 2003. “I want to do what I think is right for the American people, and if some singers or Hollywood stars feel like speaking out, that’s fine. That’s the great thing about America.”
Two days after Maines’ remarks made headlines, she expressed regret over her comments. But on the 20th anniversary of the statement that redefined her band’s career, the frontwoman walked back her apology.
She added, “We didn’t have to do any of that bulls*** anymore. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, country music, please take us back.’ It was middle fingers: ‘Bye!’”
Anderson didn’t say when the case of mistaken identity took place, or which band member the displeased flyer thought she was, but the altercation left her rattled for quite some time.
“I was scared to fly after that for a little bit,” she admitted.