Pamela Anderson has given her most detailed account yet of her brief romance with Liam Neeson, confirming that the pair were genuinely involved off-screen after making The Naked Gun and explaining why the relationship quietly came to an end. Speaking in a new interview, the actor described a short but intense period together at Neeson’s home in upstate New York and said that, while there were “real feelings” between them, they ultimately decided they were better as friends.
The Baywatch star said the relationship only began once filming on the comedy reboot had wrapped. “If you must know, Liam and I were romantically involved for a short while but only after we finished filming,” she told People, addressing months of speculation that followed their promotional tour for the film.
Anderson said their connection crystallised during what she called a “romantic lost week” at Neeson’s estate outside Albany. She recalled travelling there after production ended and settling into what felt, to her, like the plot of a classic Hollywood romance. “I had my own room,” she said, noting that both of their assistants were present and that family members “stopped by” while they were there.
During that week, the pair spent time in Neeson’s garden, where Anderson tended to “a rosebush overgrown with mint”. She described domestic moments that contrasted with their public lives, including a story about Neeson chasing away a bear that had come close to the house, wearing only a bathrobe. Anderson compared the atmosphere to something from a Nancy Meyers film and said their time together felt like stepping into a different world.
One of the most striking memories Anderson shared involved a dinner at what she described as a tiny French restaurant. There, Neeson introduced her to others as the “future Mrs. Neeson”, a remark that quickly entered the online conversation around their relationship once her comments were published.
Despite that apparently serious language, Anderson said the week in New York remained their only real period as a couple. After it ended, she explained, they both returned to their respective work commitments. “We went our separate ways to work on other films,” she said, stressing that their careers and schedules pulled them apart rather than any dramatic fall-out.
The romance only became public months later, when Anderson and Neeson began promoting The Naked Gun together. The film, a reboot of the original spoof police franchise, paired Neeson as the deadpan lead with Anderson in a major supporting role. On red carpets in London and New York they were photographed holding hands and sharing a kiss on the cheek, fuelling rumours of a new relationship long before either addressed it directly.
Their easy chemistry extended to television appearances, where they played up the speculation with staged almost-kisses and jokes about their on-screen partnership. Neeson praised his co-star in interviews, telling Stephen Colbert that “she’s great in the movie, she’s terrific” and recalling how she baked sourdough and bran loaves for him during the shoot.
As the press tour continued, some commentators and unnamed sources suggested that the apparent romance was a calculated publicity strategy designed to boost interest in the reboot. In August, TMZ reported that publicists and studio executives had allegedly encouraged a “fauxmance” while the film was in production, questioning whether the relationship was real.
Anderson has now rejected those claims outright. “We were having fun,” she said of the speculation, but added that she found it amusing people assumed it was staged. “I always was laughing when people thought, ‘Oh, that’s a publicity stunt.’ I’m like, ‘A publicity stunt? This is real. We have real feelings.’” She reiterated that neither she nor Neeson would participate in a manufactured romance.
Her comments echo remarks she made earlier in the year at the Deauville American Film Festival in France, where she was honoured with an award. Without naming Neeson directly, she told the audience: “I do not and will never feed into PR stunts. That would be a death sentence. I’m authentically driven. I’m superstitious when it comes to love. And I’m not comfortable sharing any shred of my romantic life.”
Sources close to the pair have also pushed back against the idea that their connection was concocted in a marketing meeting. One insider told People that suggestions of a staged relationship were “ridiculous”, insisting that “everything between them has been genuine” and that “neither would ever take part in a publicity stunt”. Another source said there was “no incentive” for either actor to fake a romance, pointing out that both already enjoy long-established careers.
For Anderson, the romance appears to have been part of a broader period of reinvention. In recent years she has stepped back from the heavily made-up image that defined much of her time on Baywatch, choosing instead to appear at events with little or no make-up and focusing on stage work and more serious screen roles. She has also reflected publicly on her past relationships, including high-profile marriages to Tommy Lee and Kid Rock, and has spoken about wanting a calmer, more grounded life.
Neeson, meanwhile, has largely kept his personal life private since the death of his wife, actor Natasha Richardson, in 2009 following a skiing accident in Canada. The Taken star has occasionally spoken about the long-term impact of that loss on him and their two sons, but has rarely been linked with new partners in the years since. The brief connection with Anderson was therefore notable not only because of her celebrity but because he has seldom appeared publicly affectionate with anyone since Richardson’s death.
In her new interview, Anderson made clear that her affection for Neeson has not faded, even though the romantic chapter was short. “I adore Liam, but we are better friends, in full honesty,” she said. She added that he has been “such a supporter of this new trajectory in my career” and that he “kindly tells me he is very proud of me”.
Their most recent meeting came away from the glare of a film premiere. Anderson recalled that Neeson surprised her by turning up at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts, where she was performing in Tennessee Williams’ Camino Real. Seeing him in the audience, she said, underlined that their connection had evolved into mutual encouragement rather than a conventional relationship.
Looking back, Anderson framed their romance as something self-contained and almost cinematic. She has described the week in New York as “a little bit like a Nancy Meyers film”, evoking the director known for glossy, warm romantic comedies set in stylish houses. That comparison, combined with details about gardening, quiet dinners and Neeson’s bear-chasing moment, has contributed to the sense that their brief time together was both ordinary and heightened, a snapshot of domesticity existing outside their usual celebrity environments.
Asked where things stand now, Anderson said she expects Neeson to remain part of her life even as they work on separate projects. “I’m sure we will always be in each other’s lives,” she told People. She stopped short of suggesting that the romance might resume, instead emphasising the strength of their friendship and his role as a supporter of her current work.
For fans who followed the summer’s red-carpet photographs and television appearances, her account offers a straightforward explanation of why the apparent romance did not develop into a long-term partnership. The relationship, she says, was real, rooted in an intense but brief period after filming, and ended not because of a dispute but because both actors returned to busy careers on different paths. What has remained, according to Anderson, is an enduring bond and a sense that, for all the speculation about publicity strategies, their connection belongs more to the realm of private memory than studio marketing.