Pamela Anderson Gets Real About Not Wearing Makeup at 56: ‘Don’t Want to Play the Game’ (Exclusive)

After Pamela Anderson showed up to Paris Fashion Week makeup free, the internet went wild for her pared-down look. But the actress, 56, who's currently starring in season two of her home renovation show Pamela's Garden of Eden (now streaming Hulu), says she never meant for the moment to go viral.

"I'm makeup free at home, so why not for Paris Fashion Week?" she tells PEOPLE. "I really didn't know anyone would notice it, but I'm glad it became a positive message."

The former Baywatch star, who has had a resurgence in the past year owing to her memoir Love, Pamela and the docuseries Pamela: A Love Story, adds that these days, she doesn't care about getting older.

"I call if Life-ing, not aging," she says. "Chasing youth is futile. All we can do is embrace who we are at the moment we are in, and be okay with where our feet stand right now."

Anderson is currently very comfortable with where she stands. She lives by the water on Vancouver Island, BC, where she's been renovating her grandmother's legacy property with her parents and just enjoying being mom to her sons Brandon, 28, and Dylan, 25, whom she shares with her ex-husband Tommy Lee.

She says her days are spent gardening, meditating, growing her own food and just being surrounded by nature and animals. She's also working on more upcoming shows about sustainable living.

"I don't have to be cool anymore," she says about what she loves about this stage of life. "I can just be me. It's very freeing to be comfortable in your own skin."

That's not to say she'll never wear makeup or play dress up again. "I'm not opposed to it, I just don't want to play the game," she says. "And it felt good to look in the mirror and say, 'I'm OK just like this.'"

As for whether her priorities have shifted now that she lives a more low-key life, she says they've mostly remained the same.

"I think I’ve had the same priorities over my lifetime, which is to be kind, and most importantly to be a good mom," she says. "I knew I would not have kids unless I could look after them financially and emotionally, and that there would be in a safe place with or without a man in my life," she says. "As a mother I took the role seriously and I’m glad I thought that through."