SHE shot to fame in the 80s as a Playboy cover star and Baywatch pin-up.
More than three decades on, actress and model Erika Eleniak, now 55, looks very different with two tattoo sleeves.
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Erika was pictured walking her pet dog in Los Angeles in a black T-shirt and shorts, with a fanny pack around her waist.
She looked to be makeup-free on a sunny day in California as she strolled in a pair of sliders.
Best known for her role as lifeguard Shauni McClain, Erika is still quizzed about her time on set to this day.
Last year, she admitted playing a beach beauty, famed for her red swimsuit, was much harder than she was given credit for.
“Running on sand is really hard,” she told UPI. “Running in and out of the water is really hard.
“It doesn’t always look cool, either, so trying to make it look good and do it well is definitely not easy. I don’t think anybody ever thought any of it was hard.”
Not only did the cast need to look good and be super fit, they also needed to learn emergency first aid skills such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
While Baywatch is now most famously linked to Pamela Anderson as C.J. Parker in the mid-90s, original beach babe Erika still has a cult following.
She previously told Media From the Heart that her decision to leave the show came organically after it changed direction.
“Originally, this was written as a serious look at lifeguarding. As soon as it changed and became a music montage show, it was so lovely, but for me, it was time to go,” she explained.
“I will say I had really strong storylines the second year, which was great.
“And I did get some juicy parts, but the show became something else. So for me, it was no longer where my heart was.”
Immediately after her exit from Baywatch in 1992, she starred in action flick Under Siege, alongside Steven Seagal.
Breaking out in the way Pamela Anderson famously wanted to with her 90s flop Barbed Wire, Erika played fictional Playboy star Jordan Tate, who helped bring a hijacked battleship under control.
Feature films The Beverly Hillbillies and Chasers followed, before she became a fixture on reality TV with shows The Real Gilligan’s Island and Celebrity Fit Club.
The twice married mom-of-one struggled with an eating disorder and abused laxatives before going on the VH1 show.
Thankfully, she has overcome her issues and also shed her clean cut image for a more alternative look.
Though Erika began getting tattoos in the 90s, her colorful arm inkings were only completed in the last few years.
She explained: “Most of my sleeve work is probably within five years. It’s been a work in progress over the years of starting and stopping, so not really consecutive.”
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