Baywatch Diary – Day 9

Even though it is Friday the 13th, it is a marvelous day on the set of the Baywatch Reunion Movie. It rained at about 4pm, and we all had to run for cover for about 10 minutes, but otherwise it is a typical Hawaii beautiful. An article came out in the newspaper USA Today about the movie, with a photo of Nicole, Pamela and I from ten years ago. Yikes. I think we all look better now than then! They misquoted me a little bit, but not too badly (they said I was sorry that David Charvet and Chokachi werent with us, when actually I said Jaason Simmons and David Chokachi. I like Charvet, but he has a singing career now, and as far as I know is no longer an actor. Jaason is my buddy, so of course I miss him).

I have a 9am call, and by then every one had been shooting for hours. My character is not in the scene they will be shooting until at least lunch, but I get my makeup and hair done anyway because Hassel wants me in a cast photo for People Magazine. Then I go back to my room, take a nap, and read book #3, “Exposure”. I am tired today because I went out to dinner last night and was on my computer too long after that. That will be my last dinner out on a “school night”! My manager Daniel and his boyfriend, Chris, are right next door and they come over and we chat until I have to go to the set. It is Pamela’s last day, so we are doing a big scene with most of the actors in it. I dont have much to do, but at least I am wearing a different dress than I wore the last 3 days! Sometimes I see movies where it all takes place in one day, and I think, “Boy, that actor must have gotten sick of wearing the same thing everyday for 3 months!). My publicist, Jerry, arrives (he also represents Gena). He is here because the photo shoot for the cover of FHM magazine is tomorrow, and he wants to make sure all goes well for us, his clients. John Allen Nelson is such a sweetheart that he adds my dirty workout clothes to his and does our laundry. I try on a bathing suit that I am supposed to wear on Monday and discover that it was make waaaayyy too small. I guess I will have to pick another one – no worries, one thing Wardrobe Department has is plenty of suits.

I just want to mention what a nice young man Jeremy Jackson is. Jeremy (“Hobie”) was 10 years old when he started Baywatch, and he is now 22. He is very handsome and polite and affectionate, and I think that seeing him again after 7 years is the best thing about coming back to Baywatch, because he is a very wonderful person. Growing up in showbiz can be hard on a kid, and with Baywatch being such a phenomenon, the pressure and exposure was tremendous. But Jeremy has a loving mom, Jalana, who was on the set everyday, and a sweet little sister Taylor who also became a part of the Baywatch family. I remember that going to church was a big part of their life, and Jeremy also had a lot of surfing and skateboarding buddies that made him see that there is more to life than Hollywood. David Hasselhoff told me that Jeremy was incredibly supportive to him when David was in rehab. David was also very supportive of Jeremy when Jeremy was going through some growing pains a few years ago. All that just warms my heart.

Nicole Eggert was only about 21 when she was last on Baywatch, and now she is 30 with a sweet 4 year old daughter, Dilyn. Nicole looks fantastic, and is so much happier on this show than she was on the series 10 years ago. Because Nicole had worked all her childhood (she costarred in the very successful sitcom with Scott Baio, “Charles in Charge” when she was a teenager), I think she just needed a break by the time she got to Baywatch in 1992. Plus, the hours on a one hour drama are soooo much longer than the hours on a sitcom, so the Baywatch schedule was exhausting for her. She got seasick too (something she says she has now outgrown), so some of our 2 unit days, when we were doing our rescues on a boat out at sea, were hard on her. She is a very good actress, I must say. During the script read-through she was so relaxed and natural. I hope I can emulate her on the set, as I still feel very stiff in front of the camera (I only had one line today and it still felt forced! Eek!)

I must get my beauty sleep, as I have to be in makeup at 6:30am for the photo shoot…