Yasmine Bleeth: Who’s that girl?
One of the most popular stars on Baywatch, Yasmine Bleeth all but disappeared from view 17 years ago…
Twenty years since we last saw her strutting her stuff in that iconic red swimsuit on Baywatch, Yasmine Bleeth looks quite unrecognisable.
The former glamour model, now 51, who shuns the spotlight these days, was snapped as she walked her dog in Southern California.
Voted one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People in 1995, and FHM’s US 100 Sexiest Women two years running from 2002, she even launched a successful beach ranged called Yaz Wear.
Today, though, it would seem there is little trace of the beach babe everyone fell in love with in the Nineties.
The bubbly brunette first worked in TV as a child – but her fame skyrocketed when she landed the role of Caroline Holden in Baywatch, alongside Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff. It was meant to be a guest appearance, but she proved so popular that she spent the next four years sprinting athletically across the sand, while showing off her incredible figure. In 2001, Yasmine moved on to a role in another American TV hit – Nash Bridges with Don Johnson. She was heading for the big time...
But the star had begun to experiment with drugs, something she later hinted was sparked by her stormy relationship with 21 Jump Street actor, Richard Grieco.
Yasmine’s downward spiral culminated in 2000, when the New York native entered rehab clinic Promises in Malibu for cocaine addiction – where she met her current husband, strip club owner Paul Cerrito.
A year later, Yasmine was arrested in Detroit on cocaine-related charges. After pleading guilty to operating a vehicle while impaired and to possession, she was sentenced to two years’ probation.
In April 2003, she penned a heartwrenchingly honest essay about her addiction, confessing that she once collapsed during a photo shoot – and went five days without sleeping. ‘Consciously trying to stay off drugs is now part of my life and always will be’, she said.
We may not have instantly recognised the former Baywatch beach babe, but judging by her mega-watt smile and how she hugged her gorgeous dog, it would seem that Yasmine has finally found peace away from the limelight and crushed the demons that hounded her...
‘Consciously trying to stay off drugs is now part of my life and always will be’