Pamela Anderson's Weird and Influential Network of Friends

Pamela Anderson, the former poster girl for Malibu and red swimsuits, has moved from sunny California to the south of France with her new boyfriend, French soccer star Adil Rami. But Anderson, 50, has also created an unlikely network of influential friends and world figures. She’s pals with GOP billionaire Sheldon Adelson, Bill Clinton, and former congressional candidate and now kosher sex guru Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. Anderson has also been asked to speak at a wide range of venues, including the Kremlin, where she discussed the fate of Siberian tigers. There have even been rumors about her dating Vladimir Putin, The Hollywood Reporter writes.

“I love this question,” Anderson says, laughing, when THR asked about her relationship with the Russian president. But she did not actually answer.

However, her most controversial relationship is probably with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Anderson is vague about how the two met—Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for the past six years to avoid extradition to Sweden for a rape charge. She now simply says they met “years ago” and has visited him at the embassy many times.

“We talk about everything,” she told THR. “We talk about the Bible, we talk about what’s happening with my kids, what’s happening with his family. It’s not just about politics, even though I do take a lot of notes and it’s so overwhelming, the information he gives me.”