Sometimes even someone like Pamela Anderson – who is bravely herself in every way – gets confused with the identity.

During an interview with the Happy, sad, confused Podcast to discuss her starring role in Gia Coppola’s The Last ShowgirlAnderson was asked if anyone had ever confused her with another celebrity. In response, the actress offered the most unexpected anecdote.

“This one time I was on a flight and this guy came up to me and said, ‘Do you know what this country has done for you?'” Anderson recalls. “And I thought, ‘Oh my God. What have I done?’ I thought, oh God. I looked back and he was (angry). Then this stewardess had to handcuff him to the chair because he tried to attack me.”

She explained: “Ultimately he thought I was a Dixie Chick. Remember the whole Dixie Chick thing?” Anderson added, “I almost got killed on a plane. After that I was a little afraid of flying.”

While Anderson did not specify when the incident occurred, it likely occurred shortly after the Chicks criticized former President George W. Bush after he declared war on Iraq in March 2003. At the time, the then Dixie Chicks were performing in London when lead singer Natalie Maines said on stage that they were “ashamed” that Bush was also from Texas. The backlash was swift and brutal, and the trio was blacklisted from country radio stations across the United States. As the country music community shunned the group, their album and tour sales declined.

Although Maines apologized, she later recounted Time magazine while promoting their album Not willing to make nice In 2006, she realized she wasn’t feeling the same anymore. “I apologized for disrespecting the office of president,” she said. “But I don’t feel that way anymore. I don’t think he’s owed any respect.”

In 2020, the group dropped “Dixie” from its name amid global protests following the death of George Floyd and in an apparent attempt to distance itself from a term associated with the Confederate-era South.