Pamela Anderson's sons have had a ''colourful life''.

The 48-year-old actress - who has kids Brandon, 19, and Dylan, 17, with ex-husband Tommy Lee - has always allowed her sons to have new experiences, but was horrified when they visited Hugh Hefner at the Playboy mansion when they were younger and they quickly learned what the media mogul did for a living.

She recalled: ''They came out to the car and said, 'Mom, do you know what Hef does for a living? He takes pictures of naked girls!' I said, 'Oh my gosh, let's get out of here!'''

Despite her own fame, and visiting her on the 'Baywatch' set ''all the time'' when they were younger, the boys had no idea of their mother's iconic status until they went to surf camp.

Pamela told People magazine: ''They came up to me and they said, 'Mom, are you Pamela Anderson?' And I said 'Yeah.'

''They were like, 'What is that?' And ,'Why are people saying these things? Are you Pamela Anderson for real? Like, what is going on?' ''

And the blonde beauty admitted the boys always knew her for her activism rather than her acting career.

She said: ''They haven't seen how hard I've worked.

''I built my whole life around them -- like their soccer games were in my contracts.

''[At school] they would say my dad's a rockstar and my mommy rescues animals. That's all they knew.''