Carmen Electra Never Considered Herself a ‘Sex Symbol’

Carmen Electra never thought of herself as a sex symbol.

The 51-year-old star shot to fame in the 1990s as a glamour model for Playboy magazine but despite posing naked for the title several times over the years, admitted that it always came as a surprise to her whenever she was given a compliment about her body.

Asked if she ever wonders if she was objectified, she told Rolling Stone: "No, not really. I chose that route because that’s what I felt and I really didn’t think of myself as a sex symbol. When people would say it I would go, 'Really?' and I took that as a compliment. There are so many sex symbols that I looked up to then and look up to now. "

However, the Good Burger 2 actress did admit that she would be put into "boxes" early on in her career but has noticed that the fashion and style of her heyday is making a comeback.

She added: "There were definitely boxes that I would get put in. I was told, 'You can’t be overly sexy and you can’t wear those sexy clothes if you want to be taken seriously in this business.' The publicists and your team would try to change everything and now what I think is really cool is that everyone can be their individual selves.

"You almost can’t really tell someone, 'You can’t, you’re not this, or you shouldn’t be this, or you can’t wear that.' You know what I mean? But throughout that time, I learned a lot and I started to really get into fashion because I was at a point in the early to mid-'90s where I had a little [debit] card. I’d go and pull out a couple hundred dollars, and I’d go to Melrose and just buy the sexiest outfit I could find, then I’d go out that way.

"It’s funny when people send videos on a red carpet or walking into a place where [paparazzi] were shooting, a club or a birthday party or whatever, and I’m like, 'Oh my God, I was really wearing that.' What I do notice now is all the girls are wearing that '90s look again and I love it.