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It was the question that was on everyone’s lips – were Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson dating?
During the press tour of their film, The Naked Gun, the Hollywood duo made headlines for their tactile red carpet appearances over the summer.
A source confirmed to Daily Mail in July that they had been dating ‘for a while’ after meeting on the set of their movie together.
When the film opened in London, Pamela was seen cuddling up to Liam and planting a kiss on his cheek, and while plugging the movie on chat show, Watch What Happens Live, she applied lip balm to him on camera.
Four months after the release of the movie, Pamela – just this week – has confirmed the pair are no longer romantically involved.
Although their brief blaze of romance has cooled into a platonic friendship, Pamela said: ‘I adore Liam, but we are better friends, in full honesty. He is such a supporter of this new trajectory in my career and kindly tells me he is very proud of me. I’m sure we will always be in each other’s lives.’
Her new admission raises eyebrows whether their ‘relationship’ was just a showmance, in a bid to create conversation around the film.
Pamela, 58, and Liam, 73, wouldn’t be the first stars to pull off a showmance.
Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell set tongues wagging when they engaged in multiple flirty interactions while promoting rom-com, Anyone But You.
Following the movie release, the co-stars admitted that they ‘leaned into’ the romance rumours for the benefit of their film.
One year after sparking affair rumours with Glen, Sydney is now stirring up familiar speculation with her Housemaid co-star Brandon Sklenar.
A so-called ‘showmance’ has become more and more of a marketing strategy to drum up hype around movies.
Pamela pulled the curtain back on her fling with the Taken star, and the ‘intimate week’ they spent together at his sprawling mansion in upstate New York.
She also revealed that she and Liam are no longer an item romantically, although they remain friends and he has been supportive of the new highbrow turn she has taken in her professional life, via People.
‘If you must know, Liam and I were romantically involved for a short while but only after we finished filming,’ she said, indicating that during her stay at his country house she ‘had my own room’ and ‘Our assistants both came; even family stopped by’.
Liam had not been in a public relationship since 2009, when his wife Natasha Richardson died of a head injury after falling on a ski slope without a helmet.
Their escapades during their ‘romantic lost week’ included ‘dinner at a tiny French restaurant where he introduced me as the “future Mrs. Neeson.”‘
She helped him garden, tending ‘to a rosebush overgrown with mint,’ and at one point a bathrobe-clad Liam had to chase a bear off from his breakfast window.
After their weeklong sojourn in upstate New York, they ‘went our separate ways to work on other films’ but reunited for the media rounds for The Naked Gun.
Their dating rumours went into overdrive when they were seen gazing into each other’s eyes, obviously besotted, at the movie’s premiere in New York.
She has now shared of the publicity whirlwind around their relationship that they were ‘having fun,’ with an equation ‘a bit like a Nancy Meyers film’.
However she shrugged off the claims that they were engaged in a ‘showmance,’ saying: ‘I always was laughing when people thought: “Oh, that’s a publicity stunt.” I’m like, “A publicity stunt? This is real. We have real feelings.”‘
Pamela has whirled through five marriages, including one to Motley Crue rocker Tommy Lee plus two to Paris Hilton’s sex tape co-star Rick Salomon and one to Kid Rock.
Liam on the other hand has only been married once, but was previously involved with a string of stars including Julia Roberts, Helen Mirren and Janice Dickinson.
