Gena Lee Nolin

I think people assume that having thyroid disease means you're older and overweight, but in reality, thyroid disease strikes at all ages and affects all sizes.

Don't be hard on yourself! You just had a baby. It took nine months to get there, and I believe it takes nine months to get back. For me, I really watched what I ate and exercised as much as I could with three kids.

It was scary. It's a public beach that we're filming on, so there was tons of paparazzi, especially when Pamela would be working. It was absolutely mayhem.

When you get into the public eye, one day, you're kind of unknown, and the next day, you have people in your bushes waiting to take a picture of you.

You're told to look good and to show Tupperware, and that was my job. Coming from that to being, like, 'Oh my God, you're a superstar' - it's almost overnight, and it's overwhelming beyond belief.

I've spent the better part of two decades running both toward and away from an image - the Hollywood image - that had come to define me.

Somewhere deep inside, I knew I had to be an actress.

The show was that we were sexy lifeguards. Clearly, the suits were probably five sizes too small and all of that, but it was just part of what it was, and that's why it was so popular.

I love a guy in a suit - someone who puts on his nice Armani pants.

It was later in life when I found out that I had thyroid issues and gained a ton of weight. I got up to 200 pounds.

I think that people sort of stereotype me as the blonde 'Baywatch' girl who's always in a swimsuit, so, I think, to tell my story - that I got up to 175 lbs., was so depressed I couldn't get out of bed - will show that life wasn't always good for me.

My children teach me to slow down and enjoy life.