By Nicki Gostin - Page Six




It’s been nearly 20 years since Yasmine Bleeth donned that iconic red swimsuit on TV’s “Baywatch,” and today she lives a dramatically different life out of the spotlight.

The 51-year-old former glamour gal was snapped walking her dog in Southern California earlier this week, looking nearly unrecognizable.

Bleeth, a New York City native, was already working by 10 months old when she shot a Johnson & Johnson No More Tears shampoo commercial. She landed spots on soaps like “Ryan’s Hope” as a teen, but rocketed to fame as Caroline Holden alongside Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff in “Baywatch.”

Bleeth sprinted through the sand from 1993 to 1997 before moving to TV hit “Nash Bridges” alongside Don Johnson, which she appeared on from 1996 to 2001.



She has said that recreational drug use escalated, triggered by a tempestuous relationship with “21 Jump Street” star Richard Grieco, and in 2000, she entered the ritzy Promises rehab clinic in Malibu to combat cocaine addiction. That’s where she met future husband Paul Cerrito, a strip club owner.

The next year, Bleeth was arrested in Detroit on cocaine-related charges.

Bleeth pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle while impaired and to possession and was sentenced to two years of probation.

In a heartfelt essay published in Glamour (via People) in April 2003, Bleeth wrote openly about her drug addiction, revealing that she once collapsed at a photoshoot and went without sleep for five straight days.

“Consciously trying to stay off drugs is now part of my life and always will be,” Bleeth confessed.