Yasmine Bleeth Then and Now: A Stunning Transformation of the 'Baywatch' Star

Once the face of beachside television glamour, Yasmine Bleeth's life has followed a winding and often painful path, from global fame to public scandal, followed by a years-long vanishing act.

In the 1990s, Yasmine Bleeth became a television phenomenon, slipping into her red swimsuit as Caroline Holden on "Baywatch," a global sensation that drew more than one billion weekly viewers at its peak.

Practically overnight, she was everywhere: from glossy magazine covers to late-night interviews and glamorous red carpet events, her image was seared into the decade's cultural memory.

A Global Sex Symbol and Pop Culture Powerhouse

But Bleeth's path to stardom didn't begin on the beaches of Malibu. Long before her "Baywatch" fame, she was already a familiar face — a child star working her way through TV commercials and minor roles.

Her breakout on "Baywatch" launched her into the stratosphere, joining an elite cast of bombshells like Pamela Anderson and Gena Lee Nolin, and sealing her place as a '90s icon.

Yet with that level of fame came a dark price. In a 2017 Cosmopolitan interview, Nolin recalled the pressure they all felt under the microscope of fame. "You could not leave your trailer without knowing you'd have your photo taken," she shared.

She remembered a haunting moment involving Bleeth, "She scratched her nose and the Enquirer had three pictures of her... On the cover, it said 'Yasmine Bleeth and drugs,' or whatever. And at the time, when I met her, none of that was going on."

A Dark Turn Behind the Camera

As the series marched on, troubling whispers about Bleeth's off-camera life began surfacing. In a brutally candid 2012 interview with Esquire, executive producer Douglas Schwartz revealed the chaos unfolding behind the scenes.

"We were dealing with Yasmine not showing up and having difficulties, again with men," he said. "That's why we let Yasmine go off the show: because it was too difficult to deal with her after a while." He confirmed what tabloids had only speculated: she was "doing drugs at the time."

Co-star Traci Bingham didn't hold back. "Yasmine Bleeth and the whole cocaine thing, who does that? Really?" she said. "To the point where she's so out of the business now. Completely M.I.A."

Producer Michael Berk echoed the sentiment, offering a sobering look at Bleeth's post-Hollywood reality. "Yasmine basically retired. She ended up getting into some drug problems but [met] a guy in drug rehab, and she's basically retired," he said. Though the offers to return kept coming, she rejected them all — and, he noted, she'd been smart with her money.

Her Private Struggles Explode Into Public View

But Bleeth's fall from grace came crashing into public view in 2001 — in the most devastating way. While driving with her boyfriend, Paul Cerrito, near Detroit, the couple's rental car swerved violently into a median.

What police found next would make headlines around the country: nearly four grams of cocaine were discovered in her purse, the car, and their hotel room. The arrest came just one day after the September 11 attacks, which had delayed their travel plans.

Bleeth ultimately pleaded guilty, narrowly avoiding a four-year prison sentence. Instead, she was handed two years of probation, required drug treatment, and restrictions on her driver's license. Her attorney, Jerry Sabbota, tried to reassure the public at the time.

"She's clean," Sabbota told the New York Post. "All the felony charges will be dismissed. She will have a conviction for a traffic ticket at the end of her probationary term."

Despite everything, Bleeth remained with Cerrito — the man she had reportedly met in rehab. By 2003, they had appeared together in public a few times. But soon, she faded into obscurity, and by 2012, reporters trying to find her in Los Angeles and Scottsdale came up empty.

Gone from the Spotlight, but Never Forgotten

Photos taken throughout Bleeth's career reveal a startling evolution. From 1985's soap opera ingénue to the sleek red-carpet goddess of the mid-'90s, she was a fixture at TV launches, charity galas, and Hollywood parties.

From 1995 to 1999, she dazzled at MTV's "Rock N' Jock," shot scenes for hit shows like "Nash Bridges" and "Titans," and posed for flashing cameras across the globe.

But by 2001, it was her mugshot — pale, solemn, haunted — that became her most infamous portrait. Since then, public sightings have been few and far between.

Her name may no longer headline tabloids, but her time on "Baywatch" — as one of television's most recognizable bombshells — still lingers in the cultural imagination.