Forget Roxie Hart, because the name on everyone’s lips in New York City is Pamela Anderson.

The Baywatch star made her Broadway debut as the headliner in the iconic musical Chicago on April 12, telling E! News that she has “never worked this hard” and loves “the challenge” her time in the show has presented to her. 

Though Anderson, who is also working on her memoir and a recently announced Netflix documentary to share her version of her life, describes herself as a West Coast girl, the actress, mom to The Hills: New Beginnings alum Brandon Lee, 25, and musician Dylan Lee, 24, has settled quite nicely into life in the Big Apple. From her daily walks in Central Park to the faces she most excited to see in the audience, the 54-year-old star exclusively opened up to E! News over e-mail about her time on the East Coast as she prepared for her eight-week run in Chicago.

Hint: It involved digging deep into the emotions dredged up by how she’s “misunderstood by the press.”