Vladimir Putin may be one of the most powerful and recognised men in the world - but he's still susceptible to the cult of celebrity.
The Russian President has cosied up to a number of showbiz stars over the years and even made two Hollywood A-listers Russian citizens, who have differing opinions about his war on Ukraine.
He had drinks with Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio and shook hands with British supermodel Naomi Campbell at the International Tiger Conservation Forum in Saint Petersburg in 2010.
Putin also sat with Joker actor Jack Nicholson at the Moscow International Film Festival in 2001, was photographed chatting with singer Paul McCartney before a concert in Moscow in 2003 and forged a long-standing relationship with ex-F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
Perhaps the most surprising acquaintance he has made is Baywatch sensation Pamela Anderson, who has met with Putin and visited the Kremlin several times.
Pammy has never given a straight answer when asked if they are romantically linked, so how did the Russian President get talking to the former Playboy model?
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Pamela's relationship with Putin dates back to over a decade ago - and unconfirmed romance rumours have swirled over the years.
The animal rights activist first contacted the Russian leader to try to persuade him to ban seal clubbing in Russia and stop imports of the marine mammals.
She must have been very convincing with her arguments as Putin banned the practice in 2009 shortly after the pair met in Moscow.
Then Pammy contacted Putin again in 2015, writing a letter urging him to stop the blood-soaked trading of whale meat.
She wanted to persuade him to block a shipping vessel carrying 1,700 tons of endangered fin whale meat from passing through Russian waters to Japanese markets.
Pamela started her letter by saying: "Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,
"I believe that we both share a mutual love for animals and a deep respect for nature and for this reason I would like to make a personal request to you, on behalf of endangered Fin whales."
She added: "President Putin, you can stop this illegal transit by forbidding this vessel from carrying a cargo of endangered Fin whale meat through Russian waters to Japan.
"I would like to respectfully ask you to consider investigating this shipment and to do what you can to prevent it from transiting to Japan an illegal cargo.
"Your decision could put an end to the needless slaughter of endangered whales by Iceland."
This led to her being invited back to the Kremlin and working directly with Russia to tackle the issue.
When Pamela appeared on Piers Morgan's Life Stories in early 2018, the show's outspoken host claimed she had teased a number of romantic links.
Speaking on Loose Women ahead of their interview airing, Piers said: "She's friends with Julian Assange, she's friends with Vladimir Putin of all people. She even hints at a bit of a romance with Vladimir Putin!
"Which is... well, make your own mind up when you watch it."
During the show, Pamela revealed that she had even been invited to Putin's presidential inauguration in 2012 as his special guest.
When asked about the status of their relationship, she replied: "No . . . no, but he wanted me to actually come to his inauguration and give him flowers. I was going to give him flowers on his inauguration.
"No, I did not do that. But there has been some . . . obviously we have been in the same place together sometimes."
When the stunned studio audience began to gasp, she nervously added: "It’s starting to feel surreal to me too. Am I lying? Am I telling the truth? I don’t know."
Always desperate to get a scoop, Piers pushed for more information on rumours that they were romantically linked.
Not going into details, Pamela simply added: "I have a great relationship with Russia. Yes."
On the same day that President Donald Trump met with Putin in July 2018, Pamela spoke about her dealings with the Russian leader and her views on tension between Americans and Russians.
Explaining how they met, she told the Daily Beast she wanted to tackle the seal hunting trade in her native Canada and stop products being imported into Russia.
"I’ve spoken at the Kremlin a few times with the minister of the environment, and they’ve made such great changes when it comes to protecting endangered species.
"It’s a different way of doing business there, obviously, and I don’t agree with everything, but the things that I’ve been involved in there, things move very fast and it’s good to see that they’re so forward-thinking when it comes to the environment."
Pamela also stated that when she visits Russia that they jokingly ask her: "Well, what have we done wrong this time?"
"We're programmed in America to think that if anything’s gone wrong it’s Russia's fault," she added.
"People just think Russians are very scary and stoic but they can be very emotional, very engaged and wanting to do the right thing. It’s annoying. America can be very annoying, how everything is so anti-Russia."
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