Carmen Electra was homeless before she found fame.

The 52-year-old actress got her big break when she was cast as Lani McKenzie in the hit action series 'Baywatch' during the late 1990s but recalled that her quest for stardom was a struggle because she didn't come from a privileged background and suffered from self-doubt as she hauled herself to auditions.

Speaking as part of a panel at 90s Con in Daytona Beach, Florida, she said: "I was homeless in L.A., I’m not from a rich family or anything like that.

"I knew where I needed to be in N.Y. or L.A..

"So there was a lot of struggling, and I didn’t really know what I was going to do. But I just started to try things and come out of my shell really. So that’s the beginning.

"I would not want to go into auditions, I’d leave and say everyone’s so pretty, I can’t do this, I can’t memorise anything."

But Carmen - whose birth name was Tara Leigh Patrick - saw a change in her fortunes when she met the late pop icon Prince, and he was the one who suggested she change her moniker and produced her debut studio album in 1993.

She added: "I felt like trying things and meeting some good people on the way that helped me. Prince just set me up and he was so supportive.

"With his support I got a tad bit more confident and just tried things and tried to keep that in mind with all my insecurities that I still have."

The 'I Want Candy' recently revealed that when she was cast in 'Baywatch', she was often told by bosses on the set of the hit show to watch her weight as she was filmed in her famous red bikini.

She told US TV show Extra: "I never had a weigh-in, but I was told sometimes I was too heavy! And I look back now and I don’t think I was. They would come up to you and say, ‘You need to lose some pounds’ or ‘You need to lose some weight".