'After Baywatch': Carmen Electra learned hard TV kissing lesson with David Chokachi

Carmen Electra proudly admits it took a year of persistent pleading through her publicist before director Matthew Felker secured her participation in the new docuseries "After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun."

It's not that Electra, 52, is ashamed of the iconic and unabashedly shallow lifeguard beach '90s series that made slow-motion beach-running a worldwide TV phenomenon.

She is proud of her journey from Prince music prot?g? to 2016 Playboy sensation to sleeping on friends' couches during a move to Hollywood before a guest-starring stint on "Baywatch Nights." That led to the career-igniting role of lifeguard Lani McKenzie on 22 "Baywatch" episodes in 1997-98 (while she also hosted MTV's game show "Singled Out").

Electra is thankful for the globally syndicated "Baywatch," which led to her meteoric ascent to fame, and even loved "Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding," the 2003 made-for-TV reunion movie.

'After Baywatch' docuseries: Reveal secret life, home videos of lifeguard megastars

There's no love-hate relationship with "Baywatch," which some cast members say they struggled with in "After Baywatch."

"I just wanted to make sure this documentary was the real deal," Electra tells USA TODAY of her lengthy trepidation. "And then I just decided, let's do this!"

Here's what Electra divulged about life in the "Baywatch" swimsuit and beyond during ABC News Studios' four-part "After Baywatch" docuseries (now streaming on Hulu):

Carmen Electra loves her 'Prince-given' name. Why she made her name change official

"After Baywatch" reminds viewers that Ohio-born-and-raised Tara Leigh Patrick moved to Minneapolis to work and live with music superstar Prince, who decided her dancing energy required a name change, giving her the perfect power moniker of Carmen Electra.

This month, the artist formerly known only to her family as Tara Leigh was informed that her official name change to Carmen Electra had been fully processed, right down to her driver's license. (She had resisted a legal name change for decades to avoid offending her family.)

"I've kept my birth name because my father was still alive, and my grandparents. I was honoring their name by not completely changing mine," says Electra. "But by now, even my nieces call me by my Prince-given name."

Electra lied about her ocean swimming prowess to get 'Baywatch,' but it didn't get her fired

Electra misled "Baywatch" producers about her ocean swimming prowess to land the coveted role. "I didn't grow up with the ocean; I grew up with pools. Very different," she says.

But while internet rumors say she was eventually fired for faking her skills, Electra says she immediately "nailed it" during a dive and swim test in a pool in the audition office building.

The classically trained dancer continued nailing it as a first-time tandem surfer on TV – "I was terrified at first," she says. "But I waved at the camera by the end" – and excelled at bounding into high waves during fake rescues.

"The producers insisted we do our own stunts because that was a big viewer complaint," says Electra. "I'd jump into the waves, take after take. I was good at it. But I'd get water up my nose and have to ask, 'Can we do that again?'"

Electra over-performed in her first 'Baywatch' screen kiss with David Chokachi. He went with it

Electra experienced her first TV kiss with David Chokachi, who played Cody Madison, the sometime boyfriend to fellow lifeguard C.J. (played by iconic "Baywatch" star Pamela Anderson). Electra admits to putting a little too much effort, and tongue, into the fake kiss.

"I was really green. And I just went in for it," says Electra. "It was like, 'I'm just going to grind and give him some tongue.' I didn't realize you're supposed to just maneuver your lips around a little bit, which I learned later."

Chokachi didn't mind, especially after years of full-throttle kissing scenes with Anderson.

"Pam and I would just go for it, like make out all the time, fully kissing each other. It's like, 'We're on camera, we're actors, let's just do it,'" says Chokachi. "So when Carmen did it, I was not surprised. It was like, 'I've been doing this for two years with Pam. Let's just go for it.'"

How Electra ended up in 'Baywatch' BFF Yasmine Bleeth's bathing suit: 'The crown of worldwide phenomenon'

After winning the "Baywatch" job, Electra was excited to be fitted for the show's famous custom-made red bathing suit. But it didn't arrive on time for Los Angeles beach filming. So Electra hit the costume rack and received permission to wear the swimsuit belonging to "Baywatch" veteran Yasmine Bleeth, who played lifeguard Caroline Holden (and was an obsession of Matthew Perry's "Friends" character Chandler Bing.)

"The suit that fit me best was Yasmine's," says Electra. "It was definitely like a crown being passed on to me; the crown of worldwide phenomenon."

'Baywatch' brought the paparazzi before Dennis Rodman's marriage

Years before marrying Chicago Bulls NBA champion and wild man Dennis Rodman in 1998 at Little Chapel of the Flowers in Las Vegas, Electra got her first taste of paparazzi pursuit while flying to New York for a "Baywatch" promotional trip. Truly unsuspecting, she wore a plane-comfortable sweatsuit and sneakers.

"That was an experience where they were just coming out of everywhere," says Electra. "I knew they were going to get me. I had to think more about my outfit going forward than casually cute. I adjusted."

Electra even adapted to working with the '90s hordes of photographers dangerously and obtrusively following her on a full-time basis.

"That was the time; it was crazy. Due to social media, things have changed and calmed down today," Electra says. "But there were times I would be followed by so many paparazzi that I'd pull over to say to them, 'Let's get a picture. I'll get out of the car if you stop following me. And next time, I'll give you a really hot picture.'"

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Baywatch' star Carmen Electra on sexy TV kissing, ocean swimming lies