In the 1990s, this blonde bombshell adorned the walls of millions of teenage boys’ bedrooms. Her one-piece swimsuit poses sporting a rescue can (yup, that’s what it’s called. You and me buddy, is at this age when we found out) is an image you can’t get off your head even decades later.
However, there is a lot more to this sex symbol than meets the eye. Pamela Anderson is a successful TV producer, activist, and poet in addition to being a model and actress.
Pamela Denise Anderson, the Hottest thing out of Canada
This hot, hot babe was born on July 1, 1967, in Ladysmith, British Columbia. Surprisingly, that same day also happens to be Canada’s 100th birthday. As a result, Pamela’s photograph has appeared in newspapers and magazines since she was born as a Centennial Baby. Yes, this woman was born to star!
Her parents were Carol, a waitress, and Barry, a furnace repairman. Her great-grandfather immigrated to Canada from Finland in 1908. She gets her sunkissed, blonde looks from the sun, as Scandinavians tend to get a lovely tan with a lot of sun! When it comes to the Land of a Thousand Islands, Pamela is related to two former Finnish presidents: Urho Kekkonen and Mauno Koivisto.
Plagued by Troubles Since She was Young
The model-turned-actress revealed in 2014 that her childhood was marred by a string of sexual assaults. Her then-boyfriend sexually assaulted her again when she was 14 years old.
“I did not have an easy childhood… I was molested from age 6 to 10 by my female babysitter.”
Despite this, Anderson remained upbeat, physically active, and physically strong. She attended Highland Secondary School in Comox, British Columbia, and graduated in 1985. She then relocated to Vancouver in 1988 to work as a fitness instructor, and it was during this time that she received a well-deserved break.
Her First Break
Pamela, 22, was minding her own business one day in 1989 while watching the BC Lions play Canadian Football at Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium. Her face appeared on the Jumbotron without warning, and she made such an impression on the audience that she was invited onto the football field to a rapturous standing ovation!
Pamela, by chance, happened to be wearing a Labatt’s T-shirt at the time. Her stunning beauty so enchanted a Canadian beer company that they immediately offered her a modeling contract and hired her as a spokeswoman. Dan Ilicic, her then-boyfriend, created this Blue Zone Girl poster around the same time.
Her First Playboy Stint
Pamela’s brief stint as the face of Labatt’s led to her first appearance as a Playboy cover girl in October 1989. She then packed her belongings, left Vancouver, and traveled to Los Angeles in search of fame and fortune. “It’s tough starting a career, isn’t it?” she wrote while pursuing a modeling career. “When they finally believe in you, they have their own hidden agenda.” She was then named Playmate of the Month for February 1990.
Funnily enough, when Playboy first asked her to pose, she turned them down. But when they said that they wanted her to appear on the cover, she accepted, knowing she wouldn’t appear naked. However, her boyfriend had an extreme reaction and forbade her from taking part in the shoot. But she was having none of that! All in all, her Playboy career spanned 22 years, and she has graced the cover of the gentlemen’s magazine more often than any other model.
Her TV Breaks
In 1990, he had two minor early roles in two popular sitcoms: Married with Children and Charles in Charge. She had two operations around this time to increase her bust size to 34DD. Soon after, in 1991, she landed a minor role as the original “Tool Time Girl” on Tim Allen and Richard Karn’s hit TV sitcom, Home Improvement.
For the first two seasons, her character, Lisa, always handed Tim his power tools before he got into some hilarious DIY mishap. Pamela appeared in 23 episodes of Home Improvement before leaving to focus on a more well-known TV show. And that is where she became an international sex symbol…
A Gorgeous Lifeguard’s Slow-Motion Running
With an estimated weekly audience of 1.1 billion viewers, Baywatch was once the most-watched television show in the universe. However, the California Lifeguard series was struggling to survive in 1992. The show’s star and executive producer, David Hasselhoff, offered Anderson the role of Casey Jean Parker, which she accepted because C.J. The actress meditated and identified with her New Age beliefs.
Pammy starred in 76 episodes of Baywatch, making her a household name and adorning the walls of millions more teenage boys’ bedrooms. But, despite the fact that C.J. saved hundreds of bad swimmers in Baywatch, Pamela Anderson despises swimming! Yes, she despises it.
Outside Baywatch
Pammy made her leading role debut in the action-drama Raw Justice (1994), also known as Good Cop, Bad Cop, and Strip Girl, during her five seasons on Baywatch.
Pamela co-starred as Sarah, a sex worker who witnesses a murder, alongside Stacy Keach. However, she later admitted that filming the love scenes was a “horrible experience” for her. In her own words, “I was thrown around, scratched, bruised, and bitten. I cried, I went home, I called my mother.” She became disillusioned with acting after filming Raw Justice and backed out of further acting work.
The Infamous Motley Crue Drummer
On February 19th, 1995, Pamela married Mötley Crüe drummer, all-around bad boy, and walking tattoo, Tommy Lee. They met at a New Year’s Eve party when he was high on ecstasy. They had known each other just four days before tying the knot on the beach, with Pammy wearing her obligatory bikini. It was such a shotgun wedding that her own mother didn’t even know until she read about it in People magazine!
Sadly, the marriage was doomed from the off. Allegedly, Tommy threw tantrums on set whenever Anderson had romantic scenes. He became so violent that he was physically removed from the set!
The Sex Scandal that Rocked the World
In 1995, thieves stole a sex tape from Pamela and Tommy Lee’s home. The video, which was shot during their honeymoon, quickly went viral on the internet. Anderson filed a lawsuit against the video distribution company. They eventually reached a confidential settlement agreement with Internet Entertainment Group, and the company began making the tape available to website subscribers, tripling their normal traffic.
This, however, was not Pamela’s first scandal. Her previous sex tape with musician Bret Michaels (from another hair metal band, Poison) reared its ugly head. A one-minute version was uploaded to the internet. It was revealed in December 2020 that Lily James had been cast as Pamela Anderson in a TV drama based on the sex tape escapades, with Marvel’s The Winter Soldier, Sebastian Stan, playing Tommy Lee.
Abuse From Tommy
Pamela and Tommy had two sons, but by 1998, their marriage had crumbled. Tommy was arrested for spousal abuse the following year after violently kicking Pamela in the back several times.
He was sentenced to six months in Los Angeles County Jail. She filed for sole custody of their sons, citing physical and mental abuse. Despite all this, Pammy kept getting back together with Tommy over and over again until 2010.
More Career Highlights and Controversies
Hello, She Lied, a TV crime drama, was released in 1996. The B-Movie, originally titled Miami Hustle, tells the story of a con to steal millions of dollars from a stripper’s inheritance. Pammy was cast as the millionaire stripper but was completely unaware of the numerous gratuitous bedroom scenes.
Pamela left the project after learning there were so many sex scenes, and the producers sued her for $5 million. A court eventually ruled that Anderson had not entered into a legally binding agreement. Then Kathy Ireland was cast in the role.
Title Role
Pamela played Barbara Kopetski in the film adaptation of the comic book series Barb Wire in 1996. The thinly veiled futuristic remake of Casablanca (1942) was set during the Second American Civil War in 2017 but was a financial and critical bomb, no matter how prophetic the storyline.
Anderson’s performance was panned by critics, and she was nominated for several Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst New Star. Pamela was dissatisfied with Barb Wire, claiming that it was supposed to be a “dark comedy, real cartoony,” but the producers replaced the director and removed all of the humor. Nonetheless, the film became something of a cult classic. She had “barb wire” tattooed on her left upper arm during filming but had it removed in 2016.
Becoming a Producer
Pammy wanted more creative control over her projects after her negative experiences on Raw Justice and Barb Wire, so she became an executive producer on the next series after Baywatch. She was involved in “everything from hiring production designers and art directors to casting people,” but she kept her newfound powers hidden from the public because she thought they would mock the idea of her being a TV producer.
V.I.P. was a campy action comedy in which she starred as Vallery Irons, who becomes the glamorous face of a bodyguard agency after saving a celebrity by accident. The show, which frequently mocked Anderson’s public persona, lasted four seasons and was even nominated for an Emmy! Anderson stated that she wished to distance herself from her Barbie doll image and her many problems with Tommy Lee.
How She Handled Stalking
Pammy required a real-life bodyguard due to her role as a bodyguard in V.I.P. She was briefly engaged to Swedish model Marcus Schenkenberg after divorcing Tommy in 1998, but the relationship ended in 2001.
Pammy was left alone when a woman named Christine Roth was discovered sleeping in Anderson’s house. The 27-year-old Frenchwoman had been a longtime fan, and according to a police spokesman, “she stated that she was, in fact, infatuated with Miss Anderson and that she had traveled to that location to enter her house.” It wasn’t the first time a woman matching Roth’s description had been seen on the property. Fortunately, no one was physically harmed, and Roth was returned to France and sentenced to counseling.
A household name er Face
In 2003, Australian media executive, radio and TV personality, and football commentator, Sam Newman, commissioned architect, Cassandra Fahey, to design a three-story, three-bedroom house with a gourmet kitchen, a terrace with a lap pool, and a private courtyard with a pond.
Nothing unusual about that… apart from the fact that the house contains a giant image of Pamela Anderson’s face! The architect and owner received Pamela’s permission to use her likeness, and the house is now a landmark in St. Kilda, Melbourne.
Her Fun, Fun Camoes
Always the first to poke fun at herself, around these times, Anderson played herself in numerous films and TV series; from Futurama and Just Shoot Me, to Scooby-Doo: The Movie (2002) and Pauly Shore is Dead (2003), which made a hilarious $11,000 at the box office. In 2005, Anderson pole-danced in an Elton John video, but NBC deemed the footage too racy and cut her scenes.
The same year, she starred in the sitcom, Stacked, playing Skyler Dayton, a woman who wants to move on from her non-stop partying lifestyle and lousy boyfriend choices.
Pamela Anderson’s most famous cameo was in Borat in 2006. And yes, it was the catalyst for the end of her marriage to Kid Rock.
His Name is Kiiiiid Rock!
Borat becomes obsessed with Pamela while visiting the United States in the film. Before kidnapping her, he meets her and proposes marriage. While everything appears to be real, it was all due to good stage management. Pammy claims she and Sasha Baron Cohen planned the stunt for years. While she didn’t mind her portrayal in the film, her husband, Kid Rock, did.
The July wedding to Kid Rock was rumored to be arranged because Pammy was pregnant. However, on November 10th, 2006, the actress announced that she had miscarried while filming Blonde and Blonder (2007) in Vancouver. On November 27th, she filed for divorce from Kid Rock, citing irreconcilable differences.
Those “irreconcilable differences” arose when Kid Rock exploded with rage during a screening of the Borat film. According to the New York Post, after seeing Borat, Ritchie sent his wife a furious, expletive-laden text message.
The One?
Pamela announced her engagement on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in September 2007. Rick Salomon, a film producer, soon married her. Surprisingly, the couple divorced nine weeks later, with Pamela filing for annulment, citing fraud.
Pamela announced in January 2014 that she had remarried Rick on an unspecified date, but filed for divorce for the second time in February 2015. On April 29th of the same year, the divorce was finalized. You have to admit, she doesn’t have a lot of luck with love.
On and Off with Tommy
Despite an acrimonious breakup and subsequent relationships, Anderson and Tommy Lee maintained their own relationship.
Anderson stated in February 2007 that she still had sex with Tommy Lee after their divorce, and Lee stated in June 2008 that they were trying to make things work again.
Citenzhips and Properties
Anderson became a naturalized American citizen nearly two decades after she first left Canada to pursue fame and fortune. Despite her commitment issues, she kept her Canadian citizenship.
Anderson paid $1.8 million for an idyllic beach house in 2008. Can you guess where? Of course, we’re talking about Malibu! She tried to sell it in 2013 for $7.75 million but was denied after getting into trouble with the IRS for unpaid taxes, so she now rents it out. If you have a spare $50,000 per month, you can stay there!
Collaborations and sorts
Throughout her career, Pamela Anderson has frequently collaborated with her younger brother, actor and producer Gerry. Gerry should not be confused with Gerry Anderson, the creator of the 1960s British puppet show Thunderbirds. The siblings started working together in 2007.
Gerry has collaborated with his sister on several of her films and television shows, including V.I.P., Stripperella, Stacked, and Blonde and Blonder. Pamela and Gerry both ran the New York City Marathon in 2013.
Her Anima Rights Advocacy
Pamela Anderson has fought tirelessly for many charities and causes she believes in. Her animal rights activism appears to be the result of a traumatic childhood experience. As a 12-year-old, she came home to find a headless deer carcass bleeding into a bucket. She persuaded her father to stop hunting and never eat meat again. Pammy has been advocating for animal rights since that day. In the mid-1990s, she wrote a charming letter that inspired her to join People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Pamela then issued an S.O.S., which stood for “Save Our Seals, Not Our Souls!” Marine mammals are hunted in her home country, both for food and for commercial purposes among Canada’s First Nations communities. Pammy, along with many other animal rights activists, has frequently protested this practice. She began by wearing anti-seal hunting T-shirts and requesting an audience with then-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss saving seals.
Russia was one country that stopped hunting harp seals. Anderson personally wrote to Vladimir Putin in 2009 to thank him for taking steps to protect animal rights. She did, however, point out that Russia continues to hunt whales and urged him to do the same.
Health Awareness
Animal rights aren’t the only cause that Pamela champions. In 2005, the former model teamed up with MAC Cosmetics to become a spokeswoman for their AIDS Fund, which provides financial assistance to people living with HIV and AIDS.
Pammy has also spoken out against gendered violence, sharing her own victim experiences. She wrote a letter to President Barack Obama in 2009 urging cannabis legalization. She supported the Yellow Vest movement (gilets jaunes) in France and the Green Party of Canada in the 2019 Canadian elections.
Wikileaks
In 2016, Pamela Anderson publicly defended Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, calling him a “hero,” and there were rumors that the two were dating when he was in exile at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London between 2012 and 2019. But in 2019, after Assange was arrested and removed from the embassy, she went even further. To the ends of the world.
Not only did she personally visit Assange in jail, but she also traveled to the other side of the world to campaign for his native Australian government to provide Assange with the legal protection he was entitled to. In a 2017 poem, she wrote Julian Assange “is one of my favorite people” and the “most politicized refugee of our time.”
And More Tommy Lee
Pamela has moved on from her relationship with Tommy Lee, but he dragged her back into the spotlight in 2018. After Piers Morgan interviewed Pamela about their relationship, the drummer fired off a scathing tweet and signed off as ‘The Abuser’.
This was not well received, particularly by Anderson and Lee’s then-21-year-old son, Brandon. Brandon knocked Tommy unconscious, according to Tommy! Tommy posted a photo of his swollen lip on Instagram, with the caption, “Good job, Brandon. Great son!”
Soccer and France
Pammy relocated to the French Riviera in 2016, and then to the coastal city of Marseille. There, she fell madly in love with Adil Rami, a French soccer player 19 years her junior. He was a defender for the Olympique de Marseille soccer team at the time. For a while, everything seemed fine, until she discovered that he’d been living a double life, never splitting up with his children’s mother and continuing to see both women.
They split after two years together, and Pamela labeled Adil Rami a narcissist, a sociopath, a monster and later accused him of “physical and emotional torture” in a damning Instagram post. In 2019, she returned
to her “beautiful native Canada” on Vancouver Island.
The One, Again?
Pamela married 74-year-old movie mogul Jon Peters in a private ceremony in Malibu on January 20, 2020. They had dated more than 30 years ago when she was still a teenager.
Pamela announced her divorce from Jon Peters on February 1st, 2020, just 12 days after they married! Love is, indeed, a process! But, if you were one of the millions of teenage boys who had a poster of Pammy and her red swimsuit on their wall and thought you had a chance, think again!
And Another The One
Pamela met builder, bodyguard, and animal enthusiast, Dan Hayhurst, during the Coronavirus lockdown, and the couple was married in an intimate ceremony.
On January 26th, 2021, she signed off social media for good, stating: “This will be my last post on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. I’ve never been interested in social media, and now that I’m settled into the life… I’m genuinely inspired by reading and being in nature… I am free.” But not free and single. After decades of searching, it looks like Pamela finally found her Prince Charming. Sorry, folks!