Baring all. Pamela Anderson opened up about her childhood, marriages and career in her Netflix documentary, Pamela, A Love Story, and new memoir, Love, Pamela.
The Baywatch alum, 55, announced both projects after the premiere of Hulu’s Pam & Tommy miniseries, which focused on her marriage to Tommy Lee and the 1995 theft of the former couple’s sex tape.
“My life: A thousand imperfections, a million misperceptions,” Anderson said in March 2022 after announcing the film. “Wicked, wild and lost. Nothing to live up to — I can only surprise you. Not a victim, but a survivor. And alive to tell the real story.”
Seven months later, the former Home Improvement star announced her latest book. “It feels like some kind of miracle — to be retracing the painful steps of my youth,” she wrote via Instagram in October 2022. “I repainted scenes in detail if it were my childhood or at the Playboy Mansion. Just one girl’s messy life. … The book is [an] unpolished attempt. I had no cowriter. My life — as a mother, as an activist, and as an actress. I am so proud of this book.”
Ahead of the film and book’s releases on Tuesday, January 31, an insider exclusively told Us Weekly that Pam & Tommy was one of the reasons Anderson decided to share her version of events. “She hated how sensationalized the story was and wanted to be able to tell hers from the beginning,” the source explained. “[She] didn’t want to consult with someone writing her life for her. She wanted to start fresh.”
While promoting her new projects, the Barb Wire actress revealed that she hasn’t watched Pam & Tommy and has no plans to do so in the future. She also noted that she never read a letter sent to her by Lily James, who played the former Playboy model in the series.
“I think it’s hard to play somebody when you don’t know the whole picture,” Anderson told Variety earlier this month. “I’ve got nothing against Lily James. I think that she’s a beautiful girl and she was just doing the job. But the idea of the whole thing happening was just really crushing for me.”
In both the memoir and the documentary, Anderson made it clear that the sex tape incident isn’t something she can speak lightly about. “It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever gone through. It is still a great cause of pain for all of us,” she wrote. “It ruined lives, starting with our relationship — and it’s unforgivable that people, still to this day, think they can profit from such a terrible experience, let alone a crime.”
Keep scrolling for the biggest revelations from Pamela, A Love Story and Love, Pamela: