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When we all frantically binged Hulu’s Pam & Tommy series last year, we felt like we knew Pamela Anderson, and her sex tape scandal with her ex-husband Tommy Lee, like the back of our hands. From makeup tutorials to celebrity Halloween costumes, Anderson and Lee were one of 2022’s biggest “trending topics.” But, as opposed to what many of us might think, Anderson was not involved in any of the buzz around her story. In fact, she was barely consulted throughout the making of the show.
So, almost a year after the show’s big release, Anderson told her truth in her tell-all memoir Love, Pamela. The book, which was released on Jan 31, is “a memoir that defies expectation in both content and approach, blending searing prose with snippets of original poetry,” reads the official synopsis.
“[There’s] a little bit of anxiety before it comes out, because this has been a year, basically, of therapy, going through my life from my first memory to my last memory,” Anderson told People before the release. “I’m really proud of it. It is something I wrote every word of. I didn’t have a collaborator. I didn’t have any ghostwriter, nothing.”
Luckily for the Baywatch icon, putting her story on pen and paper has brought closure. “I had no idea how much anger I had inside, or how therapeutic it was going to be for not just me, but for people around me, like my mother,” she told the outlet. “It’s been a healing process. I’m so happy to share it and hopefully people will be inspired.”
So, if you’re in the mood of feeling inspired, Love, Pamela is now available for everyone to read at a limited-time Prime Day Offer at 55% off. Get your own today!
This and all the incredible discounts on Prime Day are for Amazon Prime members. If you’re not a member just yet, be sure to sign up here to take advantage of all the great Amazon Prime Day 2023 deals you can score.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
A version of this article was originally published on Jan 29, 2023.
Recounting Her Terrifying Rape Experience
Pamela recalled how one of her fellow friends wanted them to dress up older for an older gentleman stopping by. She recounted, “He was maybe 20. I was much too young to be there — we were only 12, 13? Trying so hard to be grown up. I wouldn’t have passed for 13. I was barely, if even, a teenager.”
Pamela then talked about how her friend left her with this older man, saying, “He wanted to give me a back rub. “
“Then he forced himself on me. It wasn’t hard to get me out of the tube top I was wearing. And no matter how hard I tried to fight him off, he was also able to get my shorts down,” she hertbreakingly penned. “I screamed with pain and called out for my friend, wanting to leave. “I couldn’t see, I couldn’t breathe, I was blinded by pain. I ran and locked myself in the bathroom to inspect what had happened to me — there was blood and other stuff. I felt sick as I cleaned myself up, trying to get it together.”
Shy Around JFK Jr
Pamela Anderson once posed for the magazine George, which was owned by John F. Kennedy Jr. While it was a fun photoshoot, she talked about how he wanted to reach out to her, and she was too shy to reach back out to him. “He rang me at the shoot, apologizing for not being there,” Pamela said in her memoir. “And I thought, ‘Thank God he isn’t, I’d be too nervous.’ I was embarrassingly giddy on the call, making noises I didn’t recognize — some kind of squeal? I couldn’t get off the phone fast enough.”
The Tim Allen Incident
In one excerpt from Variety, Anderson talked about a troubling experience on the set of Home Improvement with comedian Tim Allen in 1991. According to Anderson, she once found Allen in the hallway in his bathrobe. Though this seemed normal at first, it quickly turned into more. “He opened his robe and flashed me quickly — completely naked underneath,” Anderson recalled. “He said it was only fair because he had seen me naked,” she said, referring to her recent Playboy cover. “Now we’re even.”
“I laughed uncomfortably,” she wrote. Talk about a traumatic set experience!
Boyfriend Trouble
Also in her memoir, Anderson opened up about her romantic relationships, including her first serious boyfriend in high school. In one story, she recalled how he kicked her out of a speeding car. “He pushed me with his foot so hard, I had no choice but to open the door when the car was moving and rolled straight into a ditch,” Anderson wrote, per Variety. “Mind you, I landed a perfect gymnast dismount — at high speed.” Impressive, yet definitely highly concerning.
Her NSFW Jack Nicholson Confession
In one moment in the memoir, Anderson talked about an instance with Oscar-winner Jack Nicholson at the Playboy Mansion. According to Anderson, per Variety, she once stumbled in on him having a threesome in a bathroom. “Mr. Nicholson had two beautiful women with him,” she wrote. “They were all giggling and kissing up against the wall, sliding all over each other. I walked by to use the mirror, bending over the sink to fix my lip gloss. Trying not to look, but I couldn’t help myself and caught his eye in the reflection.”
She continued, “I guess that got him to the finish line, because he made a funny noise, smiled and said, ‘Thanks, dear.'” What a story!
Ultimate Opportunity
Though we know Anderson becoming a Playboy Playmate put her on the map, it did much more than that behind the scenes. According to Anderson, per New York Times, the magazine choosing her as the 1989 Playmate allowed her to finally leave her abusive fiancé who once threw a “tray of silverware at her head.” With her fiancé behind her, she also moved to Hollywood to start her new life. Playboy: an unexpected savior!
Her Marriage to Tommy Lee
Anderson describes her ex-husband Tommy Lee in the memoir just like we would imagine: “wallet chain swinging, no shirt on, just tattoos and nipple rings,” per the New York Times. At one point, Anderson describes their sex tape scandal, and their subsequent split, as “one of the most difficult things I have gone through.”
She continued, per People, “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.”
Finding an Escape
In 1995, in addition to being newly married to Lee, Anderson was also filming Baywatch and Barb Wire. In an extract obtained by Page Six, all the work started to take a toll. “It was a challenging time,” she wrote. “I hardly slept, I was working constantly between the movie and Baywatch, and I was freshly married. It felt like I needed to be ‘on’ 24/7, and yet I could barely stay awake.”
After a friend introduced her to diet pills named ephedrine, Anderson started using them as a way to cope with the stress. “I liked how the pills kept me awake, and I could get a lot more done,” Anderson wrote. “But the side effects meant I was losing weight fast. I looked like a bowlegged skeleton in a bathing suit, 105 pounds at five foot seven. In some of the Baywatch episodes filmed during that time, even the tiniest waves would knock me over.”
Mama Bear
Also in the memoir, Anderson talked about being a mom to her two kids Brandon, 26, and Dylan, 25. In one excerpt obtained by the New York Times, Anderson opened up about living in Malibu with her kids as they “surfed in the mornings before school and had random Tom Hanks sightings.” So sweet that they’ve found this peaceful life together!
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