As the Hulu series Pam & Tommy came to an end on March 9th, it goes without saying that the story of these two stars has our attention. From what I’ve seen, there is a lot of information being thrown at audiences. Most viewers range from Gen X to Gen Z, as my parents can easily recall the infamous sex tape scandal.

Gen Z viewers see the couple as icons, but it’s hard to depict the accuracy of the story that is told about them and the scandal. In the making and premiere of the series, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee were not involved in the production as Anderson did not give permission and it is said from close sources “she will never, never watch this…not even years from now. Not even the trailer.”

As having a sex tape leaked is a traumatic event, the series is being criticized for glamorizing and reviving the trauma from the actress and drummer’s lives. Let’s break it down to uncover which details from the show actually happened.

What is true in the series

Tommy actually did lick Pam's face when they first met

In the second episode of the series, they show how Anderson and Lee first met. The scene is set at a nightclub where Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) and Pam Anderson (Lily James) are both partying. Anderson is celebrating her birthday and orders shots for the whole club and the waitress tells Lee that it is courtesy of Pamela Anderson. In this scene, Lee is already with a date and looks over at Pam and becomes absolutely mesmerized.

All of this is true, but instead of it being Anderson’s birthday, it is New Year’s Eve. She is in a booth with her girlfriends and Lee is with his friends; Lee stated this to be true in his memoir Tommyland. “I pushed my way into [her] booth, slid over her girlfriends’ laps, and forced myself a space right next to her. Then I grabbed her face and just licked the side of it, from chin to temple,” he says.

Pam and Tommy did get married after only a few days of knowing each other

The couple certainly did get married after 4 days spent together in Cancun like it is shown in the TV series. Pamela Anderson needed to go to Cancun for a photoshoot as the pair were supposed to have plans the previous night, but Lee hinted at meeting her in Cancun and Anderson insisted that he did not come because she was going to be very busy and would have no time for fun. After they talked on the phone, Lee immediately booked a flight to Cancun and called his friends to join.

He called six hotels until he found Anderson at the Ritz-Carlton; she couldn’t believe he showed up as he left her messages to meet for a drink and her friends encouraged her because of how persistent and determined Lee was.

They ended up at Señor Frog’s realizing that there was chemistry as they were inseparable for the following days. They stayed an extra two days in Cancun and within just four days they were married. Tommy Lee proposed with his pinky ring and the next day with a marriage license they were married within hours. But of course, the sexy rockstar couple tattooed each other's names on their fingers instead of wedding bands. This was not your ordinary couple.

Tommy Lee was actually an insufferable homeowner

This is true but instead of Rand Gauthier (played by Seth Rogen in the series) being a carpenter, he was actually an electrician. Lee did fire the contractor and staff and refused to pay for the work that had already been done. Gautheir was willing to let go of more than $20,000 worth of work but then reached his limit when Lee prevented him from getting his tools back, as Gauthier was held at gunpoint by the drummer. Overall, Tommy Lee was not a great client to have at the time as he did not pay for some of the work and constantly changed his mind to more extravagant ideas.

Anthony Pellicano was an unconventional private investigator

Pellicano was hired by Tommy Lee to find whoever stole the safe from him and Anderson, as Rand Gautheir was not the first person to pop into his mind out of all the people working on the couple's house. Pellicano had worked with a handful of celebrity clients like Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson. Pellicano was prone to go over the line in his investigations. In 2002, the FBI raided Pellicano’s office and they found thousands of hours of encrypted, illegally recorded conversations. The private investigator was ultimately sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Most people in the adult entertainment industry did pass on purchasing the tape

In the series, Rand Gauthier and Miltie Ingley (Nick Offerman) went to sell the tape to adult entertainment companies and were turned down by a majority of them, despite the possibility of the couple’s sex tape bringing in a large amount of revenue. Since the tape was stolen and the couple was not involved in its leak, there was no consent. Without a release, there could potentially be a massive legal battle as the money wasn't worth the hassle.

**The Penthouse lawsuit did make the tape more known to the public**

Before the lawsuit, there were whispers of a leaked sex tape with Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee but it was not widely known or talked about. Prior to the Penthouse lawsuit, journalists couldn’t run the story on the leaked tape because media companies were disinterested in the topic and did not want to talk about what was essentially porn. Of course, a legal battle with an ultra-famous publication like Penthouse catches the media's attention. Penthouse wanted to print photos of the leaked sex tape, so Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee took this to court, which gave the media the green light to finally talk about the story.

Pamela was discovered on a Jumbotron

In the series, Anderson went to a football game back in Canada with her then-boyfriend Dan Llicic. She appeared on the jumbotron wearing a cropped Labatt t-shirt. In the series, Llicic was discouraging of her modeling career, but in reality, he was very supportive and even made posters of Pam wearing a t-shirt saying the Labatt slogan “Enter the Blue Zone.”

What the series doesn’t tell the audience is that Anderson and her boyfriend pitched to Labatt before the football game. So, her appearance on the jumbotron worked in her favor, as Labatt signed Anderson as their spokesmodel. After this, modeling jobs came from other beer companies up until Playboy called her. Anderson was already sending photos to Playboy as they became familiarized with her. Prior to her big break, the Hulu series showed Anderson working as a waitress, but she was actually a fitness instructor who was starting to dip her foot into acting and modeling.

Pamela did change her Tommy ring finger tattoo

Pam did change her ring finger tattoo to “Mommy” after the couple was officially divorced in 1998.

What is not true/unclear

The couple didn’t save themselves for marriage

In the series, while the couple is in Cancun, Lee reveals to his band members that they have yet to go all the way, despite spending every night together in her penthouse suite. As you can guess this is not true.

“We hung out every night after that. We went to clubs, to restaurants, to bars, to the beach, and all we did was stare at each other and kiss all night. Then we went home and made love. She was in the penthouse suite, and the elevator opened directly into her room, where there was a pool and a waterfall, both of which we took advantage of,” Lee tells Rolling Stone.

We don’t know if Pam was forced to watch the sex tape during her deposition

In the series, Anderson has a solo deposition for the lawsuit of Penthouse publishing photos from the sex tape, and during the deposition, the lawyers ask her offensive and invasive questions while insinuating that Pam leaked her own sex tape. The lawyers also implied that since Anderson was a nude model for Playboy and made money from it, then there should be no issue with a sex tape being released, as she herself probably leaked it for money.

Furthermore, there is no way to confirm if she was forced to watch the sex tape during the deposition as these details are confidential and not released to the public. It is possible that it happened because the Penthouse lawyers suggested that since Anderson poses nude and the couple discusses their sex life in interviews, they have no privacy rights. The lawsuit ended up being dismissed as the judge ruled in favor of Penthouse.

Pam and Tommy did sign a deal with Seth Warshavasky but left out details

In 1997, the couple did sign a deal with the IEG company during Anderson’s second pregnancy, not her first. “Our lawyers and managers advised us that the best way to minimize the damages was to sign a contract saying that, since the company had us by the balls, we would reluctantly allow a one-time Webcast so long as they didn’t sell, copy, trade or rebroadcast it,” Lee states.

The tape still ended up being sold in stores and the couple sued Warchavasky because of their deal and won the case in federal court.

Tommy did get in a fight at the Viper Room, but it’s a different story

In the series, Lee is seen alone at the Viper Room club as he enters the bathroom where two fans tell him that the sex tape is the best thing he’s done in a while in his career. This pisses off Lee and he throws a punch and starts a fight with two fans.

In reality, Lee did get in a fight at the Viper Room, but he was with Anderson, and instead of beating up two fans, it was a tabloid cameraman. The cameraman ended up having a dislocated hip as the fight was caught on tape and Lee was charged with battery.

The Pam & Tommy Hulu series showcases the horror story of a stolen sex tape exposed to the world as the couple (specifically Pamela Anderson) was chewed up by the media. We especially learn about the emotional distress and trauma that was placed on Pamela Anderson as the media used her as a punchline and was scrutinized heavily as a woman. This crime looks into the emotional wounds of one personal and intimate property being invaded and shared across the country as a husband and wife’s sex tape is seen by hundreds of thousands of people with little to no justice. The tape ultimately made $77 million dollars.

Since the series came out, Pamela Anderson posted on Instagram on March 2nd that she will be telling her own story on Netflix. It will be a documentary on the life of Pamela Anderson including exclusive interviews with Anderson discussing her personal life, career, and experiences in Hollywood.

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