If, like us, you've been counting down the days, minutes and seconds until Hulu's much-anticipated miniseries Pam & Tommy drops, then you'll be well aware that today's *the* day! Yep, 2 February will forever know be known as 'Pam & Tommy Day' as the first three episodes of the show are now available to stream on Disney Plus' Star channel, with the rest of the episodes to follow weekly.
With so much hype surrounding the show as of late, which included talk of Lily James' incredible transformation into Pamela Anderson, it's no wonder that so many of us have found ourselves heading to Google to find out more about the IRL people the eight-part series is based on. So, whether you've already started bingeing the series, or you're doing some pre-viewing preparations, here's everything you need to know about the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape scandal that gripped the world back in the mid-1990s.
Who are Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee?
Unless you've been existing under a rock, it's pretty unlikely you'll have absolutely no idea who Pamela Anderson is. But, just in case, we'll give you a quick debrief. Pamela Anderson, aka Pam An aka Pammy, is best known for role as C. J. Parker in the hit US TV show, Baywatch, and her many appearances in Playboy magazine.
In 1994, Anderson met Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee at a New Year's Eve party and, four days later, they were engaged. Shortly after they said 'I do' at a beach wedding ceremony and got matching tatts. Talk about taking things slow, eh?
Later reflecting on their fast-paced relationship, Anderson told Interview magazine: "Tommy and I started out having a very intense, fun, crazy relationship because we were two kids... We were madly in love. It wasn’t like drugs or alcohol or anything like that. We were both just really passionate about life."
What happened with the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape?
One year into their marriage, a sex tape of the couple was released without their knowledge – quickly attracting the attention of pretty much the entire world. The video had been stolen by two contractors who'd carried out work at their home the year before.
Everyone's clicking on...
"One night, Pamela and I were chowing down on some dinner and flipping through television stations when we heard our names being mentioned on some news show," Lee recalled [per Esquire]. "On the screen, there was a dude at Tower Video stocking the shelves with videotapes. And we knew just what they were."
Speaking about the sex tape, which had been filmed while Anderson and Lee were on holiday, Lee explained: "We had taken a five-day houseboat trip on Lake Mead as a vacation. As usual, I brought along my video camera. We weren’t trying to make a porno, just to document our vacation. We watched it once when we returned home, then put it in our safe, a 500-pound monstrosity, hidden underneath a carpet in my studio control room in the garage."
So, how did the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape get out?
According to electrician Rand Gauthier, who worked at Anderson and Lee's home, he was owed money from the couple after being dismissed from the job. He claimed Lee chased him off their property with a shot gun and so, in a bid to get revenge, plotted to steal their safe – suspecting it contained an array of valuable items.
After stealing the safe, which Gauthier alleges he did alone (although others dispute this, given how heavy it would have been), the electrician found guns, jewellery, Anderson's wedding bikini and the now-infamous sex tape.
"We put it [the tape] in and see what it is, and of course, cha-ching. The dollar signs fly before our eyes," Gauthier said, referencing the porn studio manager he took the tape to.
What followed was a lengthy battle between Anderson, Lee and the Internet Entertainment Group (who acquired the sex tape from Gauthier). "The next thing I knew, there was a porn peddler from a company called the Internet Entertainment Group phoning me," Lee said. "He said he had bought the tape and was going to broadcast it on the internet."
Understandably wanting to avoid having their private sex life broadcast for the world to see, the couple went to court – but Anderson's past as a Playboy model was used against them, something which she described as humiliating.
"It was great sitting through depositions, where old men with crusty white shit in the corners of their mouths would hold up pictures of me naked in Playboy and ask why I’d even care that the tape was out there," she said in Lee’s 2004 autobiography Tommyland. "I couldn’t handle it. It got to a point where I could not go to another deposition with these sweaty old guys asking me about my sex life."
Unable to reach an agreement, Lee recalled: "Our lawyers and managers advised us that the best way to minimise 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... We thought we had won: hardly anyone would see the video on the Internet, and we could recover the tape and start over."
But, with the internet being the internet, that didn't happen, and the couple's sex tape went viral – or, about as viral as anything could in the nineties – cementing itself in the pop culture hall of fame.
What happened after the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee video?
After a string of public spats, and allegations that Lee had kicked Anderson during an argument, the couple called time on their whirlwind romance in 1998. The pair later reconciled in 2008, but the relationship didn't last.
Is Pam & Tommy based on a true story?
Sure is – although the IRL Anderson and Lee are reportedly not very happy about it. "Pamela has no intention of watching this godawful show, absolutely not. Never. She’s never heard of the actors playing her or Tommy, and doesn’t care to know them," a close friend of the Baywatch star told The Sun. "She and her family think the show is a cheap knockoff. The whole thing is a joke to them." Savage.
The first three episodes of Pam & Tommy are available to stream now on Disney Plus.
