Actress and model Pamela Anderson seems to court controversy wherever she goes… thanks
to her reliably scandalous love life, her brash outspokenness, and her unapologetic
eccentricity. Don't believe us? Here are some of Anderson's biggest controversies over the
years.
Pamela Anderson first met Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee in 1994, kicking off a scandalous
romance that provided years' worth of tabloid fodder. The two stars met at a Hollywood club
— Lee was reportedly high on ecstasy, and Pamela reportedly sent him a complimentary
shot. Things reportedly got hot and heavy when he went over and sat down at her table.
As he writes in the band's autobiography The Dirt:
"Without missing a beat, [Pamela] turned away and licked the face of the girl next to her.
Everyone started passing licks around the table."
Super hot, right? Anyway, after Anderson agreed to a date with Lee and then casually blew
him off, he obsessively tracked her down to Cancun, where she was on location for a modeling
shoot. The move evidently impressed her: The pair married four days later — with the
bride wearing a barely-there bikini.
Anderson's mother reportedly learned of the marriage through People magazine, telling
the publication,
"This was the first I'd heard of him. It is heartbreaking and shocking."
She wasn't the only one who found the marriage shocking. As Lee revealed in The Dirt,
"[Pamela's] brother asked for my address so he could come over and personally kick my
a--."
Lee and Anderson divorced in 1998, but they've subsequently gotten back together at least
twice over the years, albeit briefly. It's really something of a never-ending story.
"Is there a possibility you would marry him again?"
"Well, you never know."
At some point in their relationship, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee reportedly got tattoos
together. Anderson claims she was inked with the same needle used on Lee — even though
tattoo artists are always supposed to use clean needles. Unfortunately, Lee reportedly
hadn't told his wife that he had hepatitis C. In 2002, Anderson reveals that she'd also
contracted the disease.
Discussing the diagnosis with Esquire, Anderson recalled asking her doctor,
"'Okay, how do I get rid of it?' And he's like, 'You can't. This is what you're going
to die from.' [...] And then the doctor says, "Do you know how you got it?" I said no. And
he said, 'Your husband never told you he had it?' It kind of threw me for a while."
She goes on to explain,
"Obviously, it's a hard thing to tell someone, but I wish [Tommy] could have had the nerve
to tell me. Obviously, his ego was more important than my life."
"About ten years in, they said, 'You could live your whole life with this disease, and,
you know, you may not die from it, you can more likely die from something else.'"
And her luck reportedly changed in 2015. As ABC News reports,
"She learned that she had been cured of the virus after completing a 12-week regimen with
a drug called Sovaldi. [...] Anderson said the treatment cost around $100,000 and was
covered by her health insurance."
In 2006, Pamela Anderson appeared in Borat along with the film's writer and star Sacha
Baron Cohen. We expect outrageous antics in Baron Cohen's films, but Anderson's scene
was so questionable, it sparked her split from her then-husband Kid Rock, whom she'd
recently married.
As Page Six reports, Kid Rock was allegedly infuriated by a scene in which Anderson is
kidnapped after they caught a private screening of the film.
"...I'll give you your own plow!" Mayhem.
One of Kid Rock's friends told Page Six:
"[He] started screaming at Pam, saying she had humiliated herself and telling her, 'You're
nothing but a w—--! You're a s—-! How could you do that movie?'"
In 2019, Baron Cohen told the Daily Beast's "Last Laugh" podcast that he texted Anderson
after the screening … and she told him that she and Kid Rock were getting a divorce. When
he asked her why, Anderson said the film was to blame.
"I thought it was a joke but then a few weeks later they got divorced and they put as a
reason for divorce, Borat."
Pamela Anderson is an animal rights activist with a knack for appearing in controversial
campaigns. As the m reports,
"In September 2009, the CNN Airport Network refused to air a video [she made...] for PETA."
And then in 2010, another campaign got her in a bit of trouble in Canada. The ad encouraged
viewers to "have a heart" and "go vegetarian," and featured Anderson with lines and labels
drawn across her bikini-clad body along with the caption,
"All animals have the same parts."
According to the New York Daily News, a Montreal official explained why the ad was banned in
Montreal, claiming that,
"[It goes] against all principles public organizations are fighting for in the everlasting battle
of equality between men and women."
Anderson subsequently wrote in a statement,
"In a city that is known for its exotic dancing and for being progressive and edgy, how sad
that a woman would be banned from using her own body in a political protest over the suffering
of cows and chickens. In some parts of the world, women are forced to cover their whole
bodies with burqas — is that next? I didn't think that Canada would be so puritanical."
Though it goes without saying, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is a controversial figure in
his own right… so it's hardly surprising that Pamela Anderson caused quite a stir by
cultivating a friendship with him. In a blog post on her official website, she said that,
"He is one of my favorite people."
In another blog post, she claims,
"Julian Assange is the most intelligent, interesting, and informed man in existence. Yes- I think
he's quite sexy."
And rather dramatically, she's proclaimed that
"Mr Assange and I have become very dear friends over time. That's all I'm really comfortable
saying… Of course this is not an ideal situation - It's not indicative of any rational relationship.
I wouldn't know what that is anyway. [...] It is a match made in heaven -and hell- depending
on the vantage point."
She also opened up about the public reaction to this friendship, saying,
"I'm also not shocked that this may be interpreted and 'reduced' to just a 'sexual relationship'.
That is the easiest perception. And appeals to the tabloids. [It] takes into account my
image. It may be hard to imagine for some — that I have other assets — of equal
or greater value."
"He's very kind, and he's very smart. He's brilliant and we talk about everything. I'm
there for four hours at a time and I see him all the time."
Pamela Anderson has appeared in Playboy on a number of occasions. In fact, according
to the magazine's official profile page for the star,
"[She's] appeared on our cover 14 times—more than any other woman in Playboy history."
In a 2018 interview with 60 Minutes, Anderson claimed that the late Playboy publisher Hugh
Hefner was something of a mentor to her. In fact, he allegedly tried to protect her from
the darker side of show business:
“I would call Hef and I'd say, 'Why are they offering me $10,000 to have a Jacuzzi
with them?" And he'd say, 'Come home right now.'" And then the girls would tell me, 'Stop
calling Hef, you're going to give him a stroke.'"
Anderson even popped up on the magazine's last cover before the publication decided
to stop publishing its revealing images in 2015… a direction that lasted for a little
over a year. As she told Entertainment Tonight,
"I got a call from [Hugh Hefner's] attorney who said, 'We don't want anybody else. There's
nobody else, could you do the last cover of Playboy?'"
But she reportedly asked her two sons for permission before accepting the offer, explaining
that,
"They were teased, and made fun of, and had a few fist fights over their mom [in the past]."
She says her son Brandon — who was 19-years old at the time — didn't object:
"He goes, 'Mom you've got to do it. We're older, we're not embarrassed anymore of you.'"
Her son Dylan, then 17, was apparently also into the idea. As she tells it,
"Dylan's like, 'Mom, you know you've done it all.' I don't know what to say but they
were really excited for me."
In 2016, Pamela Anderson wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal and claimed that
"[Erotica] is a public hazard of unprecedented seriousness given how freely available, anonymously
accessible and easily disseminated pornography is nowadays."
She also wrote that
"[Pornography is a] dead-end outlet for people too lazy to reap the ample rewards of healthy
sexuality.”
"When a woman who is, you know, living, breathing, lying in bed, and your husband is in the bathroom
with a computer, there's something going on… that's not normal."
Anderson co-wrote the op-ed with American Orthodox Jewish rabbi Shmuley Boteach, asking
pointed questions like,
"How many families will suffer? How many marriages will implode? How many talented men will scrap
their most important relationships and careers for a brief onanistic thrill?"
Plenty of people took to social media to criticize the article, with one reader tweeting,
"That article Pam Anderson wrote just shows she's old & boring now."
Another critic succinctly tweeted,
"Don't tell Pam Anderson about the internet."
In November 2017, shortly after Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein faced a barrage
of horrific accusations of abusing women, Pamela Anderson was interviewed on Today.
During the conversation, she seemed to suggest the victims could have avoided the situation
completely. As she put it,
“It's just common sense. Don't go into a hotel room alone. If someone answers the door
in a bathrobe, leave."
She goes on to say,
"These things are common sense. [...] I think it was common knowledge that certain producers
or certain people in Hollywood are people to avoid... privately. You know what you're
getting into if you go to a hotel room alone."
Her comments received backlash, and she was accused of basically blaming the victim. Instead
of apologizing, Anderson doubled down in an Instagram post saying the victims would have
been fine if they had just used, quote, "common sense."
In 2020 Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for his crimes.
Pamela Anderson faced even more backlash in 2018 after making critical comments about
feminism and the Me Too movement. During a November 2018 interview with 60 Minutes, Anderson
said,
"I think this feminism can go too far. I'm a feminist but I think that this third-wave
feminism is a bore. I think it paralyzes men."
She goes on to say,
"I think that this Me Too movement is a bit too much for me. I'm sorry… I'll probably
get killed for saying that. [...] I'm not politically correct, maybe."
Entertainment Tonight called Anderson's comments "dismissive," and upset viewers challenged
her point of view on social media, with one such tweet reading:
"Using 'common sense' seems to translate into normalizing a violent environment and accepting
second-tier treatment as humans rather than actually making an effort to minimize bad
behavior just because people don't believe it can be minimized. (Hint: it totally can
be.)"
Another outraged viewer tweeted
"This is an extremely outdated way of thinking, on par [with] many outdated modes of thought
that we look back on [with] shame (slavery, religious wars, witch trials..the list goes
on). New ways of thinking are always an uphill battle for the less tolerant among us. I feel
sorry for her."
Yet another commentator tweeted,
"Umm paralysis and feminism. [...] where's your research, Pam[?] Sorry it bores you and
that you are so downtrodden about men being literally 'DOWN' but the 'me too' movement
has helped women and others 'GET UP' for perhaps the first time."
Associating with Donald Trump can be a risky move for a celebrity, due to the nature of
his divisive and scandal-ridden presidency. Well, in November 2019, Pamela Anderson willingly
embroiled herself in a bit of Trumpian controversy, and she suffered quite a bit of backlash for
that decision.
At the beginning of the month, the star posted an open letter to President Donald Trump and
First Lady Melania Trump on her website, which complimented the duo before addressing the
political situation with Julian Assange. The letter read in part,
"I am always enlightened and encouraged when I see the great work that you both have achieved[...].
You complement each other extremely well, Mr President with your personal touch and
emotional flare that strikes a chord with the people, together with the enduring poise
and presented dignity that the first lady upholds."
Days later, Anderson followed up the letter by posting a bunch of old photographs to Twitter,
all of which featured her standing beside Trump. She captioned the photo series:
"Once upon a time."
Well, many of Anderson's fans were most unimpressed by this business, with one critic tweeting
that
"[These photographs are] not something to be proud of"
Other former fans briskly let Anderson know that they were unfollowing her on the double.
Meanwhile, someone pointed out on Twitter that the photos didn't necessarily reflect
an authentic relationship: After all, Anderson had previously opened up about meeting Trump
in the past… and in not-so glowing terms. In May 2018, she told The Hollywood Reporter,
"I think it was his birthday. I was hired to be there. We all were paid like $500 a
day."
"I've only met him once… that I remember. But… I have a terrible memory."
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your
favorite stars are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so
you don't miss a single one.