Pamela Anderson is ready to tell her own story.
Details about her authorized Netflix documentary, Pamela, A Love Story arebeing revealed by Vanity Fair. __ The project, announced in March on theheels of Hulu’s biographical series Pam & Tommy, comes out Jan. 31, but it’sbeen in the works for years and features decades of her personal movies andjournals. The doc will hit the same day as her memoir Love, Pamela .
Among the things we’ve learned about the film project, helmed by Emmy-nominated documentary Ryan White ( The Case Against 8), are…
Her sons convinced her to do it
Brandon and Dylan Lee, whom the Baywatch alum, 55, shares with first husbandTommy Lee, encouraged their mom “to tell her story on her own terms” afterseeing people tell it for her “in a way that they don’t feel is authentic towho she is,” White said. Brandon, who serves as a producer for Pamela: A LoveStory and appears on camera, was crucial in getting Pam to open up. She told_VF_ that her elder son “can talk me into anything with his sincere heart anda fierceness that only a son could have. He wanted to tell my story,authentically and without distortion.”
Dylan Jagger Lee, left, and Brandon Thomas Lee supporting Pamela Andersonduring opening night of her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in the musical_Chicago_ on Broadway in April. (Photo: Bruce Glikas/Getty Images)
She turned over decades of home movies and journals for the project
The Playboy model gave complete access to her personal videos and journals —documenting her headline-making love life, career and her family moments withher sons — without even reviewing them.
“The infamous stolen tape, which we’re always very careful to call ‘the stolentape’ and not ‘sex tape,’ was just one of hundreds of hours that [she andTommy] filmed,” said White, who said the movie sees Pam — who sat for herinterviews with him sans makeup — “being raw and honest, for better or worse…From the very beginning, she was like, ‘You can ask me anything. I will talkabout anything. I will be nothing but honest with you about it all.'”
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Anderson shares private home videos for Pamela, A Love Story. (Photo:Courtesy of Netflix)
While filming, Pam watched some home movies for the first time on camera,including of her wedding to Kid Rock (aboard a yacht in St. Tropez) and earlydays with Tommy. White said of the footage of Pam and Tommy falling in love,”I think our film will really humanize them… They’re often seen as theselarger-than-life … maybe even cartoon characters.” The footage of them meetingis actually “really beautiful.”
All of her ex-husbands are in the doc
The VIP star married five men — Tommy (1995-1998), Rock (2006-2007),Rick Salomon (2007-2008) and (2014-2015), Jon Peters (2020-2020) andDan Hayhurst (2020-2022) — and they all participate in the project. “Allof her husbands are a part of her story, so they’re in our film, including themost recent one,” White said.
Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee in 1996. (Photo: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)
She talks about the stolen sex tape
This documentary has been in the works for several years and while making it,she learned about the Hulu series about her and Tommy’s stolen tape. Whitesaid it triggered a painful aftershock of trauma that plays out within thisnew doc, and she uses the film to discuss the impact of the tape being stolenand released once publicly and for all.
“Nobody knew the truth — even I don’t know 100% of what happened, but I thinkwhat is most important is to share my human feelings and how much it hurt andhow it undeniably defined me moving forward — in my career and myrelationships,” Pam said.
Anderson into Pamela, A Love Story. (Photo: Courtesy of Netflix)
Pam has no intention of watching the doc
“The documentary I haven’t seen,” she revealed, “and I have no intention ofseeing. I gave full access to my archives and diaries, and I hope that throughfull transparency, it makes sense to somebody.”
Anderson into Pamela, A Love Story. (Photo: Courtesy of Netflix)
She’s still on a quest for love, but practiced self-love while making thisproject
Over the course of making the film, Pam’s fifth marriage ended and it led toher confronting her relationship history for the project. The filmmakerdescribed Pam as a “hopeless romantic” in search of “true love,” and sheagreed, saying, “I’m a romantic, and romance is tragedy. I believe in fairytales.”
White said there are “many love stories” within the film but, “Ultimately Ithink the end of the film is about her putting more of that love intoherself.”
Anderson’s fifth marriage came to an end while making the movie, leading herto confront her relationship history. (Photo: Courtesy of Netflix)
On the same day Pamela, A Love Story is released, her memoir, published byHarperCollins, will come out as well.
“Writing my book was therapy,” Pam said.
In October, Pam told People magazine that the book is about everything she’sgone through. “These are all my feelings, about my life — no ‘Woe is me,’though some times were tough, I made it through and had to find love in graceand dignity mixed with humor, acceptance, and forgiveness,” she said.