It’s impossible to imagine a world without Pamela Anderson in it.
Pamela’s face has been an iconic part of the past two or so decades for many women like myself – women of a certain age who spent a lifetime being told how to look, how to behave, how to do what needs to be done to keep men on-side.
Pamela’s story is one of fierceness and inspiration. She’s survived rape, domestic violence and exploitation in the entertainment industry. Now she’s controlling her narrative and conquering in a way that’s truly breathtaking to watch.
Born in Canada in 1967, Pamela’s mum Carol was a waitress and her dad a furnace repairer and she is older sister to a brother, Gerry.
She had a complex relationship with her parents. Their partnership was marred by abuse and she often wished her mum would leave.
“My dad was a terrible drinker. I blamed her (mum) too, because why was she staying in this kind of relationship,” she told one interviewer.
“There were many times where I didn’t want her to stay in it.
“But, they worked it out. They’re madly in love.”
At six, Pamela was sexually violated by her female babysitter.
“From then on, I felt like a prisoner of my childhood. I was really confused. I knew it had something to do with my body,” she says.
Six years later, a 25-year-old man raped her. “I had so much shame about what happened. I felt like it was my fault,” she says. “My mom was always crying about my dad, and I couldn’t bear to hurt her more. I didn’t tell her or anyone.”
In high school, her partner and five other males violated her again.
“I don’t feel like a victim,” she says.
“There’s things that happen … and you have to get over them because they accumulate.”
Pamela’s entry into the spotlight came via Playboy, a deeply exploitative magazine platform that profited from women and their bodies. She was on the cover in 1989 and spent the next 22 years appearing in the magazine.
It had a huge impact on how men felt they owned her. For example. on the first day of shooting Home Improvement her co-star Tim Allen flashed his genitals at her.
Men felt they owned Pamela. For example, on the first day of shooting Home Improvement her co-star Tim Allen flashed his genitals at her.
“He said it was only fair, because he had seen me naked,” she says of Allen’s response to having viewed her in the Playboy magazines.
Pamela was at the height of her career in the 1990s when she married musician Tommy Lee.
They divorced in 1989 after he abused Pamela. They came back together a couple of times but are now permanently apart.
In 2022, a group of men – led by Seth Rogan – released a series about the theft and distribution of a videotape of the couple having sex. Rogan never asked Pamela for consent to do this.
Pamela decided to take back her narrative, releasing a doco and a memoir about her life.
Through the Pamela Anderson Foundation, she works to end abuse and violence against animals, humans and the environment.
“No one can ever take me away from me,” she says. I’m always going to be OK. No matter what happens, I’ve proven that theory. I know that I can live with nothing.”
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