Pam & Tommy is ‘re-opening a wound’ for Pamela Anderson after ‘traumatic’ sex tape leak, reports claim

Anderson was not involved in making of Disney Plus series

Isobel Lewis
Thursday 03 February 2022 13:09 GMT
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Pam & Tommy trailer

Pam & Tommy has “re-opened a wound” for Pamela Anderson regarding the leaking of her sex tape, it has been claimed.

The new series tells the story of Anderson’s (Lily James) marriage to musician Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) in the Nineties, during which their sex tape was stolen and leaked publicly.

Dropped on Hulu in the US on Wednesday (2 February), while it arrives on Disney Plus for UK audiences on Friday (4 February).

While Anderson is yet to comment on the show, a source close to the sex tape leak at the time has now claimed that the series was “re-exploiting” the Baywatch star.

“After the tape was made public, it was a very traumatising situation and it’s unfair that she is being re-subjected to this trauma, like re-opening a wound,” they told People.

“Pamela deserves a level of respect. She’s a human being and a mum. There’s a sense of hypocrisy about it. It’s her life and she should have the decision [as to] whether it’s turned into a commodity for public consumption.”

The source said that, while Anderson was famous when she appeared on Baywatch and married Lee, the sex tape leak was different as it was not her “conscious choice”.

“If you go back to her Playboy [cover], she always had the perspective that that was her conscious choice. But somebody taking her personal home movie, that was not her choice,” they said.

“When someone steals your home movie, that is criminal and that’s a violation. That was her privacy. This was a very traumatic time of her life.”

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The Independent has contacted Anderson’s representatives for comment.

James and Stan as Anderson and Lee

Anderson was not involved with the creation of Pam & Tommy, with Courtney Love last year accusing the show’s creators and cast of exploiting a “disgusting” invasion of privacy that “destroyed my friend Pamela’s life”.

James claimed in a recent interview that she personally reached out to Anderson to no reply, saying: “I was really hopeful that she would be involved. I wish it had been different. My sole intention was to take care of the story and to play Pamela authentically.”

In a three-star review, The Independent’s Ed Cumming called Pam & Tommy “an uneasy mix of comedy, drama and period piece”.

Pam & Tommy comes to Disney Plus on Friday 4 February.

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