Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress, sex symbol, glamour model, producer, TV personality and author. For a time, she was known as
Pamela Anderson Lee having married rock musician Tommy Lee. Anderson is popularly known for modeling and television acting in the 1990s and for her large breast implants. Anderson has been called the sex symbol of the '90s. She holds dual citizenship as both a Canadian and an American.
Early life
Anderson was born in Ladysmith, British Columbia,northeast of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, of partially Finnish ancestry (her paternal grandfather, Hermanni Hyytiäinen, from Saarijärvi, left Finland in 1908). The newborn Anderson won fame as the nation's "Centennial Baby", as she was thought, incorrectly, to have been the first baby born on Canada's Centennial Day (she was born at 4:08 in the morning). However, the
Campbell River Upper Islander of July 5, 1967 reported a baby born two hours earlier on the same Canada Day..
After her birth, her parents, Barry and Carol Anderson, moved to the town of Comox with Pamela, who was still a baby.
Career
In 1985, Anderson graduated from Highland Secondary School. In her high school yearbook, she wrote that she wanted to be a California beach bum. In 1988, Anderson moved to the city of Vancouver, where she first experienced city life and worked as a fitness instructor. During the summer of 1989, Anderson and her friends went to a Canadian football game. At some point during the game, Anderson was shown on the stadium screen. The crowd at the game cheered for the young Anderson, then 21. Anderson was taken to the field to get an ovation from the crowd. During the game, Anderson wore a Labatt's t-shirt. The beer company offered Anderson a modeling contract and she agreed. Soon, Anderson was on posters in every bar in Canada. In late 1989, Pamela decided to model for
Playboy magazine. She appeared on the October 1989 cover (credited as Pamela Anderson Ilicic) and decided to move to Los Angeles to continue her modeling career.
Acting and modeling
After her move to Los Angeles, Anderson bleached her brunette hair blonde and got breast implants. In 1991, Anderson landed a minor role on the United States's hit television sitcom,
Home Improvement (1991-1993). Having gained viewer attention, she landed the role of C.J. Parker (1992-1997) on
Baywatch. Later, she quit
Home Improvement. Anderson was still modeling for
Playboy and appearing on the cover of the magazine each year. Her role as C.J. Parker gave her more popularity and attention from international viewers. She also made appearances on
The Nanny as Fran's rival, Heather Biblow.
In 1996, she appeared in a feature film,
Barb Wire, as a character known as Barbara Rose Kopetski, which was mistakenly thought by some to have been her real name. The movie failed to achieve commercial success. During the filming of
Barb Wire, Anderson suffered a miscarriage. In April 1997, Anderson guest-hosted
Saturday Night Live. During the beginning of the show, Anderson said, "You know, if you're nervous on stage, you actually should BE naked!" She then began a striptease. Her breasts, however, were covered by a small flesh-colored bra and a crotch patch that was also flesh colored (though they were still blurred out for the sake of the joke). The segment became fodder for late-night comedians for the following weeks. She also appeared on one of two covers for the September issue of
Playboy; the other cover pictured Jenny McCarthy.
In September 1998, Anderson starred in her produced series
V.I.P. The show was very poorly received and a critical bomb. However, with many people tuning in just to see Pamela Anderson, the show lasted four seasons before being cancelled in 2002. Anderson stated that she needed to dedicate her time to raising her children. Many believed that Anderson was retiring.
In March 2001, Christine Evelyn Roth was arrested while sleeping in a guest room of Anderson's home. She was only charged with the misdemeanor of trespassing and not the more serious crime of stalking. Roth pled guilty to the charge of trespassing and was deported to her home country, France.
In 2004, Anderson returned to the spotlight. In May, Anderson appeared naked on the cover of
Playboy magazine. It was the first time she appeared naked on any magazine cover. Later, she posed naked for
Stuff and
GQ magazines. Many noticed that her breast size was larger than her pictorials from 2003.
Anderson became a naturalized citizen of the United States on May 12, 2004, while retaining her Canadian citizenship, for the purpose of sponsoring her parents (or at least her mother) for a green card. She has lived in southern California since 1989.
Anderson has often spoken revealingly about her private life. On a visit to the David Letterman show in 2004, she said she had not been dating for some time, and when Letterman asked her how she was coping, she responded, "There's not a square corner left anywhere in my house!" Letterman left that comment unanswered while the audience hooted.
In 2004, Pamela Anderson released the book
Star, co-written by author Eric Shaw Quinn, in which she describes a young teenager doing different things in order to reach fame. After this, she began touring across the United States, signing autographs to fans at Wal-Mart stores nationwide. Her second book, the sequel
Star Struck, released in 2005, is a thinly veiled look at her life with Tommy Lee and the travails of celebrity life.
In January 2005, Anderson confessed that she got new breast implants, claiming not to feel like herself without them. Anderson also claimed that the new breast implants were bigger than her old implants.
In April 2005, Anderson starred in a new FOX sitcom
Stacked as Skyler Dayton, a party girl (with implants) who goes to work at a bookstore.
Stacked was cancelled on May 18th, 2006, after two seasons were produced although some episodes were not aired on the network. She produced a statement in late 2005 saying "I am the greatest slut..." obviously speaking her openness about sex and her opinions in free sex. During the summer of 2005, (August 14, 2005) Comedy Central created the
Roast of Pamela Anderson to honor the sex symbol for the past decade.
In December 2005, NBC cut off a video of Anderson pole dancing topless on Elton John's The Red Piano. NBC said that the footage was inappropriate for primetime. The video was shown on huge screens during the event, while John was playing a song. Anderson was topless, but stars were painted on her breasts. In March 2006, it was announced that Anderson would receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame thanks to her many years as a model and actress. She is only the second model to receive a star. In April, Anderson hosted Canada's Juno Awards. She became the first non-singer and model to host the awards.
Anderson is repeatedly referred to in the film
Borat as she is the reason for Borat's trip across the United States. Anderson makes a cameo appearance toward the end of the film at an autograph signing event. After starring in
Borat, Anderson began filming a comedy,
Blonde and Blonder.
Personal life
In addition to her fame from modeling and acting, Anderson has gotten a great deal of press attention for her well-publicized personal life. Her relationships have made headlines in gossip magazines for years. She married Tommy Lee, drummer of Mötley Crüe, on February 19, 1995 after knowing him for only 96 hours and eventually bore him two sons, Brandon and Dylan. During this time, she was known professionally as
Pamela Anderson Lee. Anderson filed for divorce from him twice and reconciled with him twice, before the couple finally broke up for good. In March 2002, Anderson publicly stated that she had contracted the Hepatitis C virus from Lee (supposedly from sharing tattoo needles), and began writing a regular column for
Jane magazine. In October 2003, Anderson jokingly said on Howard Stern's radio show that she does not expect to live more than ten or fifteen years (see ), but this was misconstrued and taken seriously by many Web sites and tabloids. Lee denies having the disease. Today, Anderson and Lee are just friends.
A pornographic home video of Anderson and Tommy Lee was stolen from their home, and made a huge stir on the Internet. Anderson sued the company, the Internet Entertainment Group, that was distributing the video. Ultimately the courts awarded Anderson and Lee $1.5 million plus attorney fees for their share of the profits.
A second tape, which was made before the Tommy Lee tape, involving Anderson and musician Bret Michaels from Poison was later distributed on the Internet. Frames of the video first appeared in
Penthouse magazine in March, 1998. The popularity and profitability of the Anderson and Tommy Lee video sparked a miniature genre within the porn film industry and since then many homemade porn videos of celebrities have been released to the public through home video and Web channels (either with or without the participants' co-operation).
Since her divorce, she has become engaged to both the model Marcus Schenkenberg and the singer Kid Rock (Robert J. Ritchie). She broke up with Schenkenberg in 2001, and broke up with Kid Rock in 2003. It was announced on July 18, 2006 that she would marry Kid Rock on July 29, 2006 on a yacht near St. Tropez, France. "Feels like I've been stuck in a time warp," said Anderson in her blog entry. "Not able to let go of MY family picture ... it's been sad and lonely and frustrating ... I've raised my kids alone in hope of a miracle. Well my miracle came and went. And came back and back because he knew that I'd wake up one day and realize that I was waiting for nothing." "I'm moving on," she declared. "I feel like I'm finally free ... I'm in love." There was extensive unconfirmed media speculation that the marriage is pregnancy-related, but the theory was based only on Anderson's representatives refusal to comment on the question.
She put her Malibu, California, home up for sale in order to move to a more private location. In an interview with Gavriel Maynard, Anderson stated "I don't know why people consider me stupid, I'm actually really smart."
On November 10, 2006, it was announced that Anderson miscarried while in Vancouver shooting a new film,
Blonde and Blonder . Seventeen days later, on November 27, 2006 Anderson filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court from Kid Rock, citing irreconcilable differences. Some news reports have suggested that Kid Rock's outrage during a screening of
Borat, in which she plays a cameo role, led to the filing for divorce two weeks later.
Charitable work and activism
Anderson is a vegetarian, an advocate for animal rights, and an active member of the animal protection organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), taking part in several campaigns for animal rights. She became a vegetarian in her early teens when she walked in on her dad slaughting an animal he just hunted.
One of Anderson's campaigns as a member of PETA has been against the use of fur. In 1999, Anderson received the first Linda McCartney Memorial Award for animal rights protectors, in recognition of her campaign against fur. In 2003, Anderson stripped down for PETA's "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" advertising campaign. On June 28, 2006, Anderson posed naked with other protesters on a window display of the Stella McCartney boutique in London, England. It was a PETA gala event before the PETA Humanitarian Awards. Anderson went inside the boutique and said she would take her clothes off if the event raised enough money for PETA, which it did. She took off her clothes and went to stand on a pedestal at the window display. Of course, Anderson covered her breasts. They wore a banner that read:We'd rather bare skin than wear skin." The event sparked a media frenzy in London.
She has also actively campaigned against Kentucky Fried Chicken. In 2001, Anderson released a letter in support of PETA's campaign against Kentucky Fried Chicken; stating, "What KFC does to 750 million chickens, each year, is not civilized or acceptable." She later made a video about KFC's treatment of chickens. In January 2006, Anderson requested that the Governor of Kentucky remove a bust of Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC, from display but her request was denied, even when she offered her own bust in exchange. In February 2006, Anderson decided to boycott the Kentucky Derby because of its support for Kentucky Fried Chicken.
In addition, she has campaigned against seal hunting in her native Canada. In March of 2006, Anderson asked to speak to Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the annual seal hunt. Her request was denied. In May of 2006, Pamela Anderson petitioned random individuals on the street for their opinion on the Canadian Seal Hunt.
Most recently Pam has joined forces with PETA in a campaign calling for the boycott of fruit juice maker POM. The "Pom Horrible Campaign" has resulted in response to the company's refusal to halt cruel and unnecessary animal tests.
In March 2005, Anderson became a spokesmodel for MAC Cosmetics's MAC AIDS Fund, which helped people affected by AIDS and HIV. After becoming the official spokesmodel, Anderson raised money during events in Toronto, Tokyo, Dublin and Athens.
Anderson became the celebrity spokesperson for the American Liver Foundation, and served as the Grand Marshall of the SOS motorcycle ride fundraiser.
Work
Film
- The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991)
- Good Cop Bad Cop (1993)
- Back door sluts nine (1993
- Snapdragon (1993)
- Raw Justice (1994)
- Naked Souls (1995)
- Barb Wire (1996)
- The Making of Bret Michaels (2002) (documentary)
- Scooby-Doo (2002) (Cameo)
- Earthlings (2003) (documentary)
- Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003)
- Scary Movie 3 (2003)
- No Rules (2005) (Cameo)
- (2006)
- Blonde and Blonder (2007)
Television
- Home Improvement (cast member from 1991-1993)
- Baywatch (cast member from 1992-1997)
- (1994)
- V.I.P. (1998-2002) (also executive producer)
- (2003)
- Stripperella (2003-2004) (voice)
- Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson (2005)
- Stacked (2005-2006)
- Has guest starred on the cartoon Futurama twice. Once as herself and another doing a one line cameo.
- Featured in the music video for Lit's "Miserable".
- Featured in the music video for Kanye West's "Touch The Sky".
Sometimes I can be a really cool mom. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and it was nearly 75 degrees, so the kids and I headed out for a long walk to the park. We enjoyed seeing all the flowers in bloom, the cherry blossom trees and of course playing at the park. The kids were ready for a snack when we got home and I surprised them with strawberry yogurt parfaits. They were THRILLED and declared me to be the best and most awesome mom in the world...of course that made my day. I found this decadent granola with bits of chocolate at Trader Joes and decided it would be perfect for a sundae or parfait - I was right. The creamy yogurt and the sweet berries were delicious but it was the crunchy chocolate granola that stole the show. Needless to say, they finished every last bite...why didn't I make myself one?
