Pamela: A Love Story (2023)

During the COVID outbreak, Pamela returned to her parent's house on Vancouver Island. She had always known that she would return to the island to take care of her parents in their old age. Over the years, she had mailed everything that she believed she would one day want to look back at to her family house.

In "Pamela: A Love Story, " she revisits the journals and video recordings, bringing back bittersweet memories. We learn that Pamela had always had a knack for words and could be her honest self when she wrote down her feelings. From the jitters she experienced while traveling to LA for the first time to the hopelessness she often encountered when it came to finding love, she archived it all. Pamela's childhood was spent watching her parents' fight. Her mom was a waitress, and her dad was a poker player. Her dad drank a lot. They were young parents figuring out their lives, and the responsibility often overwhelmed them. They even left their father a couple of times and lived on welfare. Pamela was abused as a child by her babysitter. Even though Pamela knew how wrong it was, she chose never to mention it to her mother. She knew her mother was struggling with her own life, and she did not wish to burden her. The abuse continued for three to four years, during which time she protected her brother from the babysitter and attempted to kill her once. She hoped for her death that day, and the next day, the babysitter died in a car accident. For a long time, she lived with the guilt of killing her babysitter in her mind. The fact that, as a child, she felt she would be a burden if she shared something that bothered her spoke volumes about the insecurity she lived with. At the age of 12, she was sexually assaulted by an older man. She had grown up to hate her body as a result of being violated several times. She hated the fact that all her life, she had been attracted to emotionally unavailable men. After graduating from high school, she went to Vancouver in 1989. Her girlfriends were Labatt's beer representatives; they received free tickets for a football game, and they invited Pamela to it. She was wearing Labatt's beer t-shirts, and the cameraman at the event zoomed in on her and put her on the jumbo-tron. Labatt's eventually reached out to her to work on a commercial for them. The commercial introduced her to the world, and she was contacted by the photo editor of Playboy magazine, Marilyn Grabowski. Pamela initially struggled to believe that she had indeed been contacted by Playboy to pose for their magazine cover. As a girl who grew up on an island, it was unbelievable news, and she knew she had to do it. She did not have documents to work across the border, but she took the challenge and boarded a bus. Luckily, she was not interrogated, and she safely landed in LA. She felt under-confident after entering the Playboy mansion and watching the women there. She felt lucky to be there, but at the same time, she was unsure about her life's purpose. They dyed her hair blonde. Once she started shooting, she got comfortable with the camera facing her. There was a sudden spurt of confidence once she stood in front of the camera and realized she was indeed good at it. The photo-shoot for Playboy was Pamela's way of owning and expressing her sexuality. After being violated multiple times in her life, she found her voice and confidence during the photo-shoot. After the shoot, she was asked by Grabowski to stay back in LA and work as a playmate. She was truthful about her decision to get implants on television. Though her honesty was remarkable, it was ridiculous how the interviewers (predominantly men) always circled back to her body and implants. Pamela always felt that her breasts had a career, and she was only along for a ride. By 1991, She was popular, but she wanted to explore her opportunities and try a career in acting. "Pamela: A Love Story" further dives deep into her acting career, her infamous love story with Tommy Lee, and the private tape scandal that the couple had to face. Via Playboy, Pamela got an audition for Baywatch. Pamela felt that the beach was too far away and canceled on them 11 times. 1992, CJ was born. Baywatch got popular and was even dubbed in Mandarin. Pamela dated many many guys during her time on the show. She opened a nightclub in 1994 called Sanctuary. The romance between Pamela and Tommy bloomed in Cancun. Tommy was a drummer in a Rock Band. He had a bad boy image. Pamela was there for a shoot, and Tommy followed, hoping to connect with her. She decided to give him a chance, and they partied one night. They were instantly attracted to each other and decided to get married. She was a romantic at heart and had always wanted to get married. Tommy gave her the assurance that no one had given her in the past years, and it just felt right for them. She got married in a bikini while he was in shorts. It took them four days to know that they were meant to be. It was all so sudden that Pam remembered asking Tommy his last name after getting married to him. On their flight back home, it struck her how real their commitment was and how she barely knew the person she planned to spend the rest of her life with. Though Pamela continues to believe that people change over the years, no matter how much time you spend with someone, there is no guarantee that they are going to stay the same. She had always been unafraid of falling in love, and with Tommy, it was the same. He had a bad boy image, and Pamela complimented him. After the success of Baywatch, Pamela wanted a meaty role, and she landed with Barb Wire in 1995. After the Cannes interview, the producers believed that the film had immense potential and invested huge amounts of money in it. The script changed multiple times, and by the time Pamela started acting, she was clueless about the film. She went through a miscarriage while shooting, and that further affected her mentally. Barb Wire failed at the box office, but she could not care less about the failure of the film, as she was completely shaken after losing her baby. Pamela took to drugs to ease her pain. She soon got pregnant again, and since the couple had a tendency to document their lives, we get to watch Pamela's pregnancy journey. After the birth of their first child in 1996, they decided to remodel their house. During this time, they realized that their safe had gone missing. For the last six months, there were workers all around the house, and they did not know who was responsible for it. Soon they were sent a copy of a videotape stolen from their house. The tape consisted of the couple's intimate moments. They were contacted by Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse; he wanted to buy the rights to the video for 5 million dollars, but the couple rejected it. They simply wanted to get the video back, and they had no intention of making money out of it. It was soon announced that the home video would be distributed and available for public viewing. Their video was uploaded to the internet by Internet Entertainment Group, grabbing the attention of the entire world. They filed a case against the IEG since they had not signed any agreement allowing the distribution of their public property. Ed Masry (the lawyer from Erin Brockovich) took their case. She was pregnant again when the deposition started, and the couple decided to withdraw the case over their concern for the baby's health. She compared the usage of the videotape with sexual assault. She felt equally vulnerable and violated. After the circulation of the videotape, Pamela's career took a dip, while Tommy's was barely affected by it. As a woman, she was looked down upon, and it was assumed that the couple was somehow behind the scandal for publicity. They did not know how to react to the circulation of the video, and it often resulted in violent behavior in public. Pamela maintains that she never made a dime off the video, and it was circulated all over the world via the internet. Pamela knew at that point that her career was over. Tommy got jealous when Pamela kissed an actor on the sets of Baywatch. They had their 2nd kid and grew even more apart. One night, Tommy hit Pamela after they got into an argument. Pamela called 911. Tommy was arrested for kicking Pamela while she was holding their son. Pamela and Tommy chose to separate after he was tried in court for physically abusing her. She filed a case against him, and he was imprisoned for six months. He was ashamed of his violent behavior. After giving birth to two children, Tommy felt a desperate need to grab Pamela's attention, though such reasons are unacceptable. Even after separating, they continued to co-parent their children. In the documentary, Pamela expresses how Tommy was the love of her life, and though there were lows, the highs made it worth the journey. Pamela's sons, Brandon and Dylan, state that they never considered any of Pamela's other four husbands as their father. She married Kid Rock in 2006 but didn't find her love. After her divorce, she met Rick Salomon, who was a professional poker player. She married Rick in 2007 and he ended up being a drug addict. She had it annulled. She again married Rick in 2014 after he had been sobered for many years. That didn't last long either. They knew they were just visitors in their lives who would eventually leave. Tommy continues to be their sole father figure. Pamela joined PETA and used her sexuality to bring attention to the issue of animal rights. She used her celebrity status to raise a lot of money for the organization. She had a relationship with Julian Assange. The popularity of the sex tape scandal made the boys childhoods difficult. They were taunted by their friends and often got involved in fights. Her sons believe that their mother is a romantic and that she can never truly give up on pursuing love. Brandon thinks that his mother should have sold the rights to the video for money. He explains that she lived in debt all her life, and the money could have at least helped her when the video ruined her career. Pamela continues to stand by her decision; she could not allow the public viewing of her private life on any given day. Her rejection of the offer is a testament to her strong values. "Pamela: A Love Story" ends on a positive note, with Pamela finally getting the recognition she desired for her Broadway performance. She starred in the musical "Chicago" as Roxie. She took the role even though she was 50 years old. The show opened April12th, 2022. Pamela has fun on the sets and the show receives very positive reviews from the critics. She was reminded of the trauma when Hulu released "Pamela and Tommy" without her permission, but she braved her way out of it and found a way to find peace and love herself when most were a disappointment.