Pam Anderson Isn't Who You Think She Is

'LAT' op-ed says new memoir, documentary show a survivor who doesn't dwell on the past
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 27, 2023 11:38 AM CST
Pam Anderson Isn't Who You Think She Is
Pamela Anderson is seen during the curtain call for her Broadway debut playing Roxie Hart in "Chicago," at the Ambassador Theatre on April 12 in New York.   (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Prince Harry's memoir has been all the rage this month, but another one is about to drop that's already stealing away some of those headlines. Love, Pamela, penned by Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, is set for release on Tuesday, as is Pamela: A Love Story, a complementary documentary streaming on Netflix. The prince and Anderson come from "what many would consider opposite ends of the cultural spectrum," according to journalist Mary McNamara. However, as McNamara writes in her latest op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, both of their multimedia releases "share a common purpose—to reveal the personal reality obscured by a public narrative too often manipulated by others for fun and profit."

McNamara notes "both the Sussexes and Anderson have been savaged in the name of public interest, too often fed by ravening paparazzi and an endlessly grinding media mill." In Anderson's case specifically, McNamara writes that she "did not choose, nor could she have foreseen, the damage caused by a public life pursuing her." From the "endless jokes about her breasts and the tabloid exposure of her personal life"—including her appearances in Playboy, marriage to Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, and the release of their sex tape—Anderson could have succumbed to self-pity and become bitter from her experiences.

Instead, McNamara writes, the surprising memoir and documentary show "a bad-ass wrapped in an enigma inside a bombshell": a survivor of sexual assault and trauma, a dedicated mom, an avid reader, an animal rights activist, and a recent Broadway star. "Pamela Anderson has many interests, but dwelling on the past is not one of them," McNamara writes. Read it in full here. (Some details from Love, Pamela have already leaked, including Anderson's claim that Tim Allen flashed her on the Home Improvement set decades ago.)

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