Pamela Anderson refuses to see herself as a victim. Image Source: Vanity Fair
Pamela Anderson refuses to see herself as a victim.
The Netflix documentary "Pamela, a Love Story," directed by Ryan White and produced by Pamela Anderson and ex-husband Tommy Lee's son, Brandon Thomas Lee, will make its debut on January 31 along with the HarperCollins memoir, showcasing nightmarish narratives regarding sexual abuse and jaw-dropping anecdotes.
For decades, the industry and media mistook Pamela Anderson's introverted personality for vacuity. Pamela rose to fame as C.J. Paker in the 1990s as lifeguard on "Baywatch," and instantly people associated her character's New Age cheesiness with her personality. Lisa Nishimura, Netflix's VP of independent and documentary film said that she is an icon that the rest of the world thinks they know and they have formed almost a caricature of who she but in reality, she is a woman who does has a depth and a definite intellectual ability that she's ready to genuinely own and show the world.
Pamela Anderson shared with Variety that she is retracing her steps from childhood now as she lives in Ladysmith the property she bought from her grandmother adding that the trees have known her since she was born. She mentioned that where she is now, her feet were the first to touch the ground and it was here that she wrote "Love, Pamela." Pamela added that she likes to refer to the book as Hail Mary noting that it was critical to go back and see what she remembered in order to tell one complete story. She stated that her life has been much more meaningful than a fluffy hat or a sex tape.
Pamela Anderson writes in "Love, Pamela," Her first steady relationship in high school tried to push her so hard with his foot that she had no choice but to open the doors while the vehicle was moving and roll directly into a ditch, mentioning that she managed to land an excellent gymnast dismount at great speed. He also tried to run her over when she was walking down the street, she said. During the interview, the actress asserted that as she got older, she realised that the majority of her boyfriends were terrible and progressively shittier.
She describes three horrifying instances of sexual abuse in her life, all occurring before the age of 18. She was molested as a child by a female babysitter, raped by a 25-year-old man at the age of 12, and physically molested by a boyfriend in high school and a group of his friends.
Pamela said that predators look for someone to do things to that are so embarrassing you'd be ashamed to tell anyone and things like that really color the remainder of one's life. The actress continued that people can either block things out or deal with them later, and she is dealing with it right now. Though she was never sexually assaulted again, incidents of domestic abuse continued. Tommy Lee, Pamela Anderson's ex-husband, notably served six months behind bars for kicking her when she was carrying their seven-week-old son, Dylan (now 24). Regardless of the fact that this was the only time Tommy Lee physically attacked Anderson, she filed for a divorce.
Pamela Anderson says that she is not a victim or a damsel in distress and she has made her life decisions adding that some were made for her, but she has always been able to rediscover herself. She added that those decisions have produced a strong individual as well as a strong parent.
Pamela shared a repressed memory of overt sexual harassment at one of her first jobs as a swimsuit model. She remembered sitting next to the photographer on the flight to Hawaii, and he kept placing his hand on her leg. She did explain that he was much older, ruddy, slobbery, and lustful and that he picked her to be the only girl, and said she'd be intimate, without the need for hair, makeup, or photography, just him and her. Pam stated that she felt sick to her stomach since she knew it was not good. Anderson continued by stating that she flagged down an attendant, who hid her in the airline's back office till she was ready to board a plane to Los Angeles on her own. The actress asserted that she hopes anyone else in danger acknowledges that if they find themselves in an unsafe or inconvenient situation, particularly in a crowd, they can seek help from others and get to a safe location.
Pamela Anderson said that it was her two sons who inspired her to take control of the narrative and share her story in her own way. She said during an interview with NPR that according to her her sons were just tired of fighting for their mom all the time adding of course, they don't know the nitty-gritty details of everything, but they felt like they had conquered some things, which is what managed to make her very powerful or gave me this sense of humor. And Pamela asserted that she made it clear from the start that she would have complete control over her memoir. She explained that she doesn't want a ghostwriter or a collaborator, all she needs is a great editor and that's exactly what happened noting that she wrote every single word for her memoir.
The hardest part of writing the book for Pamela was talking about the abuse she suffered as a child (babysitter), specifically the games she made her play on her and she didn't want to say anything. So Pamela said that she supposed she should say it because she believes that there are a lot of people out there adding that predators, you know, know how to pick vulnerable people and do things to you that are so humiliating and shameful that you would never tell anyone. The actress once again added that she believes that is something people must overcome and she hopes that her story helps young people or anyone else who wants to share their story and want them to know that she understands that it's difficult. But she wants to say that she took it out, erased it, and put it back in. It needs to be in there and concluded that she thinks it'll speak to somebody.
'Love, Pamela', memoir and docuseries 'Pamela, a love story' will be out on 31st January.
