Even by Hollywood standards Pamela Anderson has had a turbulent love life. Of her many husbands, one lasted a month, another only two and her most infamous spouse, Motley Crue rocker Tommy Lee, did six months in jail for beating her up.
Now it's been announced that she's divorcing her latest Mr Right, bodyguard Dan Hayhurst, after barely a year of marriage, which was spent cloistered in lockdown at her modest property on Vancouver Island, Canada.
She promised last year that she had finally found happiness with Hayhurst, who started out as her handyman.
They even did a toe-curling at home interview with Lorraine Kelly for ITV from their marital bed.
Sources indicate that Anderson, who became an international pin-up in Baywatch, remains angered and embarrassed by the tape, and the focus on it. Might it have had an effect on her personal happiness?
Pammi's friends say the split is simply down to a 'pandemic whirlwind that petered out', but for her there is surely a sense of being haunted for 27 years by a sex tape which made her an international joke. Certainly, for an eight-minute clip, it casts a long shadow.
Now 54, she believes she was robbed, exploited and globally shamed in 1995, and that a new mini-series, Pam And Tommy, a big-money comedy drama being released next month by Disney +, effectively does it all over again.
Sources indicate that Anderson, who became an international pin-up in Baywatch, remains angered and embarrassed by the tape, and the focus on it. Might it have had an effect on her personal happiness?
It can't have helped. She has declined to engage in any way with the makers of the show, turning a deaf ear even to sweetly framed entreaties from Lily James, the actress portraying her.
James said: 'I was really hopeful that she would be involved. My sole intention was to take care of the story and to play Pamela authentically.' Writer Rob Siegel said: 'She's chosen not to engage, so we've respected her desire not to be involved.'
This month Pamela flew to Malibu, California, and although her publicist will not comment, it seems she is contemplating taking some kind of action to try to spike the filmmakers' guns.
She says she has never seen the tape and made 'not one dollar' from it. Asked about it in 2020, she grimaced: 'It is not a sex tape. It was made on a couple of vacations that we were naked on.'
She has declined to engage in any way with the makers of the show, turning a deaf ear even to sweetly framed entreaties from Lily James, above, the actress portraying her
Her longstanding friend, singer Courtney Love, comments that the focus on it is 'disgusting' and adds: 'It destroyed my friend Pamela's life. Utterly.' She calls the show a 'piece of s***' and says: 'Shame on Lily James.'
By contrast Lee, who was Anderson's husband and a byword for debauchery when the tape was made, thinks it is all great sport. He is now married to TikTok influencer Brittany Furlan and finds the focus amusing.
He told friend Guerin Swing: 'Let everyone know we did it first. Before the Kardashians, before anyone else. We broke the internet first.'
There is a powerful sense that Lee enjoys burnishing his reputation. A shambling, heavily tattooed figure, his new hobbies include trimming bonsai trees and being the butt of jokes filmed by his much younger wife. They tend to involve Lee as a punchline such as 'accidentally' falling into their swimming pool.
Since Pamela and Tommy broke up, they have made a habit of matrimony, notching up a further six trips down the aisle between them. They've also faced each other in court over domestic abuse and continue to trade barbs about their marriage.
The couple met in nightclub Sanctuary in November 1994. Anderson was at the height of her fame as Casey Jean 'CJ' Parker in U.S. lifeguard drama Baywatch, being watched in 100 countries by a billion viewers. CJ had an interest in crystals and new age thinking, which Anderson did too, but it might not have been that which attracted Tommy that night after he'd taken ecstasy and swigged champagne. Pamela, who part-owned the club, sent over schnapps to Lee, who was famous as heavy rock group Motley Crue's drummer and one-time husband of actress Heather Locklear.
She recalled, 'He came up, grabbed me and licked my face. I thought he was a cool, friendly, nice guy. I gave him my number.'
Over the next six weeks he rang and left numerous messages on her answer machine. Eventually they spoke, and she told him she was on her way to Cancun, Mexico, for a photoshoot. He flew out there and tracked her down. That night in February 1995 they partied in the famous Señor Frogs bar. Within 96 hours, they had exchanged marriage vows on the beach. The bride wore a white bikini. 'It really was love at first sight,' she later said.
She had 'Tommy' inked on her finger instead of a ring. Lee had 'Pamela' inked on his penis. They settled in his house in Malibu, which was lavishly renovated without reference to funds or taste. A huge 'heaven and hell' mural was painted in the elevator shaft, a sex swing hung above a white baby grand piano in the living room. Lee's pal and interior designer Swing said: 'They spent money like they hated it.'
Within months, Anderson had suffered a distressing miscarriage and made the film Barb Wire. Reports circulated that her jealous husband wouldn't let anyone near her on set. While on honeymoon in Mexico, the couple shot a 54-minute home video, mostly just 'goofing about' but including that eight minutes of sex.
According to a police report filed by the couple, the tape was in a safe in their home alongside guns, a Rolex, a gold-and-diamond Cartier watch and the white bikini Anderson wore at their wedding.
The entire safe was stolen in October 1995 by electrician Rand Gauthier, who had been sacked by the couple and believed that they owed him money. He is played by comedian Seth Rogen in the mini series.
Gauthier says he wheeled the 6ft x 3ft x 4ft safe out of
