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The actress, model and author opened up about the “hurtful” experience in a CBS Sunday Morning interview: “If I wasn’t a mom, I don’t think I would’ve survived.”
By Abbey White
Associate Editor
Pamela Anderson says that being a mom was an integral part of how she survived the media frenzy and backlash to her and Tommy Lee’s stolen honeymoon tape.
In a preview of her upcoming interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Anderson opens up about the impact that period in had on her entire life. When asked what she’d want people to know about the tape, Anderson emphasizes that they were “stolen property” that was never meant to be publicized.
“It was two crazy naked people in love,” she said. “We were naked all the time and filming each other and being silly, but those tapes were not meant for anybody else to see.”
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She added that it was very “hurtful” having those private moments publicized without her consent and that she’s “not seen [the tape] to this day.”
What helped the actress and author navigate that frenzy and the fallout that continued to follow her and her career was focusing on her sons with Lee. “I was a mother. That saved me,” she said. “You know, if I wasn’t a mom, I don’t think I would’ve survived.”
EXCLUSIVE: @pamelaanderson, who is sharing her story in an upcoming memoir, “Love, Pamela,” and companion Netflix documentary, is opening up to @jimaxelrod about the notorious sex tape and the leak she calls “hurtful,” this Sunday. pic.twitter.com/hBfoVyFffO
Anderson is also expected to discuss why she moved from Hollywood and back to Vancouver Island. “I feel like I’ve left here, did something crazy and came back in one piece,” Anderson said. “I said, I don’t know what I’m capable of. I still don’t know, but I think that was the beginning … all the rest of it, it’s behind me. I feel like I’m in a really good place.”
Anderson is also expected to discuss the stolen honeymoon tape in an upcoming Netflix doc and her memoir Love, Pamela, both out on Jan. 31.
In the trailer for Pamela, a love story that was released earlier this week, the actress expressed a desire to “take control the narrative for the first time.”
“I blocked that stolen tape out of my life in order to survive and now that it’s all coming up again, I feel sick,” she said said while seemingly addressing how the tape re-entered the discussion following Hulu’s limited series Pam & Tommy.
Director Ryan White previously shared that the documentary would cover Anderson’s response to series, which she learned was happening while filming the doc.
“Nobody knew the truth — even I don’t know 100 percent of what happened, but I think what is most important is to share my human feelings and how much it hurt and how it undeniably defined me moving forward — in my career and my relationships,” Anderson said of her decision to touch on the tape in her Netflix doc.
Anderson’s full interview with CBS Sunday Morning will air 9 a.m. ET on Jan. 15.
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