But while the prosthetics and platinum hair are fake, the famously leaked sex tape at the center of the plot is real. The eight-episode limited series (which dropped its final episode on Wednesday, March 9, 2022) is adapted from a 2014 Rolling Stone article by Amanda Chicago Lewis about the alleged heist of the tape—a piece of journalism that Pam and Tommy showrunner Rob Seigel described to Entertainment Weekly as “one of those stories that you can’t believe hasn’t already been made into a movie or a TV show.” Producer Sue Naegle added to Variety, “There’s nothing weirder than truth… The actual heist is so strange. But we also all looked at it and [had] the idea that there was a different way to look at this story through a 2022 lens versus how people might have felt in the ’90s.” If you’re watching the Baywatch star and Mötley Crüe drummer’s story play out on Hulu, you might be wondering about their real-life romance and if all of the truly bonkers moments in the miniseries really happened. No need to go digging up ‘90s tabloids. Read on for answers about the true story behind Pam and Tommy, but fair warning: Pam and Tommy spoilers to follow! Also, spoiler alert: a lot of this is pretty raunchy.
Did Pam and Tommy give away their sex tape for free?
In Pam and Tommy’s last episode, the two are made an offer by a young hotshot (Seth Warshavsky, played by Fred Hechinger) from a Seattle online porn company: Sell him the rights to the tape and much fewer people will see it (which means the scandal surrounding it will die down) because he’ll put it behind a paywall. (Mini-fact check: Was “paywall” really a word people used in the mid-’90s? We don’t think so, but whatever.) In Pam and Tommy, what happens next is, Tommy says he’ll sign over rights to the tape under no circumstances and no matter how much money is thrown at him, while Pam decides she likes the idea of limiting access to who sees it—but wants to “sell” it to Seth for free because she doesn’t want to be paid for what is on that tape. This sticking point between Pam and Tommy ends up being a major factor behind their ultimate split, according to the show. So, is all that what really happened? It seems that, more or less, the answer is yes. Some outlets have claimed that Anderson and Lee “quickly” signed the agreement with Warshavsky, in order to put the whole ordeal behind them—rather than Lee dragging it out, as depicted in the series. And in a 2015 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Anderson said, “We made a deal to stop all the shenanigans. I was seven months pregnant with Dylan and thinking it was affecting the pregnancy with the stress and said, ‘I’m not going to court anymore. I’m not being deposed anymore by these horny, weird lawyer men. I don’t want to talk about my vagina anymore or my public sex — anything.’” She also claimed she “made not one dollar” from the tape at any point, although it’s also been alleged that she and Lee had a secret deal with Warshavsky that may have netted them millions.
Did Rand Gauthier sell the original sex tape to Seth Warshavsky?
The Pam and Tommy finale also shows Rand Gauthier—the real-life guy who stole the tape from Anderson and Lee’s Malibu home (see more on him below)—accepting a $10,000 offer from Warshavsky for the tape’s original copy. However, according to the original Rolling Stone article on which Pam and Tommy is based, Gauthier “never saw a cent” from his endeavors to profit off the tape.
Did Pam Anderson cover up her “Tommy” ring tattoo?
The very end of Pam and Tommy shows Anderson going to a tattoo parlor to have her “Tommy” tattoo—which was wrapped around her ring finger—turned into a “Mommy” tattoo. Although we’re not sure when, exactly, she had the ink altered, Anderson indeed had her “Tommy” ring tattoo changed to “Mommy” in real life.
What did Pam Anderson say to Jay Leno on The Tonight Show?
In Pam and Tommy’s seventh episode (“Destroyer of Worlds,” which premiered on March 2), a pregnant Anderson stops by TheTonight Show to promote her soon-to-be-released 1996 movie, Barb Wire. But all host Jay Leno wants to talk about is her sex tape with Lee. In the Hulu miniseries, Anderson appears to veer away from the usual, lightweight talk-show chitchat to tell Leno, “To have something so intimate stolen from you, something private from inside your marriage and have it taken without permission and exposed to the world… It’s devastating. This is devastating for us.” But did Anderson really say that on television? Sort of. In real life, Anderson returned to The Tonight Show for another sitdown with Leno after the sex-tape scandal had finally blown over—and she did tell him, “It’s not funny. This is devastating to us.” She even called him out for all the jokes he made at her and Lee’s expense.
Is Seth Rogen’s character in Pam and Tommy a real person?
James and Stan weren’t the only ones who transformed for their roles, as Rogen shaved his signature beard to take on the role of Gauthier. The electrician is a real person and a central figure in theRolling Stone story, as he told the reporter he stole and publicized Anderson and Lee’s sex tape. “I’ve had a real wildlife,” Gauthier, who reportedly starred in at least 75 porn videos in addition to his electrical work, told the magazine. (He’s also shown doing porn in the miniseries.) “I believe in reincarnation, and this is kind of my vacation life. I have to come back and be really serious next time.” Gauthier, son of actor Dick Gautier, moved to Santa Rosa, Calif. in 2007 and was still working as an electrician in 2014.Pam and Tommy producers did not talk to him while working on the show, as executive producer D.V. DeVincentis told Variety, “Having optioned the article, we had what we needed.” Rogen, who also executive produced the series, told Variety of playing the character, “Most people who are acting badly are doing so from a very simple place. I wanted to play Rand as someone who has very little going on in his head. Someone whose ultimately evil acts aren’t done out of some amazing and deep thought process, but actually out of a complete lack of thinking and caring about how his actions would affect other people.”
Did Tommy Lee really pull a gun on his construction crew?
In theRolling Stone story, Gauthier alleges that, after firing him, Anderson and Lee owed him $20,000 for renovations to their Malibu mansion. He told the magazine that when he and a general contractor returned to the mansion for their tools, Lee pointed a shotgun and told them to “Get the f**k off my property.” “I was never really that popular with people,” Gauthier told the magazine of the alleged incident, which seemingly fueled his desire for revenge. “But I had never been held at gunpoint. It screwed with my head.”
How did Pam and Tommy meet?
Pam and Tommy’s meet-cute in Pam and Tommy is very similar to how the real Pam and Tommy met in actual life. Their first encounter took place on New Year’s Eve 1994 at the Sanctuary Club in Hollywood, which Anderson had reportedly invested in. “He came up, grabbed me and licked my face,” she recalled in a 1995 interview with Movieline magazine, per the New York Post. “I thought he was a cool, friendly, nice guy. I gave him my number.” Lee shared his own memories of the moment in a 2001 Rolling Stone interview, saying he was in a booth with some of his “best bros” when Anderson sent him a shot of Goldschläger. He recalled that the blond beauty “stood out so radiantly from everyone around her that it seemed like a beam of black light was shining on her from above.” After guzzling a bottle of Kristal “like a happy pig,” the drummer said he led with a “stupid line” before moving on to the famous face licking. “Maybe if I had done that when I was sober, I would have seemed like some kind of an invasive asshole,” he said of licking her face from “chin to temple” in the club. “But I was on Ecstasy, so it was all good, and anything I did was innocent and full of love and a yearning to bond with all of humanity.” The spur of the moment move ended up setting off a domino effect, as Lee recalled, with everyone “passing licks around the table.” As the story goes, Lee was persistent following their first meeting and ended up going to Cancun where Anderson was traveling for work. The pair wed after knowing each other for just four days, saying “I do” in beach attire and opting for tattoos of one another’s names in lieu of rings. “Tommy and I started out having a very intense, fun, crazy relationship because we were two kids,” Anderson told Interview Magazinein 1998. “We were madly in love. It wasn’t like drugs or alcohol or anything like that. We were both just really passionate about life.”
How did Pam and Tommy’s tape get out?
According to the 2014 Rolling Stone story the series is based on, Gauthier robbed the couple’s house in October 1995 and stole a safe containing jewelry, photos and the bikini Anderson wore for her wedding, in addition to the Hi8 tape. The publication notes that it’s ultimately ambiguous how the heist was actually carried out, although Gauthier mentioned planning to put a yak fur rug on his back so he’d be seen by security cameras as the couple’s dog. Following the alleged heist, he says he brought the tape to Milton “Uncle Miltie” Ingley, who was the owner of an adult film studio in North Hollywood (played by Nick Offerman in the series). “We put [the tape] in and see what it is, and of course, cha-ching. The dollar signs fly before our eyes,” Gauthier recalled. “But we’re going, this is the kind of thing people will get killed over.” He told the magazine that Ingley, who he described as “the king of wheeling and dealing,” eventually brought the tape to mob boss Louis “Butchie” Peraino who gave him a loan of about $50,000 to distribute it online. (Peraino is played in Pam and Tommy by Andrew Dice Clay.) However, Gauthier’s chances at riches were allegedly ruined when bootleg copies of the tape began to proliferate elsewhere. According to Gauthier’s story, Periano then enlisted him to collect debts from others in order to pay off his own debt. As for his thoughts on the tape itself, however? Gauthier described it as “cute,” adding, “They’re in love and a couple and they’re just having fun with each other, and I think that’s great. I’m jealous. I wish I had something like that.”
Did Tommy Lee really talk to his, er, penis?
Believe it or not, Tommy Lee’s private parts have their own part in Pam and Tommy. The drummer stands before a mirror in the series’ second episode, contemplating his feelings for Anderson while chatting with his penis—which, yes, talks back. The animatronic genitalia, voiced by comedian Jason Mantzoukas and operated by four puppeteers, isn’t just a fictional scene-stealer, however. “As much as I’d like to take credit for that, I was simply adapting a chapter from [Lee’s] memoir,” Siegel told Varietyof the unexpected, uh, member of the cast. “I think it might be a first [for television]. There was gentle pushback, because you’ve got to push back a little when a talking penis is presented to you. But Hulu was extremely supportive.” Lee, whose autobiography Tommyland includes sections narrated by his nether regions, spoke to Rolling Stone about the penis-focused passages in 2004. “At the beginning, I’m having this argument with my penis because he thinks the book is all about him, right?" he explained. “So randomly throughout the book, there are these pop-ups and big, bold quotes where he’s throwing in his two cents. It’s strictly fun.” For his part, Stan had his own way of working with the unconventional scene partner. As he told Variety, “By the end of it, I treated it like it was an intimate buddy conversation that one might have when they’re falling in love.”
How did Pamela and Tommy find out their sex tape was stolen?
According to the Rolling Stone story, Anderson and Lee didn’t notice the safe was missing right away (which is also how it happens in Pam and Tommy). Following the alleged heist in October, a December 1995 Sunday edition of London’s Daily Mail reportedly mentioned a video rumored to feature the couple having sex on a yacht. However, per Rolling Stone, it wasn’t until the middle of January 1996 that Anderson and Lee noticed the missing safe and filed a police report. They also hired Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano, who is played by Don Harvey in the miniseries. Pellicano told the New York Postin 2021 that the couple were “incredibly upset” when they found out about the safe. “They thought [the video] contained their private moments, and it most certainly did,” he recalled. “Somebody had access to the safe [where the video was stored] and stole it.”
Did Tommy Lee really have beef with John Stamos?
One of the funniest moments in Pam and Tommy’s fourth episode is when the private investigator asks them who might have motive to steal from them. After listing several other famous rockers, Lee suggests he’s also got a nemesis in… Full House star John Stamos? While we can’t be sure whether Lee actually had beef with Stamos, as is suggested in the show, Anderson did have a connection to the Full House star. While she was dating Poison frontman Bret Michaels in the early 90s (pretty soon before she got together with Lee), Michaels recruited Stamos to impress Anderson’s mom. “One of her mom’s favorite bands was the Beach Boys, so I called up John Stamos, who played drums occasionally for the band,” Michaels told Blender in 2009, per E! News. “I said, ‘John, can you put the mom on the side of the stage?’ So he does—they even let her go out and sing with the Beach Boys. The next day, Pamela goes, ‘My mom really doesn’t like you very much.’ I’m thinking, ‘What the f**k?’ The mom really didn’t like the rocker thing or the way I looked—Pamela had never dated a rocker before.” Next, Is The Gilded Age a True Story, a Prequel to Downton Abbey—or Both? All About HBO’s Gorgeous, Period-Piece Hit, Including Who’s Who in the Cast
