Pamela Anderson: Sex tape was damaging

16 July 2018

Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee's sex tape was "devastating" to their marriage.

Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee

The former 'Baywatch' actress admitted it was very "difficult" for those around her when intimate footage of herself and her then-husband - the father of her sons Brandon, 22, and 20-year-old Dylan - was stolen and leaked online in 1995 and she found the scandal "pretty embarrassing".

Pamela - who divorced Tommy in 1998 - said: "I think I was in the Guinness Book of World Records for 'most downloaded' before the tape came out.

"It was devastating, and it was devastating to our marriage too, and really hard to get over. It was difficult on my family, on my kids, and everything. It was hard.

"Because Tommy [Lee] and I just filmed everything--Woo, we're naked! Yay!--and someone spliced it together, called it something and put it out there. It was pretty embarrassing."

Pamela and Tommy sued Internet Entertainment Group (IEG) over the distribution of the tape and eventually entered into a confidential settlement agreement with the company.

The 51-year-old actress thinks the raunchy film started a "trend", though she wishes the likes of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian West hadn't made and profited from sex tapes of their own.

In an interview with the Daily Beast, she said: "It was almost like a way to become famous. And they're so sweet and I know they looked up to me, but they should never have done that. Why do that?

"But they... I don't know. I guess I kind of started a trend, unfortunately."

Pamela has been an outspoken critic of "extreme" porn and fears it's widespread availability is "damaging" relationships.

She said: "Well, everyone has to know what their version of porn is, too. Some people think Playboy is porn, and look, I think sexy things are fun.

"We have to decide what porn is for ourselves, what is damaging, and what is replacing our relationships. If we're not touching our wives and our girlfriends or boyfriends and are in the bathroom with our computer screens, I think that's an addiction. It's just too bad."