Another incident placed Pamela in the spotlight once again. She was sitting in a library at a storytelling session, when a photographer picked her out of a crowd of 100 other children, and took a photograph of her. The picture drew so much attention, that it was posted in all the libraries in British Columbia and became copyrighted.
Surprisingly enough, Pamela's teenage years were as normal as any other teenager's. She was a regular girl with braces, who loved volleyball and playing the saxophone. Interestingly enough, her nickname in high school was "Rubber Band" because of her flexibility and excellence in sports. Her yearbook statement the year she graduated from Highland Secondary School in 1985 read that her aspiration in life was "To Be a California Beach Bum."
Thanks to the popularity of the campaign, Pamela was approached to do a cover for Play..boy. Her appearance on Hef's magazine was the launching pad of her career, and roles in television soon followed.
She had a small role on the comedy Married... With Children and played Lisa, the "Tool Time Girl," on Home Improvement. Her role on Home Improvement led to her red bathing suit-clad role as lifeguard C.J. Parker on Baywatch. David Hasselhoffknew that she'd be perfect for the part, the same way he knew Angie Harmon was the perfect match for her Baywatch Nights role. Both Pamela and her character shared a belief in "New Age" thinking, something Pamela inherited from her Scandinavian grandfather.
During her lifeguard days, Pamela appeared in the following small-time movies: The Taking of Beverly Hills, Snapdragon, Raw Justice, and The Evolution of Mr. E. She also had a role in the television detective series, Mike Hammer.
In 1996, Pamela starred in her first feature film, Barb Wire, despite her manager's advice to refuse the film role. She should have taken his advice, since the film bombed at the box office.
pamela and tommy lee on video
The event in Lee's life that has caused the most hoopla in the public eye was her spontaneous surprise wedding to Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee after dating for four days. Although Pamela avoided him at first, Tommy followed her down to Cancun, where he eventually won her heart and they got married on the beach. With the bride in a thong bikini and the groom in swimming trunks, the couple proved their love by getting tattoos of each other's names on their body parts rather than exchanging wedding rings at the "altar."
Pamela and Tommy's marriage has been in the tabloids since the day they got married, with constant reports of fights and problems. Pamela (now) Lee's most widely recognized camera appearance is probably the tape of her and Tommy Lee engaging in sexual acts. The homemade video was allegedly stolen from their house in 1995 and can still be viewed on the Internet. In 1997, one year after the birth of their first child Brandon, Pamela filed for divorce. It didn't take long for the Lees to get back together and Dylan, their second son, was born later that year.
In 1998, the blonde bombshell starred in and produced the successful syndicated show V.I.P. and when not on the screen, continued to work as an advocate of animal rights.
pam stars as stripperella
Pamela and super male model Marcus Schenkenberg became an item after her final split from Tommy Lee. Making her divorce from Tommy even more official, she dropped "Lee" from her name in June 2000. In April 2001, she started seeing the king of trailer trash rock, the cocky Kid Rock.
In early 2002, Pamela announced her involvement in the animated series Stripperella, a stripper/superhero character created by Stan Lee of Marvel Comics fame. This was followed by news that she would accompany her new boyfriend on tour as an on-stage stripper. All this was put on hold when it was made public that Pam had been diagnosed with hepatitis C. She claims that she contracted the potentially fatal disease by having shared a tattoo needle with Tommy Lee.
pamela anderson's v.i.p. canceled
To add insult to injury, her syndicated TV program, V.I.P. was canceled after four seasons, in June of 2002. Just two months prior, she and Kid Rock announced their engagement, but the wedding, like her professional career, has been temporarily put on hold as Pam is undergoing treatment for her illness.
On a brighter note, she has launched a monthly column in the pages of Jane magazine. The debut of "Pam, Honestly" appeared in the August 2002 issue. As for the yearlong custody battle for her sons, it seems that a judge finally ordered joint custody of the children.
Big has since appeared in 2003's Scary Movie, and it seems that her on and off romance with Kid Rock is currently "off."
