What do you think about when you hear the name Pamela Anderson? To certain generations, hearing her name evokes a powerful two-word phrase: “sex tape.”
Back in the mid-’90s, Anderson was at the center of a sex tape controversy that set the whole world on fire. This controversy redefined how the public viewed everything from celebrities to the burgeoning technology of the internet. Unfortunately, when the tape set the world on fire, Pamela Anderson got more than a little burned.
How did this sex tape leak in the first place? What effect did it have on her career, and why is the doomed romance between Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee on everyone’s lips again? Keep reading to find out!
The criminal story behind how Pamela and Tommy Lee’s tape was stolen
These days, it’s easy to be cynical when a celebrity sex tape leaks online. For example, there are persistent rumors that Kim Kardashian’s own mother leaked Kim’s infamous sex tape as a way to supercharge her career.
However, Pamela Anderson had nothing to do with leaking the sex tape (which also featured her then-husband, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. Instead, the tape leaked due to a carpenter named Rand Gauthier. When this carpenter became disgruntled with the celebrity couple, he turned to criminal activity to get his retribution.
Gauthier was hired to renovate the Malibu mansion owned by Tommy Lee. The carpenter got fired and left without either his tools or getting paid. When he tried to go back for those tools, Lee allegedly pointed a gun at him and asked him to leave without the tools in question.
Eventually, a desperate Gauthier returned to the mansion and broke into Lee’s safe. He was hoping to find something he could sell to make up for not getting paid. What he found, though, would ruin lives and change the internet forever.
