Pamela Anderson was a fresh-faced 22-year-old when a photograph of her modelling in her native Canada found its way to the desk of Playboy’s picture editor – who got straight on the phone.
For her first shoot, says Charlotte Edwardes in The Guardian, she had to be “coaxed out of her underwear” for an outfit that consisted of a boater, a school tie, a blazer – and nothing else. Afterwards, she threw up.
She was, she admits, naive; yet she refuses to condemn Playboy’s owner Hugh Hefner as an old pervert. He was the first “gentleman” she ever met, with his smoking jackets and black tie; and he did at least pay her properly: he offered her $15,000 to be the centrefold in February 1990.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
By contrast, when stolen footage of her having sex with her then-husband, the rock star Tommy Lee, was posted on the internet in 1996, it netted £50m in a year for its illegal distributors, and she didn’t get a penny.
Instead, her marriage fell apart, her acting career nosedived, and she became a target for every TV comic in the land.
This painful episode was recently “regurgitated” for a TV miniseries. Pam & Tommy raked over some of the most intimate details of her private life, yet its makers didn’t even consult her, let alone pay her. Now Lily James, who played her, is up for an Emmy.
“It’s not her fault; it’s a job,” she says. “But whoever created it – well, it just feels like something else stolen.”
Pamela, A Love Story is on Netflix now
-
The 9 restaurants to eat at this very momentThe Week Recommends They’re award-winning. Isn’t that reason enough?
-
The UK’s opioid crisis: why the stats don’t add upThe Explainer A new report has revealed that the UK’s total of opioid-related deaths could be much greater than official figures show
-
Gaza genocide: will UN ruling change anything?Today's Big Question Commission of Inquiry’s findings ‘give unprecedented weight’ to genocide claims
-
A tour of Sri Lanka’s beautiful northThe Week Recommends ‘Less frenetic’ than the south, this region is full of beautiful wildlife, historical sites and resorts
-
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashionIn the Spotlight ‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th century clothing
-
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – a ‘comfort’ watch for fansThe Week Recommends The final film of the franchise gives viewers a chance to say goodbye
-
The Paper: new show, same 'warmth and goofiness'The Week Recommends This spin-off of the American version of The Office is ‘comfortingly and wearyingly familiar’
-
Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons – ‘riotously colourful’ works from an ‘exhilarating’ painterThe Week Recommends The 34-year-old is the first artist to take over Dulwich Picture Gallery’s main space
-
Born With Teeth: ‘mischievously provocative’ play starring Ncuti GatwaThe Week Recommends ‘Sprightly’ production from Liz Duffy Adams imagines the relationship between Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe
-
Art review: Lorna Simpson: Source NotesFeature Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, through Nov. 2
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
