WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Pam & Tommy episode 6.
Hulu’s Pam & Tommy episode 6 tells the true story of Pamela Anderson’s legal depositions and growth into a world-famous model - here’s how accurate the portrayal is. Considering Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee declined to be involved with Hulu’s miniseries, the show has reasonably taken some dramatic liberties in its storytelling. Based on the 2014 Rolling Stone article “Pam and Tommy: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Famous Sex Tape” and other reports of the events as they occurred, the Seth Rogen-starring and produced show has so far been fairly factual in its more dramatic elements. However, the timelines of the depicted events are typically less accurate.
Pam & Tommy episode 6 is a Pam-centric installment, with the drama truly exhibiting the cruelty, sexism, and inhumanity of the media and legal teams during this ordeal. Those who watched 2021’s 1990s sex-scandal series Impeachment: American Crime Story will feel deja vu watching “Pamela in Wonderland,” as both showcase similar themes about the sexist treatment of women and sex politics for public figures during this era. Just as Pamela is forced to answer degrading questions, be humiliated by legal teams, and rewatch her sex tape to apparently identify the individuals depicted during her deposition, Impeachment's Monica Lewinsky truly had to reluctantly recall, in detail, her most intimate moments with the nation’s most powerful man as the whole world watched.
The sixth installment alternates between Pamela’s April 1996 deposition for her and Tommy’s lawsuit against Penthouse’s Bob Guccione, as well as various important moments in her modeling career. From being discovered at a football game to becoming one of Playboy’s most famous models, Lily James’ Pamela Anderson relives the whirlwind launch of the real actress’s career whilst being prodded about her most personal life details by Penthouse’s legal counsel in 1996. While episode 6 stands as Pam & Tommy’s best and most heartbreaking installment yet, how accurate is the Hulu series’ retelling of these events?
Is Pamela Anderson Canadian? When Did She Come To The US?
As stated in Pam & Tommy episode 6, the real Pamela Anderson truly is Canadian-born and hails from Ladysmith, British Columbia. Anderson later moved to Vancouver, BC, where she would be discovered at a game for the BC Lions Canadian Football League in August 1989, just as Hulu’s Pam & Tommy depicts. Anderson was featured on the Jumbotron wearing a T-shirt for Labatt’s Beer, leading the company to hire her as a spokesmodel. Shortly after, Pam would be the cover girl for the October 1989 issue of Playboy magazine, where she then decided to officially move to the United States in 1990. After years of success in modeling and television in Los Angeles, Pamela Anderson became a dual United States and Canadian citizen in 2004.
Blue Zone Girl: When Did Pamela Anderson Start Modeling?
Pam & Tommy episode 6 accurately calls back to the beginning of Pamela Anderson’s modeling career, which began shortly before she was featured on Playboy. In Hulu’s show, the VP of marketing at Labatt's introduces himself to Pam and asks if she’s done any modeling before. It seems like this specific interaction was fictional, as it’s been noted in real life that cheers from the crowd for her Jumbotron appearance led her to be brought down on the football field during the game. According to a report (via ABC News), it wasn’t until shortly after the event that Labatt’s Beer hired her as a spokesmodel for the company at age 22. Living Magazine reported that Barb Wire actress Pamela Anderson’s then-boyfriend Dan Ilicic, a photographer, had made a poster of her in the Labatt’s Blue Zone t-shirt, which earned her fame as The Blue Zone Girl. After the poster received high demand, Anderson’s modeling career skyrocketed, and she got a call from Playboy magazine.
Pamela Anderson's Playboy History: Timeline & Accuracy
Pam & Tommy depicts Pam’s first Playboy shoot for the cover of the October 1989 issue, with her mom going along with her on the trip. The portrayal is fairly accurate but leaves out that Pam became so nervous that she was physically ill during her first Playboy shoot, as she admitted to James Franco in an interview for Playboy’s final nude edition. Pam then explains in her 1996 deposition that she appeared on Playboy in October ’89, February ’91, July ’92, August '93, November ’94, and January ’96. Following the timeline of Pam & Tommy episode 6, Pamela Anderson appeared on the cover of Playboy another eight times over the next twenty years. She later posed for Playboy’s covers in September 1997, June 1998, February 1999, July 2001, May 2004, January 2007, January 2011, and January/February 2016.
Both in the show and real life, Pamela Anderson has spoken fondly of her extremely close relationship with Hugh Hefner, which was proven when his lawyers contacted her to appear in Playboy’s final nude edition in 2015. Lily James’ Pam & Tommy character saying she enjoys working with Playboy as much as they do with her is accurate, as the real Pam has been featured on more covers of the magazine than any other model. Anderson has often recalled that Playboy's Hugh Hefner noted she was special and that he acted like a "gentleman" during her first shoot at the mansion.
What Happened During Pamela Anderson's Depositions?
While the tapes of Pamela Anderson’s 1996 depositions weren’t released to the public, the real Baywatch actress has commented on the harrowing experiences numerous times. In Pam & Tommy episode 6, Pam is asked by a brutal, disgusting lawyer how old she was when she first publicly exposed her genitals, when she first began modeling, and whether she knew Tommy had sex with prostitutes or if she’s one herself. Further harassing the model, Penthouse’s lawyer questions her about her Playboy past and whether she leaked the tape to Penthouse's Bob Guccione herself, then tortures her by making her watch the tape to identify people and locations. Ending the deposition, the lawyer grossly asks Pamela whether the idea of another boat spotting them in the act was “exciting” for her and Tommy. Pamela goes to the bathroom and vomits after seeing the tape, where the stenographer comments that she’s seen a lot of bad depositions, but this one was exceptionally brutal.
The true story of Pamela Anderson’s depositions seems to be similar, but it doesn’t appear that Pam actually had to watch the tape, as she stated (via Andy Cohen) in 2015 that she still has never seen it. Additionally, there’s no evidence that she became sick during the ordeal or was comforted by the stenographer. Baywatch's Pamela Anderson told Andy Cohen that she decided she didn’t want to be deposed anymore by “these horny, weird lawyer men,” then elaborated that she didn’t want to talk about her genitals or public sex anymore. Pamela Anderson also explained that she was seven months pregnant during the depositions and believed that the stress of the legal proceedings was affecting her pregnancy. In Tommy Lee’s 2004 autobiography Tommyland, Anderson wrote about the ordeal:
“It was great sitting through depositions, where old men with crusty white sh*t in the corners of their mouths would hold up pictures of me naked in Playboy and ask why I’d even care that the tape was out there. I couldn’t handle it.”
Did Pamela Anderson Have A Second Deposition?
It’s unclear whether Pam had to go in for another deposition after the April 1996 Penthouse lawsuit meeting, but, if going off of her comments about refusing to return after a specifically humiliating experience, it doesn’t appear that there was a second. The real Anderson seemingly had several depositions before officially deciding to stop, but Pam & Tommy only depicts the one 1996 event, which admittedly makes it much more dramatic and fast-paced. In real life, Pam and Tommy’s Penthouse lawsuit was thrown out by judges in May 1997. Pam and Tommy would later sue IEG in 1997 before deciding to settle so that Pam wouldn’t have to go through any more depositions, which led to much worse circumstances than they expected.
Lee recalled (via Esquire) that their lawyers advised them to sign a contract saying they would allow a one-time webcast as long as the company didn’t “copy, trade or rebroadcast it.” Pam and Tommy Lee thought this meant they won and the sex tape would finally be over with, but the celebrities grossly underestimated the power of the internet. The tape would go viral online, thus cementing it as pop culture’s most infamous sex tape of all time. Since Hulu’s Pam & Tommy is quickly coming to an end, it appears the show will jump into the next series of the couple’s legal hurdles in episode 7.