Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress and model known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch and V.I.P.. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990. In 2006, she was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame. Anderson is an activist for the animal rights movement and has conducted campaigns condemning the commercial fur industry and promoting veganism through the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). For a time, she was known as Pamela Anderson Lee (or Pamela Lee) after marrying Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. Anderson was born in Ladysmith, British Columbia, the daughter of Barry, a furnace repairman, and Carol (née Grosco)[citation needed] Anderson, a waitress. Her great-grandfather, Juho Hyytiäinen, was Finnish, a native of Saarijärvi, and left the Grand Duchy of Finland (which was a part of the Russian Empire at the time) in 1908. He changed his name to Anderson when he arrived as an immigrant. Anderson also has Russian ancestry on her mother’s side. Anderson got some press coverage right after her birth as the country’s “Centennial Baby”, having been the first baby born on July 1, 1967, the 100th anniversary of Canada’s official founding via the Constitution Act, 1867. Anderson suffered frequent sexual abuse as a child, a fact she would not reveal publicly until 2014: she was molested by a female babysitter from ages 6 to 10, raped by a 25-year-old man when she was twelve, and gang-raped by her boyfriend and six of his friends when she was 14. She also revealed that her father, though “loving”, had been an alcoholic. Anderson attended Highland Secondary School in Comox, British Columbia. During high school, she played on the volleyball team. She graduated in 1985. In 1988, Anderson moved to Vancouver and worked as a fitness instructor. Anderson married Tommy Lee, drummer of Mötley Crüe, on February 19, 1995, after knowing him for about 96 hours, or 4 days. They wed on a beach, with Anderson in a bikini. Anderson’s mother did not know, and learned of the marriage from People magazine. During this time, she was known professionally as Pamela Anderson Lee. Together they have two sons, Brandon Thomas Lee and Dylan Jagger Lee. Dylan Jagger Lee was named for Anderson’s great grandfather, Dale Jagger Grosco who fought in World War II. The couple divorced in 1998. Although divorced, the couple reunited briefly upon Lee’s release from prison but eventually split again in 2001. They reconciled and split again in 2008. In March 2002, Anderson publicly stated that she had contracted hepatitis C from Lee (supposedly from sharing tattoo needles), and began writing a regular column for Jane magazine. In October 2003, Anderson jokingly said on Howard Stern’s radio show that she does not expect to live more than 10 or 15 years, but this was misconstrued and taken seriously by many websites and tabloids. As of 2015, Anderson was cured of hepatitis C. After the 1998 divorce, Anderson became engaged to the model Marcus Schenkenberg; they broke up in 2001. She then became engaged to the singer Kid Rock (Robert J. Ritchie); she broke up with him in 2003. On July 18, 2006, it was announced that she would marry Kid Rock on July 29, 2006, on a yacht near Saint-Tropez, France. “Feels like I’ve been stuck in a time warp,” said Anderson in her blog entry. “Not able to let go of MY family picture … it’s been sad and lonely and frustrating … I’ve raised my kids alone in hope of a miracle. Well my miracle came and went. And came back and back because he knew that I’d wake up one day and realize that I was waiting for nothing.” “I’m moving on,” she declared. “I feel like I’m finally free … I’m in love.” There was extensive unconfirmed media speculation that the marriage was pregnancy-related, but the theory was based only on Anderson’s representative’s refusal to comment on the question. On November 10, 2006, it was announced that Anderson had miscarried while in Vancouver shooting a new film, Blonde and Blonder. Seventeen days later, on November 27, 2006, Anderson filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences. Some news reports have suggested that Kid Rock’s outrage during a screening of Borat, in which Anderson plays a cameo role, led to the filing for divorce two weeks later. In September 2007, Anderson told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres that she was engaged. On September 29, Anderson and film producer Rick Salomon applied for a marriage license in Las Vegas. On October 6, 2007, Anderson married Salomon in a small wedding ceremony at The Mirage, between her two nightly appearances at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Hans Klok’s magic show. The couple separated on December 13, and on February 22, 2008, Anderson requested through the courts that the marriage be annulled, citing fraud. In February 2007, Anderson said that she still often had sex with Lee since their divorce. In mid-2008 Lee said that they were going to try again to make things work together. In October 2013, Anderson said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she and Salomon were “friends with benefits”. In January 2014, she announced that she had remarried Salomon on an unspecified date. Anderson filed for divorce from Salomon in February 2015. The divorce was finalized on April 29, 2015. A sex tape of Anderson and Tommy Lee on their honeymoon was stolen from their home in 1995 and made a huge stir on the Internet. Anderson sued the video distribution company, Internet Entertainment Group. Ultimately, the Lees entered into a confidential settlement agreement with IEG. Thereafter, the company began making the tape available to subscribers to its web sites again, resulting in triple the normal traffic on the sites. Another tape, which was made before the Tommy Lee tape, involving Anderson and musician Bret Michaels from Poison, was later announced, and an abridged version of less than 60 seconds appeared on the internet. Frames of the video first appeared in Penthouse magazine in March 1998. The tape was successfully blocked by Michaels, but a four-minute sex tape is still available on the Internet. Anderson is a vegan, an advocate for animal rights, and an active member of the animal protection organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), taking part in several campaigns for animal rights. She became a vegetarian in her early teens when she saw her father cleaning an animal he had hunted. She is also an active member of Sea Shepherd, and a close friend of Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson.
