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Pamela Anderson detailed in her memoir a harrowing instance that almost killed her amidst struggles with Tommy Lee when they were married. The trouble started when Pamela was filmed Barb Wire, which came out in 1996. Pamela said that the days on the movie set were long and taxing, and at the same time, she was still filming Baywatch and adjusting to life as a newlywed (Pam and Tommy married in 1995). “When I came back to rest between scenes, [Tommy] would purposely mess up my hair and makeup and unlace my corset,” Pamela said. “A tactic used to spend more time together. Because I was his, he’d said. He wanted his “wife time.” All of his antics kept getting us in trouble.”
Everything came to a head when Tommy punched a producer because he asked him to go home, according to Pamela. Tommy was banned from the set, but would still jump the fence and show up in his wife’s trailer. “I was used to his behavior and initially thought it was funny,” Pam admitted. “I interpreted it as his showing me how much he loved me and that he needed me to show him more attention.”
Still, Pamela said this was a “challenging” time for her. She found some relief when a friend introduced her to “speedy diet pills, ephedrine,” which helped keep her awake during the long days. “The side effects meant I was losing weight fast,” Pam revealed. “I looked like a bowlegged skeleton in a bathing suit, 105 pounds at 5 foot 7.”
Those around Pam started showing concern, especially after she began to “withdraw on and off set.” Her biggest fear was upsetting Tommy, who “got so angry and jealous when [she] had scenes with other men, especially if [she] was kissing someone else.” Some of Pamela’s sexier scenes were even changed if Tommy was around.
All of the pressure from her new husband got to the point where Pamela almost took her own life. “One day, I didn’t show up to set,” Pamela recalled. “It wasn’t like me, I was never late to work. I was always early, in fact. The drive, Fal, came to my condo to find me unconscious on the floor. He picked me up, put me in his truck and drove me straight to the hospital.”
Pam said she was “at the end of [her] rope” at that point, which led her to mix substances in a dangerous way. “I was confused, sad, tired, not in my right mind,” she wrote. “I had gotten into the bathtub the night before and tried to swallow Advil with vodka, sinking slowly under the water. But luckily, I couldn’t stand the taste of hard alcohol and the nausea forced me out of the tub.” She passed out after throwing up on the floor.
The incident happened one day after a particularly nasty incident with Tommy, where he “rammed his car into the makeup trailer, punched the cabinets and [threw] me into his car, driving off the set, tires spinning,” according to Pam. “I couldn’t take it anymore,” she admitted. “I didn’t know what to do. It was a depth of despair I’d never felt and I’d been through a lot. I loved Tommy and I hated more than anything to upset him.”
The troubles between Pam and Tommy slowed down when she found out she was pregnant, although she wound up miscarrying. The experience led Tommy to briefly change his behavior, and the two went on to have two sons together. However, they divorced in 1998. You can buy Pamela,’s new book, Love, Pamela, here.