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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Reanna Smith

Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson's turbulent romance from sex tape leak to attack

Tommy Lee is celebrating his 60th birthday today (October 3).

The American musician is best known as the founding member of the heavy metal band Motley Crue, however the drummer is also famed for his relationship with Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson.

Tommy and Pamela's romance made them one of Hollywood's most famous couples in the 90s and their dramatic marriage saw them regularly making headlines.

But their relationship was further thrust into the public eye when the couple had a sex tape stolen and leaked.

The infamous incident dominated the news and earlier this year became the basis for Hulu's TV mini series Pam & Tommy.

Here's everything you need to know about Lee and Anderson's wild romance.

How did Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson meet?

Pamela and Tommy met at on New Year's Eve 1994 (WireImage)

Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson first met in a club on New Year's Eve in 1994.

Explaining their first meeting in an interview with Movieline in 1995, Pamela explained how Tommy "came up, grabbed me and licked my face".

It seems that the unusual greeting worked and the pair hit it off, but it was Tommy's relentless pursuit of Pamela that kickstarted their romance.

After becoming infatuated with her after their encounter on New Year's Eve, Tommy followed Pamela to Mexico about a month later, calling every hotel in Cancun in hopes of finding the actress.

Recalling the pursuit in the 2001 Motley Crue autobiography The Dirt, Tommy wrote: “She wasn’t even going to return my call, she was so pissed. But her friends were on my side this time. They saw how hard I was working and begged her: ‘Go out with him for one drink. It couldn’t hurt’.”

He added: "Well, it did hurt, because four days later we were married.”

From their second meeting in Mexico, Tommy and Pamela had a whirlwind romance and within just 96 hours the couple had already tied the knot.

They married on February 19, 1995 in a small beach ceremony.

Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson's sex tape scandal

In 1995 the couple's sex tape was stolen and leaked (Getty Images)

While Tommy and Pamela's romance was making headlines since their whirlwind romance first began, it was an infamous sex tape scandal in that saw the couple thrust into the spotlight.

In October 1995, a tape was stolen from Tommy and Pamela's Malibu home and was leaked on the internet.

The tape had been allegedly stolen by Rand Gauthier, an electrician who worked at the couple's home before having his contract terminated and claimed he hadn't been paid $20,000 for months of work.

In 2014, Rand told Rolling Stone that he was so sick of Tommy and Pamela's demands he was willing to write off the money they owed him.

But, he alleged, when returning to the couple's home to collect his tools, he was met by Tommy holding a shotgun and telling him: “Get the f**k off my property.”

The incident caused Rand to seek revenge, saying: “I was never really that popular with people. But I had never been held at gunpoint. It screwed with my head.”

He went on to explain that he spent the summer plotting the break-in, which saw him steal a safe containing other valuables as well as the 54-minute tape, and went on to work with others to leak the tape on the internet.

Seth Warshavsky, the founder of Internet Entertainment Group, began streaming the tape on his website and following a failed injunction attempt Tommy and Pamela were advised by lawyers to sign a contract with Warshavsky to hand over the copyright of the tape to him.

By signing the deal, Lee and Anderson thought that were agreeing for the tape to only be shown in a one-time webcast and that it would prevent it from being broadcast on other sites.

Lee later said: “We thought we had won: hardly anyone would see the video on the Internet, and we could recover the tape and start over.”

However, Warshavsky went on to make a deal with Vivid Entertainment to legally sell copies of the movie on DVD, VHS and CD-ROM, and by February 1998 the video was available widely in adult stores.

It's been estimated that the tape made more than $77million, but Anderson and Lee claim that they never saw any of that money.

During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen back in 2015, Anderson said: “I made not one dollar. It was stolen property."

Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson's children

Pamela and Tommy have two sons (FilmMagic)

Despite their relationship facing the turbulence of the sex tape scandal, Tommy and Pamela went on to have two children together.

The couple welcomed their first son, Brandon Thomas Lee, in 1996.

A year later they welcomed their second son, Dylan Jagger Lee.

In 2015 Pamela opened up about having her children with Tommy, telling People : "I had beautiful children with him.

"My kids are grateful to be born out of true love. Everything else I was trying to piece together."

Pamela and Tommy's sons have followed in the footsteps of their parents.

Brandon is now an actor and starred in Netflix's Sierra Burgess Is A Loser, while Dylan is a musician and has also worked as a model.

Why did Pamela and Tommy split?

Pamela filed for divorce after Tommy attacked her (Getty Images)

In 1998, Tommy and Pamela's relationship took a downward spiral when in May Tommy was charged with felony spousal abuse after attacking Pamela at their home while she was holding their infant son.

He pleaded no contest to the charge and was later sentenced to six months in prison and was prohibited from contacting Pamela.

The Los Angeles Times reported at the time that the court had heard that the altercation "left Pamela Lee with bruises, a torn fingernail and fear for the safety of her two sons, Dylan and Brandon".

Shortly after the incident Pamela filed for divorce and the couple's marriage came to an end after three years together.

Reflecting on their relationship, Anderson told People in 2015: “We had a wild and crazy beginning that was too much for both of us."

Did Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson get back together?

Pamela and Tommy got back together in 2008 (Getty Images North America)

Despite the violent end to their marriage, Pamela and Tommy got back together in 2008.

Tommy told Rolling Stone: "We've only given it a try 800 times – 801, here we go. Pamela and the kids have moved in with me. It's awesome. It's definitely working."

However, things didn't work out and by 2010 the couple had split again.

After their 2010, split Pamela went on to marry Rick Salomon for the second time and after splitting from him in 2015 she went on to marry for the fifth time, tying the knot with Dan Hayhurst.

Tommy Lee also went on to re-marry and in 2019 tied the knot with Brittany Furlan, his fourth wife.

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