Divorce as a concept isn’t exactly a laughing matter, and it certainly should be treated with the respect and weight it deserves. And yet, when actual comedy is the cause for said divorce, it’s kind of hard not to have a laugh or two at the expense of the moment.
That’s exactly what it sounds like when it comes to the reason former lovebirds Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock split up, as Sacha Baron Cohen revealed that a joke he and Anderson engaged in for his film Borat, which saw her being kidnapped by the eponymous character, was the cause for her big split. Cohen described how he found out about this thusly:
And she texted back, ‘He’s getting divorced.’ I was like, why? And she goes, ‘The movie.’ And I thought it was a joke, but then a few weeks later they got divorced and they put as a reason for divorce, Borat.
The text exchange referred to above happened after Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson has screened Borat together, which lead to Rock screaming some rather colorful things, as he’s wont to do when things get serious, at his then wife. Of course, once calmer heads prevailed, a divorce was to be had, and sure enough, Sacha Baron Cohen knew that Pamela Anderson wasn’t joking.
In a career as full of comedic moments that employ quite a bit of shock value and subterfuge, the most surprising fact revealed during Sacha Baron Cohen’s talk with The Daily Beast was that Pamela Anderson was the one person to say yes to committing to the gag that was featured in Borat. To be fair, Cohen did point out that if he didn’t get her permission, the whole endeavor would have totally been kidnapping. He may be all about getting the laugh at the end of the day, but he’s smart enough not to end up in jail.
Another oddity when discussing this particular scene was the fact that it took two takes to really get the desired effect, as it was pointed out that during the first attempt at a book signing, none of Pamela Anderson’s fans came to her aid. And as Cohen also revealed during that same talk, there was a slight bit of injury involved as well:
She lost two things. One, she lost a tiny bit of bone from her jaw. And secondly, she lost a husband.
After all of this talking about a comedy moment that’s over a decade old, but still funny as ever, you’re probably in the mood to see how that infamous gag from Borat turned out. Well, through the magic of the internet, you can feast your eyes on that footage below:
With his most recent project, the Showtime series Who Is America?, looking to make a play for some Emmy awards, now’s as good a time as any to revel in the glow of what Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy can do when people aren’t expecting it. And while divorce still isn’t funny at large, it’s certainly a bit humorous when put into the context of what you’ve seen above, as well as the Halloween costumes it inspired.
