Though Hulu’s Pam & Tommy may have dominated some headlines in 2022, one of its titular subjects is already reclaiming her non-dramatized glory in 2023. Pamela Anderson is set to release her new memoir Love, Pamela on the same day as her Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story goes live, with both projects offering up the Baywatch queen at her most open and vulnerable. Early excerpts from the book have already made headlines, including her claim that Tim Allen flashed her on the set of Home Improvement, and that Sylvester Stallone allegedly wanted her as his “number one girl,” both of which were met with denials. Now, the streaming doc’s director shared his take, essentially putting all of his faith in Anderson’s words.
Documentary helmer Ryan White has quite a bit of experience tackling real-life controversies and uncomfortable situations, having directed such works as The Case Against 8, Assassins, and Netflix’s own Catholic school scandal docu-series The Keepers. So he’s no doubt heard many claims from many different people, and likely has a gauge for authenticity in that sense. And in his eyes, Pamela Anderson is nothing if not authentic with what she puts out into the world, even if it doesn’t shock him that Allen and Stallone have spoken out against her claims. Here’s how he put it to Yahoo:
[I’m] not surprised people are denying things. . . . What I will say is: Pamela is honest. She lives her life in the most honest way I've ever seen. Her North Star is honesty — to a fault. I think she just cannot be dishonest... So I would put my money behind anything Pamela Anderson ever says.
Speaking of money, part of Ryan White’s defense of Anderson revolves around his belief that she isn’t the kind of person these days who does anything for the goal of fame or financial gain, as those aren’t her top priorities. With a large piece of her notoriety coming from her and then-hubby Tommy Lee’s sex recordings being stolen and sold to the public, White says the former Playboy Playmate is someone who highly encourages living openly and honestly with others.
It wasn’t long at all after Anderson’s claim about Tim Allen went around that the Last Man Standing vet formally denied that he’d opened his robe in front of her and showed her his penis on the first day of filming ABC’s Home Improvement, allegedly saying it was only fair since he’d seen her in the buff already. (That situation also sparked an old blooper clip going around, with Patricia Richardson clarifying that Allen’s “flash” in the footage didn’t involve any nudity.) Tulsa King’s Sylvester Stallone also denied offering Anderson a Porsche and a condo as romantic gestures, though she’s made those particular claims before in years past.
Ryan White says there were plenty of other similarly saucy and salacious anecdotes and stories from Pamela Anderson and her records that could have been included in the documentary, but were left out in the end. Not because he felt they may have been untrue, however. He explained:
So any anecdote that she's ever told me — and there are so many good ones that would be clickbait that I just didn't include in the film because they didn't serve the larger story of my film — I believe every single one of them.
Fans will be able to see for themselves all of the tales she’ll be telling in the new documentary. Check out a trailer for Pamela, A Love Story below!
Pamela, A Love Story will be available to stream on Tuesday, January 31, for anyone with a Netflix subscription, with her book Love, Pamela hitting stores on the same day.. For those in the mood for something a bit more dangerous, check out all the best true crime documentaries on Netflix, and head to our 2023 TV premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows are on the way in the coming months.
