With all the drama surrounding the new Pam & Tommy miniseries, starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan, a lot about Pamela Anderson's life is resurfacing. Not just details about her marriage to Mötley Crüe's drummer, Tommy Lee.
Anderson has called the miniseries a "cheap knock-off," while fans agree that it glamorizes the Baywatch star and the rockstar's abusive life together. But the miniseries, where you like it or not, is opening up more doors into the life of the Playboy star, including her other notorious relationships and her relationship with her and Lee's two boys, Brandon and Dylan.
Since a lot about her life is either being unEarthed or resurfacing, Anderson feels bad for her sons, who have to see the crazy things their mother's done. They already don't get along with their father, and Anderson doesn't want the same thing to happen to her relationship with them. She knocked it out of the park, raising them, though.
Brandon And Dylan Are Like "War Veterans" Growing Up In Los Angeles
Growing up in the Anderson-Lee household probably didn't leave much to the imagination, but the Lee brothers say that just growing up in L.A. made them sort of like "war veterans" in a way itself.
"Life just happens at such an accelerated pace," Brandon told Interview magazine. "Everything around you is happening faster. People are losing their virginity five years younger than everywhere else in America. People are getting involved in drugs at a much younger age. When kids in L.A. are 18 or 19, they’re like a bunch of 40-year-olds who have already seen everything. It’s almost like they’re war veterans."
Thankfully, they got out for a period of time, going to school in Canada, but when they returned, all of their friends had changed a lot, and they recognized it was very much a "dog-eat-dog world."
The boys didn't understand that their parents were famous when they were little, which is understandable. They wondered why paparazzi always took photos of them, but Anderson's answer to that was a simple, "Oh, they do that to everybody." And despite practically growing up backstage of Mötley Crüe concerts, the boys aren't rock fans. In fact, they used to fall asleep when the band played "Shout at the Devil."
Unfortunately, their parents weren't just famous for their careers; they were famous for their high-profile relationship that was often scandalous. Lee and Anderson's early relationship was definitely what you'd call a whirlwind romance, considering they got married six weeks after meeting. Later in their three-year marriage? Not so much.
An electrician stole a safe from the family, which contained their sex tape. It was leaked faster than you can imagine. Then later, Lee went to jail for domestic abuse. He felt invisible after their kids were born, and he didn't like that, so he attacked Anderson while she was holding a baby Dylan. She filed for divorce the next day, and Lee went to prison for six months. Anderson, however, applauded Lee for taking responsibility for his actions and wanting to heal.
But it still had to have affected the boys. "I've had a pretty crazy life, and I spent the majority of it hiding from the spotlight, trying to be a normal kid. I used to resent all of this," Brandon said. "But I've come to a point in my life where I want to show people what I'm truly like. There are a lot of misconceptions about the way we were raised—that we're spoiled or that we were given everything. But our friends can back this up: Dylan and I haven't taken a dollar from our parents since we were in high school." At least there's that.
Anderson Is Sad About What Her Boys Had To See As Kids
For the most part, Anderson is proud of how she raised her boys, but she does have one regret. Not shielding them from her and Lee's crazy life before and after their marriage.
But as Brandon told Interview, Anderson raised them well, and they came out virtually unscathed from it all.
"My children and I are very close. Now they are old enough to understand," Anderson explained to Healthy Living. "But in the heat of the moment, we all suffered. It breaks my heart that any of my decisions affected them in a negative way. I’m sad that I’ve hurt them."
She does appreciate her own ability to keep her boys largely out of the spotlight, however. "I protected them. I did not drag them down red carpets," she said. "They had no desire to be famous. I was strictly against them being photographed. They weren’t props. They are growing up with their own identity — separate from the madness — and are thriving for it."
Brandon told Town & Country in 2019 that he was "thankful" that his mother did everything she could to keep them out of the spotlight, so she shouldn't worry too much. She did a great job raising them, and they love her for it.
Nowadays, Anderson is an empty nester who is currently dabbling in many different things, such as writing, designing furniture, working with her eponymous foundation, and acting like never before. So that should keep her busy while she misses her boys. "I have a lot of fundraiser ideas," she said. "Maybe we will do a Christmas special." That'd be something to see.
