Summary
- Despite earning $300,000 per episode on Baywatch, Pamela Anderson now only makes $4,000 per year in residuals.
- Anderson's lack of ownership rights due to poor contract negotiations led to a laughable salary from Baywatch today.
- Despite her $20 million net worth, most of Pamela Anderson's wealth comes from projects outside of Baywatch, like VIP.
Pamela Anderson is a pop culture icon. Best known for her roles as CJ Parker on Baywatch and Barb Wire in Barb Wire, Pamela's characters are still as popular today as they were in the early to mid-1990s. Proof of this can be seen in the Baywatch movie, in which Anderson reprised her role, and young Hollywood which continues to emulate these characters on Halloween, decades after they first became popular.
While it is her beauty that people see first, there is more to Anderson than meets the eye. Anderson is also an actor who continues to push herself with roles on Broadway, is an accomplished author, and is an activist who fights for the rights of animals. All of this has helped Anderson to keep and maintain a small fortune. Unfortunately, after Anderson admitted she "signed her life away" in her Baywatch contract, Anderson's role on Baywatch does not contribute to any of that wealth today.
Pamela Anderson made big money on Baywatch, but her salary today is laughable thanks to naivety and poor contract negotiations when Anderson first made it big in Hollywood.
Pamela Anderson Made Millions On Baywatch
Pamela Anderson earned $300,000 per episode of Baywatch
Anderson first came on the entertainment elite's radar when she was spotted at a hockey game in Canada. It was just a short time before Anderson was cast in a series of roles on hit TV shows to bulk up her resume. Those roles eventually led to Anderson being cast as Lisa on Home Improvement.
While Anderson's time on Home Improvement was embroiled in scandal, it is also the vehicle in which she was cast in Baywatch. The casting directors hounded Anderson until she finally auditioned for the show. Anderson was offered a role on the spot. However, the initial pay for the role of CJ Parker was not much.
When Anderson came to Baywatch, the show was entering its third season. While the series had done well with ratings, it was not until Anderson joined the show that not only did ratings skyrocket but that international markets wanted to buy syndication rights. However, during all of this, Anderson was only being paid $1,500 per episode.
It became clear during Anderson's time on Baywatch what an important part of the show she had become. So much so that there were "Pamela clauses" in the licensing deals for overseas markets. Because of this, Anderson was able to renegotiate her contract for a substantially higher paycheck; her salary was bumped to $300,000 per episode or $6.6 million per season, and finally reflected the importance of Anderson on Baywatch.
This substantial pay increase made Anderson one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood and increased Anderson's net worth substantially. But, it was those behind the scenes that were making the big money. Not the actors.
"The producers of ‘Baywatch’ made a fortune," Anderson said.
But after Amazon purchased Baywatch, those who had ownership stakes in the show made a huge amount of money. Unfortunately, Anderson was not one of those people.
Pamela Anderson's Generous Act With Her Five Figure Salary For A Playboy Shoot Caused More Harm Than Good
Pamela Anderson's $25K contribution thanks to Playboy was frowned upon by certain organizations.
"I just didn’t have the representation back then. Or the know-how," Anderson explained. "You don’t realize when you’re doing a TV show that it’s going to be that popular, so you kind of sign your life away."
Because of this, Anderson's salary from Baywatch today is laughable.
Pamela Anderson's Salary Today From Residuals Is Laughable
Pamela Anderson earns $4,000 per year in Baywatch royalties
Because Anderson and those representing her did not know what to negotiate for when restructuring contracts at the height of Baywatch popularity, any ownership rights that could have been Andersons were never discussed. The goal was to get a higher paycheck in the moment. Long-term wealth from syndication was not a thought at the time.
As a result of this, the royalties that Anderson received yearly from her tenure at Baywatch are around $4,000, small peanuts for someone who essentially made Baywatch the iconic show it is today.
Anderson's son, Brandon Lee, who she shares with ex-husband Tommy Lee, has called Anderson's income earned from Baywatch a "crime." He believes Anderson's contributions to the show earned her far more than what she receives in residuals today.
"When I go back and I even look at past deals and residual checks people would be shocked to find out how people really took advantage of her …," Brandon explained, "a young girl making a bad deal on a big show and she was the biggest star at the time."
Pamela Anderson Threatened To Bring Up Tax Evasion, And Walked Away With Seven-Figures From Her Divorce Settlement
There was controversy attached to Pamela Anderson's divorce from Rick Salomon, especially when it came to the settlement.
Brandon went on to say, "A lot of people made a lot of money off that, people are going to have to have their day when we come knocking … when she makes $4,000 a year off of Baywatch? That's a crime."
Despite not making much money from her Baywatch residuals, Anderson has still managed to create an impressive net worth for herself as a result of her decades in the entertainment industry.
Pamela Anderson's Net Worth Is $20 Million
Most of Pamela Anderson's net worth today has nothing to do with Baywatch
Anderson has a net worth of $20 million. Much of this fortune can be attributed to TV series like Baywatch and VIP, where Anderson learned from her time on Baywatch and became a producer on VIP as well as the star of the show.
However, Anderson did not always have this much money to her name. As a result of bad real estate transactions, Anderson ended up owing hundreds of thousands in back taxes. To pay them off, Anderson was forced to sell her home in Malibu. When that did not happen, she instead, rented it out for $50,000 per month.
Anderson found a long-term renter and moved into a trailer park.
Pamela's Malibu home eventually sold in 2021 for $11.8 million. This money added to Anderson's net worth, as did her Netflix movie, Pamela, a love story and her book, Love, Pamela.
Additionally, Anderson stands to increase her net worth by a third someday. This is because her ex-husband, Jon Peters, claimed he left $10 million to Anderson in his will.
For now, Anderson has moved back to her hometown of Ladysmith in Canada and lives in her grandmother's home. While she has done some remodeling to the house since purchasing it, Anderson does not live a lavish lifestyle as she once did. As such, her net worth should remain stable for years to come.
