Pam and Tommy: True story behind world’s first celebrity sex tape

Pamela, the star of BayWatch, and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee met on New Year’s Eve in 1994 at the Sanctuary nightclub in Los Angeles. Two months later, after a four-day romance on the beach in Cancun, the pair married. They went on to have two sons before divorcing in 1998, when Tommy was sentenced to six months in prison for assaulting her.

Even in 2022, however, the thing the pair are best-known for is not their relationship, but the sex tape that was stolen from their home.

The story behind the tape being leaked has inspired a new drama, ‘Pam & Tommy’, starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan as the couple, and is now available to watch on Disney Plus in the UK.

When Pamela and Tommy got married, just a handful of guests attended the ceremony.

Following their nuptials, they each had the other’s name tattooed on their finger.

Pamela’s mother only found out about the wedding because of the tabloids.

Reports suggest that the sex tape was made during the couple’s honeymoon, and was later stolen from Tommy’s Malibu mansion, which was at the time being renovated.

Tommy had fired an electrician, Rand Gauthier, who he owed a reported $20,000 (£14,000).

Mr Gauthier was a former adult film star and, according to The Independent, had become annoyed with the couple after they allegedly refused to pay him what they owed.

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He later broke into Tommy and Pamela’s home and stole the contents of their safe, which included the eight-minute sex tape.

Mr Gauthier was never charged or convicted

According to a police report, the contents of the safe also included an AK47 assault rifle, a .45 calibre rifle, a Mossberg shotgun, a Rolex, a gold and diamond Cartier watch, gold and emerald cufflinks, a ruby and diamond cross, the white bikini Anderson had worn to their beach wedding, and a collection of family photographs.

Mr Gauthier is said to have used his connections in the adult film industry to sell the tape online.

At the time, VHS copies of Pamela’s Hardcore Sex Video were going for $59.99 – around £40 – and being shipped worldwide.

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The video is considered to be the first-ever celebrity sex tape and is almost certainly the first to be distributed on the internet.

It went viral long before the now-famous tape of Kim Kardashian and Ray J Anderson was released and took the showbiz world by storm.

Tommy and Pamela later sued Internet Entertainment Group, one of the companies selling the video, but while a settlement was reached, the pair never received any money because the business went bankrupt.

By 1997, the porn industry was experiencing a boom that coincided with the rise of widespread internet use and access.

Seth Warshavsky, a 25-year-old internet genius, broadcast the sex tape on his porn site Club Love, on a loop for five hours, and in less than a year, ‘Pamela’s Hardcore Sex Video’ earned $77million (£56million) in online views.

By 1998, the film was on sale in most adult video shops in the US.

The following year, Pamela was named the “most downloaded star” of all time by The Guinness Book of World Records.

In recent years, there has been increased awareness of the harms of revenge porn.

As of last year, it is illegal in the UK to distribute private sexual images of someone without their consent and with the intention of causing them distress.

Tommy and Pamela’s relationship was marred by claims of domestic abuse.

When they divorced in 1998, Pamela had the ‘Tommy’ tattoo on her ring finger altered to read ‘Mommy’.

Tommy has since commented on the Hulu show, saying that he wanted it to “let the motherf***ers know, we broke the internet first”.

Pamela, however, has yet to make her feelings known about it.

Pam & Tommy is available to watch on Disney Plus.