Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, author, and activist who has an estimated net worth of $20 million. She became internationally known after appearing on the TV series Baywatch and her marriage to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. During her time on Baywatch (1992-1997), Anderson earned $60,000 per episode, equivalent to $1,320,000 annually.

Anderson was born on July 1, 1967, in Ladysmith, a town located on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, to Carol, a waitress, and Barry, a furnace repairman. She has a younger brother, Gerry (1971). Anderson was an acrobat and gymnast between seven and twelve and an athlete throughout high school. She was sexually abused by a female babysitter from six to ten years old, raped at 12 by a 25 years old man, and when 14 her then-boyfriend and six of his friend raped her too.

Anderson graduated in 1985 and move to Vancouver in 1998 to work as a fitness instructor while pursuing a modeling career. At that time, she started to think about becoming a Playboy girl. Anderson signed a contract with Labatt's beer and more advertising deals followed. Eventually, Playboy approached her and in October 1989 was on the cover of the magazine, which impulsed her career. She was then chosen as Playmate of the Month in February 1990 and appeared in the centerfold layout of the publication. As of 2021, Anderson has been 14 times on Playboy's cover, more than anyone else.

With the success at Playboy, she moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1990. At the beginning of that decade, Anderson landed a number of guest-starring roles, and from 1991 to 1993 was Lisa on the American sitcom Home Improvement. But it was her role as a Los Angeles lifeguard on Baywatch, one of the most viewed TV series worldwide, which made her famous. She made her debut at movies starting on Snapdragon (1993), and the next year appeared on Raw Justice.

In 1996, Anderson starred in the films Naked Souls and Barb Wire, and because of the last one, won a Razzie Award for Worst New Star. She then hosted the TV show Saturday Night Live in April 1997. Besides, Anderson played a lead character on the TV series V.I.P. from 1998 to 2002, and in the TV series Stacked from 2005 to 2006. She also starred in an animated series by Stan Lee called Stripperella (2003). In 2006, Anderson appeared in Sacha Baron Cohen's fake documentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Afterward, she made appearances on various Dancing with the Stars franchises, with the main role at the 10th season of the American version in 2010. Anderson then took part in the All-Star edition in 2012. She also appeared on the Argentinian and French versions of the show as well as on British Dancing on Ice. In addition, Anderson came into sight on the fourth season of Big Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother. She was paid $550,000 for been three days in the house. Over 2011, 2012, and 2013, Anderson participated in the British, Bulgarian, and German versions of the show.

Anderson also acted in the films Come Die with Me: A Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer Mystery (1994), Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Sex, Lies & Michael Aspel (2004) Superhero Movie (2008), Blonde and Blonder (2008), Costa Rican Summer (2010), Hollywood & Wine (2011), Jackhammer (2013), Chto tvoryat muzhchiny! 2 (What Men Do! 2) (2015), The People Garden (2016), The Institute (2017), and Baywatch (2017).

Moreover, Anderson wrote several books, including the autobiography Pandemonium (1998); the novels Star (2004) and Star Struck (2005); a collection of poetry called Patches of Life (2005); Playboy's Greatest Covers (2012), written with Damon Brown; the artwork publication Raw (2015), created with Emma Dunlavey; Connect and Transform: Simple Everyday Changes for Spectacular Health (2015), written with John Pierre; and Lust for Love: Rekindling Intimacy and Passion in Your Relationship (2018), written with Shmuley Boteach.

Anderson bought a house in Malibu for $1.8 million in 2000. She tore down the property and spent $8 million on a new home. In 2013, Anderson listed it for a selling price of $7.75 million. After not finding a buyer, she put the house up for rent. In 2021, the house was listed again for a selling price of $14.9 million. Anderson had a long-term renter who had been paying $40,000 per month, equal to $480,000 a year.

Anderson is an animal rights advocate. In the late 90s, she stripped down for a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) advertisement and served on the board of the organization. Anderson also chaired the board of directors of The International Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and testified on Capitol Hill about animal welfare. For 25 years she has led the Pamela Anderson Foundation as well, which stands for the protection of human, animal, and environmental rights. Anderson stated that after paying for her basic needs, all extra income goes to the foundation.

In 1995, Anderson married Tommy Lee, Mötley Crüe drummer, after knowing him for four days. They have two sons, Brandon Thomas (1996) and Dylan Jagger (1997). The couple made a sex tape infamous in pop culture. During their marriage, Lee was arrested after assaulting Anderson and sentenced to six months in jail for spousal abuse. They finally divorced in 1998. After that, she got engaged to model Marcus Schenkenberg, but the couple broke up in 2001. Anderson then became engaged to musician Kid Rock. They separated in 2003 and married in July 2006, but in November she filed for divorce. Next year Anderson married film producer Rick Salomon. The couple broke up two months later, and in 2008 Anderson requested to the courts the annulment of marriage. However, in 2014 she remarried Salomon, though they divorced again a year later. Anderson was also involved with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. In 2017, she began dating footballer Adil Rami, and the couple broke up in 2019. In 2020, she married Hollywood producer Jon Peters, though after a short time they separated and Anderson said that she and Peters never officially got married.

Peters claimed that the relationship ended because he had to pay a debt of $200,000 for Anderson. Before that, she was listed on the state of California's Top 500 Delinquent Tax Payers because of unpaid taxes for $1.7 million in 2009. The IRS stated that Anderson owed $260,000 and the state of California that she owed $112,000 in 2012.

Sources: Celebrity Net Worth, IMDB, IMDB (2), Good Reads, Good Reads (2), Good Reads (3), Good Reads (4), Good Reads (5), Good Reads (6), Good Reads (7), Mansion Global, Pamela Anderson Foundation.

This article was updated on April 1, 2021 by Andrés Taurian 

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