Pamela Anderson's two-word description of her sex tape leak should put an end to speculation

Pamela Anderson is making one thing clear: Her leaked sex tape was a “complete crime” and she's still dealing with the fallout.

The 1995 video, shot with then-husband Tommy Lee during their honeymoon, became a defining moment in celebrity culture, shaping her career and marriage, being talked about around the world, and even being the subject of the 2022 Hulu miniseries. But for Anderson, it is a source of trauma, a sign of the abuse she suffered at the hands of the media and those who stole and distributed the tape.

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“The tape that was stolen property and was exploited — it was an absolute crime,” Anderson said Shine in a September 30 interview, adding that Hulu's Pam & Tommy only added to the trauma of the leak.

“(Hulu) never called me. I've never had any input. I didn’t know anything about it,” Anderson added. Series creator Robert Siegel and actress Lily James (who played Anderson) claim they have been in touch Baywatch actress and got no response. However, perhaps the lack of a response should have been reason enough not to proceed.

“It hit me a lot harder than I imagined,” Anderson added of the tape. “Because the thought made me so sick when it came out, this Hulu thing. It really felt like another kick in the gut that people might find so entertaining. And that was…I think I lost my husband, my mind, my career.”

When the tape was released after it was stolen from the couple's home, Anderson and Lee filed, lost and settled several lawsuits to try to stop the distribution. Anderson says the fallout made her believe her reputation was destroyed and pushed her to take reality TV roles and other non-acting gigs to support her young sons.

In recent years, Anderson has transformed her career with insightful memoirs: All the best, Pamelaand an accompanying Netflix documentary that made her the author of her own story. But even in the middle of the release of her film The Last Showgirl and Oscar buzz surrounding her performance, Anderson is still struggling with the aftereffects of the exploitation she endured.

“At the moment I didn’t notice,” she said Shine. “It's like post-trauma, and then you just start acting out. And I knew that a lot of things happened to me that I could have handled differently…. In this world, how you manage your career really matters. And I was just in the Wild West.”

“Even when I hear my name, I don’t like it. I have a negative connotation with it,” she added. “I almost still have a stereotype of myself. And so it was hard work to get rid of that because I’m a woman.”

Before you go, click here to see all of Pamela Anderson's confirmed relationships below: