Pamela Anderson is loving this new chapter in her life.
As the actress basks in the glow of several award nominations for her performance in The Last Showgirl, she reflected on the "hurtful" series Pam & Tommy.
"I didn't know anything about it," Pamela explained on Sirius XM's Andy Cohen Live Jan. 9. "I didn't have any involvement. No one called me, which was so strange, and that was hurtful."
She emphasized that the show—which starred Lily James as the Baywatch alum and Sebastian Stan as Tommy Lee—was ethically "illegal."
"But you're kind of fair game," the 57-year-old continued. "I remember people telling me that a long time ago—that you are basically public property and you have no right to privacy. I remember that."
However, she noted that it was "strange to pick a very terrible time in my life" as the subject of the series, which details, in part, the theft of Pamela and Tommy's infamous sex tape. To add insult to injury, Lily was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series of Movie at the 2022 Emmy Awards.
She pointed to the irony of the Mamma Mia 2 star earning a nod while playing her, telling Andy, "I guess she did it better than me."
Now, however, Pamela—who was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role at the 2025 SAG Awards, Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama at the 2025 Golden Globes and Outstanding Lead Performance at the 2024 Gotham Awards for her role as Shelly Gardner—is more focused on her future.
"This is the best payback," she gushed. "I'm being seen and recognized for my work and not these tawdry moments."
The actress—who shares sons Bradon Lee Thomas, 28, and Dylan Jagger Lee, 27, with the Mötley Crüe drummer—doesn't hold a grudge against Lily for the role despite feeling "violated" by the makers.
"It's not her fault, it's a job," she told The Guardian in January 2023. "But whoever created it—well, it just feels like something else stolen."
Although Pamela asserts no one reached out to her, one of the writers, D.V. DeVincentis denied that.
"We particularly wanted to let Pamela Anderson know that this portrayal was very much a positive thing and that we cared a great deal about her and wanted her to know that the show loves her," he told Entertainment Weekly in January 2022. "We didn't get a response, but considering what she's been through and the time that we were reaching out, that was understandable."
Keep reading to see more of Pamela through the years.