Pamela Anderson Says Rehashings of Stolen Honeymoon Tape Made Her “Feel Sick” in First Trailer for Netflix Doc

Pamela Anderson is addressing her career choices, media treatment and romances in the first look at her upcoming documentary, Pamela, a love story.

Dropping Tuesday, the very first seconds of the two-minute trailer address the actress and model’s feelings on her treatment throughout her career by the industry and media, as well as how she forged on following the theft of her and Tommy Lee’s honeymoon tape.

“I blocked that stolen tape out of my life in order to survive and now that it’s all coming up again, I feel sick,” Anderson says, seemingly addressing how the tape re-entered the discussion following Hulu’s limited series Pam & Tommy. “I want to take control the narrative for the first time.”

Anderson admits that she “didn’t feel like I had a lot of respect” as archival images are shown of her being hounded by the flashing bulbs of paparazzi and demeaned by reporters who question whether she’s a “serious actress.” It’s a narrative supported by a voiceover, which offers sharp context for why the Baywatch and Chicago star would want to speak out on her own terms.

“I don’t think people consider her the owner of her own image,” the man says. “It’s Pamela Anderson: public property.”

But the trailer also teases how the doc — which will unpack how the model had to “make a career out of the pieces left” following the stolen tape’s unauthorized release — won’t portray Anderson, in her own words, as a “damsel in distress.”

Additional archival footage, mixed throughout the trailer with newer material of the actress-model in and around her own home, sees her reflect on her past choices, which she takes ownership of. “I put myself in crazy situations and survive them,” she says, laughing. “I don’t care what people think. Because that’s the only choice I had. If I cared what people think I wouldn’t be here.”

Beyond how the doc will explore the media circus that has followed Anderson over her decades-long career, the preview provides glimpses of the doc’s approach to Anderson’s love life, with one of her children speaking to how maybe her “favorite thing in the world is falling in love” but how much she also “loves the idea of falling out of love, too.”

“Some men think, ‘Oh, she’s a playboy thing or this sexual person,’ and then hate you for being something else,” Anderson adds.

The final moments of the trailer, set to The Cardigans’ “Lovefool,” are distinctly more upbeat, offering clips of her with her children when they were babies and now, the actress hula-hooping in her home, smiling for the camera and rehearsing for her Broadway debut in Chicago.

“You have to be brave and you got to use what you got,” she says. “Why can’t we be the heroes in our own life story?”

Ahead of the trailer’s release, Anderson told Tudum that she was “very hesitant” about doing the doc but looking back she ultimately feels empowered by it. “I hope that [my story] inspires people to have a great fucking time and not worry so much,” she added.

Directed by Ryan White and featuring never-before-seen personal archival footage, photos and journal entries belonging to Anderson, Pamela, a love story is set to release, alongside her upcoming HarperCollins memoir Love, Pamela, on Netflix on Jan. 31.