Tommy Lee: “Every day I Ask Myself, how Am I Still Alive?”

Tommy Lee, founder, and drummer of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe married Pamela Anderson, model and Baywatch star and apparent love of his life, after a four-day, drug-riddled, not-so-private Mexico tryst.

Years ago, in 1995. After waiting two years, the couple finally saw their cassette recording flood the internet. In terms of the internet age, it would be among the first celebrity sex tapes.

Another story in Rolling Stone stated, “[It] would help cement [Lee’s] legacy, letting the world know he had one of the largest dicks in rock & roll.”

The disclosure of the video recording was meant to shame Lee, of course. Lee’s former electrician Rand Gauthier alleges he took the footage on his own after being dismissed by Lee during a home renovation. In 1995, he broke into the Lee/Anderson house and made off with a safe full of valuables.

Along with the tape, which was a home movie of the pair making out, this box contained the evidence. The cassette was quickly distributed, and afterward sold online, thanks to Gauthier’s efforts. In 1997, the recording became available for online viewing. Lee became quite angry.

The tape finally hit store shelves within the lawful time frame of one year after its first release. Lee and Anderson have publicly denied any financial gain from the recording, but rumors persist that they struck a pact to split the profits.

Certainly, Lee reaped certain benefits from the recording, most notably an increase in his already considerable rock star status.

After the Sex Tape Scandal, What Happened to Tommy Lee?

After the Sex Tape Scandal, What Happened to Tommy Lee?

Tommy Lee, drummer for the metal band Mötley Crüe, met his future wife, Baywatch star and ex-Playboy Playmate Pamela Anderson, after a chance encounter in the Sanctuary Club in 1995, and their marriage catapulted both of their careers to new heights of stardom.

After their stolen footage became viral, the couple vainly attempted to use legal means to prevent further broadcasts of it. Brandon was born in June of 1996, and then Dylan followed in 1997. The couple separated the next year, though.

Soon after their divorce, reports indicate that they reconciled temporarily, only to divorce once again in 2001. At the same time, Lee kept working on his musical career, and in 2001, he and the other members of Mötley Crüe released their joint autobiography, The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band, written by journalist Neil Strauss.

The Dirt, a biographical comedy-drama set to release in 2019, was adapted from this book. Drummer Bonham continues to write books, with 2004’s “Tommyland” (co-written with Anthony Bozza) and 2005’s “The Diaries of a Forced Conspiracy” hitting shelves.

The founding members of Mötley Crüe (including Lee) reunited in 2004 to record an album that went multi-platinum and led to a 2005 tour. Lee’s love life apparently stayed just as interesting, with an engagement to dancer Mayte Garcia rumored between 2002 and 2003.

Lee and Anderson said they were getting back together in 2008 so they could raise their children in the same household. Unfortunately, they split up not long after that. Lee was engaged to the Greek-German singer Sofia Toufa from 2014 and 2017.

In 2018, the musician/author proposed to his girlfriend, the actress/podcaster/social media star Brittany Furlan. On February 14 of the following year, the pair tied the knot.

Although Lee has always been prepared to pick up and rock out with the Mötley Crüe—he has even said that he can still play a heavy metal show “blindfolded”—he has also long focused on his solo music career.

Late in the 2010s, he started making a new album he finally titled “Andro,” and it was released in 2020. In 2020, Lee also provided his voice for the role of the Devil in a musical horror podcast titled “Halloween in Hell.”

Read More: 

How much of Pam and Tommy’s narrative is based on reality?

How much of Pam and Tommy's narrative is based on reality?

The Hulu series credits Amanda Chicago Lewis’s Rolling Stone article “Pam and Tommy: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Infamous Sex Tape” as the source material.

The original 2014 article detailed the journey of the video from a house robbery committed by Tommy Lee’s ex-electrician Rand Gauthier to the computer screens of people all around the world.

The essay and series’ central premise: Some of the specifics have been modified from the original story and historical record, but the basic idea and conclusions are accurate.