Pamela Anderson is Gunning For Hulu's Pam & Tommy in Netflix Doc Trailer

When Netflix first announced a new documentary about Pamela Anderson, in March 2022, it claimed the project “has been in the making for several years,” but it’s difficult to see the film as anything other than a direct rebuttal to Hulu’s Pam & Tommy. The documentary, Pamela, A Love Story, was announced just one week before the finale of Hulu’s docudrama, which was produced without Anderson’s consent. Now, on the morning of the Golden Globes — where Pam & Tommy will compete in four major categories, including Best Miniseries or TV Movie — Netflix has released the official trailer for Pamela, A Love Story, in which Anderson promises to “take control of the narrative” of her headline-making life and career.

Though Anderson never mentions Pam & Tommy by name, the Netflix trailer implies that Hulu’s limited series was the impetus for the documentary. “I blocked that stolen tape out of my life in order to survive,” she says. “And now that it’s all coming up again, I feel sick.”

Pam & Tommy, of course, focuses primarily on the theft and illegal distribution of Anderson (played by Lily James) and Tommy Lee’s (Sebastain Stan) private sex tape, which they recorded during their honeymoon. The tape was stolen from Anderson and Lee’s home in 1995 by Rand Gauthier (Seth Rogen), and over the next few years, the dispute became one of the biggest tabloid stories of the decade.

Netflix’s Pamela, A Love Story trailer makes clear that Anderson will discuss the controversy and its effect on her reputation at length. “I had to make a career out of the pieces left,” says the actress and model. “But I’m not the damsel in distress. I put myself in crazy situations and survive them.”

The documentary also features interviews with Anderson’s children, footage of her recent turn in Broadway’s Chicago, and home videos recorded throughout her life.

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

Pamela, A Love Story premieres January 31 on Netflix.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.