Is ‘Pam & Tommy’ Based on a True Story? Where are Pamela Anderson, Tommy Lee, and More Now?

Hulu‘s Pam & Tommy purports to tell the true story behind one of the most infamous sex tape scandal ever. In 1995, a private tape of newlyweds Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee was stolen and distributed online. The tape became a punchline on late night shows, a feature in magazines like Hustler, and helped launch the online pornography industry. It also put Pamela Anderson through the emotional wringer, turning her into a Hollywood joke and putting stress on her tumultuous marriage to Lee.

So far, Pam & Tommy has explored the man behind the sex tape’s theft — Rand Gauthier (Seth Rogen) — and the wild four-day Cancun courtship of Pamela Anderson (Lily James) and Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan). We’ve met impresarios of Los Angeles’s adult film underworld, watched Pam Anderson suffer through indignities on the Baywatch set, and seen the grotesque way the tape was circulated in the first place.

Pam & Tommy is a fascinating, hilarious, and stomach-churning watch. But is Pam & Tommy based on a true story? Or is it just the latest highly stylized take on a real life event to make it to TV? Here’s everything you need to know about the true story behind Hulu’s Pam & Tommy…

Is Pam & Tommy on Hulu Based on a True Story?

It is indeed! The series is not only based on the true story of how Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape was stolen and distributed without their consent, but it also takes the bulk of its research from places like Amanda Chicago Lewis’s 2014 in-depth Rolling Stone feature on the event and Tommy Lee’s own autobiography. Lewis’s article exposed how disgruntled contractor Rand Gauthier used his knowledge of the Lees’ security system to exploit its weaknesses so he could steal Tommy Lee’s safe out of revenge for being fired, stiffed, and held at gunpoint. As wild as Rand’s heist sequence seemed, it was pretty darn close to what the real Gauthier has described.

Other details that seem outlandish, like the scene where Tommy Lee has a conversation with his Jason Mantzoukas-voiced penis, were taken from Lee’s own autobiography where he detailed debating with his own member.

While dramatic license is certainly taken in the show, the most egregiously ahistorical details seem to be the needledrops.

Where are They Now? What Happened to the Real People in Hulu’s Pam & Tommy

Because Pam & Tommy is based on a true story, it follows that a majority of the characters we meet are inspired by real life people. So who’s alive, who’s dead, and where are they now?

Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee eventually had two sons, Brandon Thomas and Dylan Jagger, before divorcing in 1998. The break up was contentious, as Lee served six months in prison for domestic violence that year. Anderson’s love life has been tumultuous since then, featuring marriages and divorces to Kid Rock, Rick Salomon , Jon Peters, and Dan Hayhurst. Anderson is now a political activist, showing keen interest in animal rights, environmentalism, and the exoneration of Julian Assange. Lee has been married to Brittany Furlan since 2019. Their eldest son, Brandon Thomas Lee, appeared on MTV’s The Hills: New Beginnings where Mom saged his crotch. (And honestly, Brandon seems pretty nice and chill!)

Rand Gauthier currently lives in Santa Rosa, California, where he reportedly grows marijuana. He never went to jail for the theft of Anderson and Lee’s tape.

“Uncle Miltie,” played by Nick Offerman in the show, is in the AVN Hall of Fame for his contributions to the adult film industry. The real Milton Ingley, aka Michael Morrison, died in 2006. Before that, he spent 1997 to 2004, living in Amsterdam. (No spoilers, but Pam & Tommy explains why he might have done that in future episodes…)

Erica Gauthier, played by Taylor Schilling, was known in the adult film industry as Erica Boyer. She was born Amanda Margaret Gantt and sadly passed away in 2009 when she was struck by a car in Panama City, Florida. She left behind a then 13-year-old son.

Where to stream Pam & Tommy