Netflix will let Pamela Anderson ‘tell the real story’ in new documentary

Netflix has announced that it'll serve as home to a definitive documentary on Pamela Anderson's life, a month after the limited series Pam & Tommy debuted on Hulu. According to Entertainment Weekly, Anderson vowed never to watch the Hulu series, which focuses on the actress' short marriage with Tommy Lee and the theft and illegal distribution of their sex tape, or even its trailer. While the Hulu series was created without the involvement or even the permission of the actress, Anderson herself promoted the Netflix documentary on Instagram. 

“Not a victim, but a survivor and alive to tell the real story,” she said in a handwritten note she posted on the app. The documentary film will feature interviews with Anderson, along with previously unreleased archival footage and journals. Netflix promises that the pop culture icon will “set the record straight” and that the movie, directed by Ryan White (The Keepers), will paint an “intimate portrait” of her. In comparison, the Hulu series was based on a 2014 Rolling Stone article and fictionalized some parts of the actual events. 

Anderson's camp also reportedly took issue with the fact that the Hulu series used clips from the actual sex tape, which became one of the first ever viral sex videos. According to The Washington Post, that tape demonstrated how powerful the internet is, even during its early days, as a platform for the sex industry and content distribution as a whole. 

While Anderson's sex tape debacle went down in the '90s, the rivalry between streaming giants prompt them to find new ways to get into current discussions and events. Netflix and Hulu each released their own Fyre Festival documentaries in the past, for instance, as well as their own takes on Britney Spears' life and career.