Revealed: Pamela Anderson only gets $4,000 a year from Baywatch leftovers after making ‘bad deal’ as naïve young actress
Pamela Anderson makes just $4,000 a year off remnants of the popular ’90s series Baywatch, her son Brandon Lee said Monday.
Lee, 26, chats with Extra at the Netflix Tudum Theater in Hollywood, California at the premiere of his mother’s new Netflix documentary Pamela: A Love Story.
Lee, who is the document’s producer, said his mother was grossly underpaid during her time in ’90s pop culture.
The Latest: Pamela Anderson, 55, makes just $4,000 a year off remnants of the popular ’90s series Baywatch, her son Brandon Lee, 26, said Monday at the Netflix Tudum Theater in Hollywood, California, at the premiere of the new Netflix series Documentary about his mother entitled Pamela: A Love Story
“If I go back and even look at past deals and residual checks, people would be shocked to find out how people really took advantage of them,” Lee said.
He described his mother – who played the role of CJ Parker in 110 episodes of the syndicated series from 1992 to 1997 – as “a young girl who got a bad deal on a big show, and she was the biggest star at the time.”
He continued, “A lot of people have made a lot of money from this, people are going to have their day when we come knocking… if she’s making $4,000 a year off Baywatch? This is a crime.’
Ladysmith, Canadian, 55, was a star in the ensemble cast of the beach series, which also starred David Hasselhoff, Yasmine Bleeth, David Charvet, Gena Lee Nolin, Nicole Eggert, Donna D’Errico and, in later years, Jason Momoa.
Anderson played the role of CJ Parker in 110 episodes of the syndicated series from 1992 to 1997
Born in Canada, she was a star in the cast of the beach series, which also starred David Hasselhoff and Yasmine Bleeth
She posed with her sons Brandon Lee, 26, and Dylan Lee, 25, at the LA premiere
According to a 2019 article published by Yahoo, the $4,000 annual residual rate pales in comparison to many of Anderson’s contemporaries who have appeared on hit shows that went to syndication.
The six leads of “Friends” — Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc — make $20 million a year on a deal that earns them $2 each, according to a 2015 USA Today report yielded percent of residuals .
The creators of another iconic ’90s show, Seinfeld, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld make up to $400 million per syndication cycle, New York Magazine reported in 2014.
Cast members Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards and Jason Alexander own no part of the series, the International Business Times reported in 2013.
Ray Romano’s royalties on the hit CBS series Everybody Loves Raymond have earned the actor up to $18 million annually, according to the Yahoo report.
Seinfeld co-creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, pictured in 2015, make up to $400 million per syndication cycle
The cast of “Friends” — Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, and Lisa Kudrow — made $20 million a year in residuals