The Real Reason Pamela Anderson And Jon Peters Split
Pamela Anderson and Jon Peters rang in 2020 with a secret wedding in Malibu. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the pair tied the knot in front of their children and Peters' ex-wife, Christine Forsyth-Peters, on Jan. 20. It was just months after the on-and-off couple reignited their spark, which apparently would not burn for very long.
For those unfamiliar, Peters is the producer behind A Star Is Born (at least, two of the remakes) and Wild Wild West (which is arguably Will Smith's most underrated film). He originally dated Anderson more than 30 years ago — there was even reportedly a proposal in there at some point — but the couple ultimately went their separate ways and got married to other people. More recently, they had been laying low in their newly rekindled romance, so the tabloids and fans alike weren't exactly expecting a surprise marriage (then again, you really never know with Anderson).
Unfortunately, marital bliss didn't last for long, as Peters and Anderson split just 12 days after saying "I do." According to Us Weekly, Peters was the one who pulled the plug, but it seems rather open ended, if you ask us. So, what actually happened? Is the fifth time ever a charm when it comes to whirlwind celebrity marriages? Let's dig into the real reason why Pamela Anderson and Jon Peters split.
Pamela Anderson has done this before
Pamela Anderson and Jon Peters' uncoupling won't be too messy considering the pair reportedly never filed legal documents, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This seems to be a trend for the model, who married — but never married — Kid Rock in the early aughts.
According to People, Anderson and Kid Rock started dating in 2001, were engaged in 2002, and split in 2003. In 2006, they happened to cross paths in Saint-Tropez and decided to get re-engaged. They wed later that month, and had big plans to legally tie the knot all over America. "I'm going to get married a few times this month to the same guy," Anderson said during a press conference. "We had to do Malibu, we've got to do Detroit, and we've got to do Nashville." Of course, that never actually happened. The pair broke up later that year, and Borat, which had a storyline involving Anderson, might have been the trigger.
The model's relationship with Peters followed a similar trajectory, so it's hard to say their breakup was a total surprise ... we just expected it last more than 12 days. Peters was an ex, and they reconnected, got married, and pulled the plug. It checks out. "Life is a journey and love is a process," Anderson stated to The Hollywood Reporter. "With that universal truth in mind, we have mutually decided to put off the formalization of our marriage certificate and put our faith in the process."
An ex is an ex for a reason
You know what they say: an ex is an ex for a reason. Though time can make you forget exactly why you split up with someone, rest-assured, that reason usually resurfaces at one point or another. This could have been what happened with Pamela Anderson and Jon Peters, though we'll probably never actually know.
According to TMZ, the on-and-off celeb pairing originally dated more than three decades before going their separate — but not too separate — ways. The tabloid claims they've remained "flirty forever," despite each working their way through four different marriages to other people. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Peters covered the costs for Anderson's acting classes, which ultimately led to her landing her first TV role on Home Improvement. When he reportedly proposed back then, her answer was a no.
It's hard to say why the couple, who at one point lived together, split in the first place, but in a statement to THR (or rather, a bizarre love poem), Anderson called her beau the "original 'bad boy' of Hollywood" and admitted his life "used to scare" her. Maybe it still did to some extent. It also seemed like age had something to do with their initial breakup, so maybe it played a factor. The couple has more than two decades between them, and THR revealed that Peters told Anderson, "In 30 years, our age difference won't mean so much," when she rejected him all those years ago. Who knows?
Could Jon Peters have been Pamela Anderson's rebound?
There's nothing better after a hard celeb breakup than a solid Tinseltown rebound. Unfortunately, those types of relationships don't usually last long, even if you find yourself in the arms of an ex. Though we're just speculating, it seems like Anderson might have rebounded with Peters, but that's just judging on the timeline.
According to TMZ, the actress reconnected with her longtime friend and former flame after splitting from French soccer star Adil Rami in 2018. She reportedly dumped the World Cup champion sometime after he bought a Cartier ring in hopes of eventually proposing. It seems like Anderson shut him down before he could officially ask, but can you blame her for not wanting to tie the knot when she's already walked down the aisle four other times?
Anderson's romantic reunion with Peters reportedly came soon after her bitter split from Rami, but in between, the Baywatch alum was linked to Julian Assange. During an episode of OBJECTified on Fox News, Anderson claimed the pair shared a "romantic kind of connection," but it doesn't seem like it went anywhere. Being sequestered in an embassy or stuck in jail probably does get in the way of an actual relationship.
Jon Peters didn't view Pamela Anderson's career as serious...
Pamela Anderson may have never gotten her big break on Baywatch if she didn't make a name for herself first as a Playboy model. Today, she's one of the most famous cover girls in the magazine's history. According to USA Today, Anderson posed for her first cover in 1989 and graced a record-setting 13 covers throughout her sprawling career. Clearly, the magazine is an important part of the actress' history, but it doesn't seem like ex-beau Jon Peters ever really respected this aspect of her career.
In a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Peters recalled meeting Anderson at the Playboy mansion when she was 19 years old. During their first few moments together, he tried to dissuade her from posing in the magazine — the very thing that made her entire career possible — because he didn't think it was a "serious" career path. (Okay, who asked you?) "Pamela was a girl who with no makeup was gorgeous. She was very smart and very talented. I tried to talk her out of doing Playboy," he explained, but added, "She said, 'You're nuts.'"
Of course, we're only speculating here, but it seems like it'd be pretty hard to be with someone who didn't respect one of the most pivotal moments of your career.
...And he still talks down about aspects of Pamela Anderson's career
If you thought Jon Peters originally rejecting Pamela Anderson's decision to pose in Playboy was bad enough, he still appeared to be knocking that part of her career history in the press more than 30 years after she first posed for the magazine. In a 2020 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the movie mogul claimed, "Pamela has never seen her full potential as an artist. She has yet to shine in a real way. There is much more to her than meets the eye, or I wouldn't love her so much."
In our humble opinion, a very public marriage announcement seems like an odd time to bust out the backhanded compliments. Plus, it's worth noting that Anderson single-handedly made red one-piece bathing suits a thing, and that's before even mentioning that she launched her own charity, the Pamela Anderson Foundation, which supports the protection of human, animal, and environmental rights. Outside of her charity work and record-breaking number of Playboy covers, she's also racked up a whopping 52 IMDb credits as an actress and produced two of her own TV shows. Similarly, Peters has 52 producing credits. If that's not shining in a real way, we're not really sure what is.
Jon Peters was there for Pamela Anderson's worst moments
Trauma can tighten a bond or it can tear it apart, and it's unclear exactly what role that played in Pamela Anderson's relationship with Jon Peters. All we know is that the movie mogul was there for her during the worst of her relationship with Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee.
According to E! News, Anderson only knew Lee for four days before they tied the knot in Mexico, but their relationship reportedly devolved to violence by the time she had their second child. Per Rolling Stone, Lee was charged with "felony spousal abuse" in 1998 following a particularly violent argument in front of their children. He was sentenced to six months in jail, but according to Peters, this allegedly wasn't an isolated incident.
"She raised two kids on her own," Peters told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. "She was beat up all the time by that guy Tommy-whatever-his-name-was. I picked her up many times from her lawyer's office and flew her up with her kids and hid her out in Aspen for a month because the guy was beating her up. She made it through. She raised the kids."
After all that, it wouldn't be shocking if Anderson just wanted to leave the past in the past.
Did Jon Peters' allegations have something to do with the split?
Pamela Anderson isn't the only thing that resurfaced from Jon Peters' past in recent years. The producer's various sexual assault and harassment allegations hit headlines yet again in the wake of the third A Star Is Born remake. Peters produced the second remake featuring Barbra Streisand in 1976 and had a highly controversial credit in Bradley Cooper's directorial debut.
According to a detailed report by Jezebel, Peters was "sued for sexual harassment at least five times" throughout his decades-long career, with allegations spanning back to 1996. Per Variety, this included a high-profile 1999 lawsuit from Colleen Bennett, his former VP of Finance, who accused him of "trying to kiss [her], grabbing her body against her will, conducting meetings in his underwear and exposing his genitals." The case was dropped in arbitration later that year.
Peters' most high-profile scandal came years later. According to The Washington Post, he was sued by former personal assistant Shelly Morita in 2006 for various instances of alleged sexual harassment, including reportedly grabbing her "breasts, buttocks, or legs," making "rude, sexual, and disparaging comments," exposing himself to her and her daughter; and crawling into her bed and refusing to leave. Reuters reports that he was found guilty in 2011 and forced to pay Morita more than $3 million.
Anderson hasn't spoken publicly about Peters' allegations, but considering she's a survivor of domestic violence herself, this seems like it could've created an ultimate divide.
He may not have the healthiest approach to relationships
Pamela Anderson seems to have a thing for intense, whirlwind relationships. Most people don't tie the knot four days after meeting someone, but most people haven't really lived. It seems like Jon Peters thrives on a similar romantic intensity, but that doesn't always build the healthiest relationships. This is evident in his longtime romance with Barbra Streisand.
According to People, Streisand's relationship with Peters, which lasted for more than 12 years, was "passionate, sometimes violent ... Jon says Barbra once hit him with a chair, and sometimes when he was furious, he grabbed her and shook her hard." Peters' former production colleague told the magazine, "They fought like tigers. Most of the time they lived on an adrenaline high." Even Streisand claimed their relationship was "too dependent." Nonetheless, they managed to maintain a friendship following their 1985 split.
Peters' relationship with Streisand doesn't seem all that different from some of Anderson's past relationships — especially if you read how Tommy Lee spoke about their marriage in Mötley Crüe's memoir. Unfortunately, things that burn brightly often burn quickly.
Compared to Pamela Anderson, Jon Peters is kind of a recluse
There's hardly been a moment in the last three decades that Pamela Anderson wasn't in the press — between her Playboy covers, sex tape scandal, whirlwind marriages, and bizarre involvement in Julian Assange's political drama. Even when Anderson was living low-key in France, she still appeared on her son's reality show, The Hills: New Beginnings. Peters didn't have the same attraction to the press, and according to a 2017 profile in The Hollywood Reporter, the producer had spent the previous 10 years "[living] mostly on a 3,000-acre ranch in Santa Barbara, in self-imposed exile."
"Everybody's reclusive when you make a certain amount of money," Peters said. "Especially if you've had a tough life, you try to fortify yourself with your friends and kind of keep the world out." Except, everyone making bank in Hollywood isn't reclusive. Anderson doesn't appear to be, and she certainly speaks to the press. Is that the difference between a reported $300 million net worth and $12 million net worth, or is that the difference between decades-spanning scandal and not?
Jon Peters is into younger women
Pamela Anderson and Jon Peters share a huge age gap, but that generally feels more insignificant the older you get. At the time of the pair's wedding, Anderson was 52 years old and Peters was 74 years old. He was probably right when he told a decades-younger Anderson that their age gap "wouldn't mean so much" in 30 years, but the Hollywood bad boy has a self-admitted thing for younger women — much younger women.
In a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Peters admitted that he generally dated women many decades younger than him. "I used to date all young girls, and then it was like, 'I could be your grandfather. What am I doing,'" he said. Clearly, the producer turned over a new leaf, because Anderson isn't quite young enough to be his granddaughter, but you never know how that plays into their relationship dynamics.
Old habits are hard to kick, and it sounds like Anderson isn't Peters' usual type, but that's just speculation. It should be noted that he has settled down with women closer to his age in the past, despite whatever he told THR.
Was Barbra Streisand the love of Jon Peters' life?
There's a little bit of something here that doesn't totally add up, unless you can have more than one love of your life. After his secret wedding to Pamela Anderson, Jon Peters told The Hollywood Reporter, "There are beautiful girls everywhere. I could have my pick, but — for 35 years — I've only wanted Pamela. She makes me wild — in a good way. She inspires me. I protect her and treat her the way she deserves to be treated."
Except, that's not what he said in 2017 when he was talking about Barbra Streisand, and that was only three years before his wedding. "She was probably the love of my life. Yeah," he previously told The Hollywood Reporter of Streisand, whom he dated for 12 years. "She was the most captivating, interesting, creative person I have ever met. I owe her. I will always owe her for giving me the life that I've had." So, what changed?
Probably isn't definitely, but it seems like Anderson ultimately wasn't the one — or Peters wouldn't have supposedly broken it off like Us Weekly reported. Then again, maybe the third time's the charm for this on-again, off-again couple.