Pamela Anderson Earned Shockingly Little for Iconic Baywatch Role

In a recent interview, Pamela Anderson, the star of the hit 1990s TV show Baywatch, revealed the shockingly low salary she earned for her iconic role. When Anderson joined the series in 1992, she was paid only $1,500 per episode, a fraction of what her co-star David Hasselhoff was making.

Baywatch was once one of the most watched shows in the world, with an estimated weekly audience of over 1.1 billion in 142 countries in 1996. However, the cast claimed that "everyone was disposable" on the show, and if you didn't "fit into their brand" and the "price they were paying you, you were gone." This was in stark contrast to the massive success of the show, with the cast of Friends making $1 million per episode at the time.

Despite her fame, Anderson spent most of her life dealing with financial woes. In her recent Netflix documentary, Pamela, A Love Story, it was revealed that she was in debt for most of her career. Her kids are now "very protective" over the fact that she didn't get what she deserved on Baywatch and isn't getting streaming residuals because the medium didn't exist when she signed her contract.

While the industry has changed since the 1990s, it's clear that Pamela Anderson's experience on Baywatch was not a fair one. Her story serves as a reminder that even the most iconic stars can be undervalued and underpaid, and that the entertainment industry still has a long way to go in terms of fair compensation and recognition.