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Pamela Anderson Reveals Moment She Knew Marrying Kid Rock Was a "Tremendous Mistake"

The model and the musician's marriage only lasted a few months.

Pamela Anderson has been married to five men, and while all of those marriages have been relatively short-lived, she had regrets about one in particular almost immediately. In 2006, the model and actor married singer Kid Rock, but the two were only husband and wife were four months before she filed for divorce. The Baywatch star has since opened up about what went wrong in their relationship, and in one interview, she revealed the moment she knew that getting hitched to the "Cowboy" star was a mistake. Read on to find out how—and when—she figured it out.

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Anderson and Kid Rock starting dating in the early '00s.

Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock at the 2002 American Music Awards
Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock

Anderson and Kid Rock (real name: Robert Ritchie) began dating in 2001, and they got engaged the following year. They called off that engagement in 2003, as reported by People. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Kid Rock blamed disagreements over where to live and their prenuptial agreement caused the split.

Despite that failed attempt, the couple got back together three years later and quickly got married on a yacht in St. Tropez. Kid Rock told Rolling Stone, "It was like, 'Let's just [expletive] get married and get it over with." According to People, Anderson called their nuptials "the best most romantic wedding of all time" on her website.

Four months—and two additional wedding ceremonies—later, both Anderson and Kid Rock filed for divorce. The divorce was finalized in February 2007.

Anderson knew she made a mistake.

Explicit language in the video above.

During a January 2023 interview, Howard Stern asked Anderson if she knew right away that marrying Kid Rock was a "tremendous [expletive] mistake."

She nodded and said, "Right when I got married." The host asked if she knew as the ceremony was going on, and she laughed, "Well, just after. Obviously, not in time."

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She said it revealed a personal "flaw" of hers.

Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson at the 1997 American Music Awards
Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock

Before Kid Rock, Anderson was married to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee from 1995 to 1998. The couple had two children together, Brandon and Dylan Lee, and their relationship was famously tumultuous. Anderson noted to Stern that taking the plunge and marrying Lee made her think that she could have a similarly passionate romance with Kid Rock.

"It's terrible, I know. It's embarrassing. It's just a flaw. I don't know," Anderson said of tying the knot with Kid Rock. "It's like, I just feel like I just jump into something, because Tommy and I did, and we had this incredible connection. But then you jump into something and it's like, oh, it's not this incredible connection. It's this… just something else."

Anderson said Kid Rock threw a tantrum after seeing her in a movie.

Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock at the 2002 Grammys
Everett Collection / Shutterstock

In her 2023 book Love, Pamela, Anderson explained that she and Kid Rock divorced over the 2006 comedy Borat. In an excerpt of the book—in which Anderson refers to Kid Rock as Bob—that was published by Rolling Stone, she recounted going to an industry screening with her then-husband.

"I didn't tell Bob I was in the movie, because I wanted to surprise him. I forgot about the part in the film that referenced the 'sex tape,'" Anderson wrote, referring to the intimate footage she recorded with Lee that was leaked in 1995. "Bob stormed out, calling me a [expletive] and worse. He was embarrassed, and his reaction was not thought through."

She went on to say that her husband left her at the event, and that, when she got home, he was smashing a photo of her that was hanging on the wall ."He said he was sick of waking up to a picture of me and David LaChapelle every day. But it wasn't me and David—it was Marilyn Monroe and Bert Stern." (LaChapelle and Stern are both photographers.) Anderson added, "We broke up. I didn't stay in touch with Bob."

That said, they did cross paths again: Lee and Kid Rock got into a fight at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards where Anderson was also in attendance.

Kid Rock told a different story.

Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson at the premiere of "8 Mile" in 2002
Joe Seer / Shutterstock

During his own interview with Stern in 2007, Kid Rock said that Borat had nothing to do with the end of his marriage to Anderson and that it was a story she spread because she's "psycho" (via Today). The "Bawitdaba" singer claimed that they split instead because of money problems and issues with their family. When Stern asked why they got back together after their relationship failed once, he said, "I knew the stove was hot, and I wanted to put my hand on it."

Lia Beck
Lia Beck is a writer living in Richmond, Virginia. In addition to Best Life, she has written for Refinery29, Bustle, Hello Giggles, InStyle, and more. Read more
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