Tragic Details About Pamela Anderson's Son Brandon Thomas Lee

The world has been privy to details of the relationship between Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and "Baywatch" bombshell Pamela Anderson, from '90s tabloid reports to the 2022 Hulu miniseries "Pam & Tommy." Their publicity has exposed every nook and cranny of their family to the public eye, including their sons Brandon Thomas Lee and Dylan Jagger Lee.

Anderson married her rock 'n' roll husband on a beach in Cancun, Mexico in February of 1995, after only knowing him for days. The couple welcomed their first son, Brandon, in 1996. Their tumultuous relationship and ultimate bitter divorce in 1998 left Brandon susceptible to the media's claws at an early age, leaving him with struggles that he is now openly talking about as he makes a career in the industry that ripped his parents apart.

As Brandon Thomas Lee's superstar parents, Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson, fought for custody of him and his brother, the highly publicized family drama was not something an average kid would go through. However, according to Brandon, he didn't know his childhood was unique.

While speaking with Los Angeles news station KTLA, Brandon recalled the time his buddies spilled the beans on how unnatural it was to be followed by paparazzi all the time. "I remember going out to lunch with one of my friends one day and I was like, 'Why does no one take photos of you guys?'" Brandon further explained that while he was growing up, his parents always told him that paparazzi were a normal facet of childhood. He continued, laughing: "[My friends] said, 'Let's explain something to you real quick... that's not normal."

Anderson has also opened up about parenting in the public light. The actress told Interview Magazine in 2023 about her challenges of keeping her boys safe while making them feel like typical kids. "I was very, very protective without having them feel like they were being overprotected," Anderson explained. She recalled a time when her youngest son, Dylan Jagger Lee, was almost kidnapped from the playground and how petrified she was for her kids' safety afterward. "I didn't grow up in a public family, so I had to learn quickly how to keep them safe without them feeling like they were any different than anybody else," she said.

No matter how much Pamela Anderson tried to give her sons a normal life, living in Los Angeles exposed them to much more than the average kid, according to Brandon Thomas Lee. "Life just happens at such an accelerated pace [in LA]," Lee revealed to Interview Magazine in 2019. He feels that teens in Hollywood are exposed to things like sex and drugs quicker in life than most young Americans. "When kids in LA are 18 or 19, they're like a bunch of 40-year-olds who have already seen everything. It's almost like they're war veterans," he said said.

Lee, star of "The Hills: New Beginnings," has faced the struggles of alcoholism in his past. In his interview, he confessed to being in one of the darkest times in his life when dealing with his addiction, but now finds so much purpose on the other side. "I'm not gonna lie, in LA it's really f***ing hard to avoid temptation," he said. "Girls. Money. This and that. But my career has become so important to me that partying isn't worth it anymore."

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Becoming sober has paid off immensely for Brandon Thomas Lee, but he admittedly can't take all the credit for his journey out of drug use. Brandon's father took to social media in 2018 to list all the money he had recently spent on his son, including an alleged $130,000 on rehab. The father and son had been publicly feuding on social media after Tommy Lee lashed out online regarding an interview that his ex, Pamela Anderson, did with Piers Morgan, in which she discussed the abuse she endured from Tommy. While pleading with his dad to remove his comments about Anderson, Brandon reportedly punched Tommy in the face, knocking him out.

Their fight spilled onto social media, where Tommy shared more financial dealings beyond Brandon's rehab. "Medical Bills after son knocks his father unconscious and uses 'alcoholism' as scapegoat: $10,000, Son acting like a victim on social media on father's day: Priceless," read part of his post on X, formerly Twitter. Brandon responded, thanking his father for paying for rehab, claiming it's the greatest thing he has ever given him. Boldly, he even offered to pay for Tommy to have the same treatment for his alleged alcohol abuse.

Brandon Thomas Lee has successfully carved his own path in life away from his parents. He has been an avid contributor to the fashion industry, even creating his brand, Swingers Club, a preppy golfwear line. As a lover of golf, Lee could be found on the links at Sherwood Country Club, that is until August 2024, when he was kicked out.

An insider told TMZ that Lee was booted from the luxury club in Thousand Oaks because he got into a heated argument with a homeowner who lives on the club's property. The resident allegedly noticed Brandon illegally driving his golf cart on the green, prompting them to start recording the rocker's son for proof. That is when Lee supposedly started screaming at the local, which was the nail in the coffin for his time at the club. According to many members of the club, he had also consistently been rude to staff.

Knowing his mother as the blonde bombshell all his life, Brandon Thomas Lee felt it was time for the world to see who Pamela Anderson truly is. "I basically wanted to bring to light the human that she is, the Pamela that nobody knew," Brandon told People magazine of his work on the documentary "Pamela: A Love Story." "There were so many assumptions about her, around her career and her decisions and her lifestyle and all these things." But Brandon says there was so much more to his mom beneath the surface than just the "Baywatch" babe that most grew to know.

While the doc received major praise and went on to win an Emmy, Brandon says that is not why he chose to spotlight his mom in the film. "I would just think about this small-town girl who showed up in LA and got completely mistreated and misused and hurt, and how it kind of created a monster, or whatever people thought Pamela Anderson was at the time." Brandon feels lucky that he wasn't abused by fame in his lifetime and is now blossoming into his own character in the industry. Brandon is credited as a producer for the documentary, as well as others, including "The Last Showgirl," where he served as executive producer.