Expected on Disney + from February 2, the series “Pam & Tommy” is also the story of Rand Gauthier, the electrician who stole the safe of the couple where was what will become the most famous sextape of all the temperature.
It is the actor Seth Rogen who plays Rand Gauthier in the series. He worked on the construction site of the Californian residence where Tommy Lee lived with Pamela Anderson. The first is the drummer of the rock group Mötley Crue, and former companion of actress Heather Locklear. The second became an international star thanks to her role as CJ Parker in the Baywatch series. Their meeting in early 1995 was electric, and they were married four days later.
Suddenly dismissed by Tommy Lee who did not appreciate his work, Rand Gauthier was upset not to recover the 20,000 dollars (more than 17,600 euros) that the musician owed him for his services. One day, when he returned to the site to retrieve his toolbox, Tommy Lee allegedly threatened him with a gun, before asking him to “get off his property”.
The electrician had then promised to take revenge. “I’ve never been very popular with people. But no one had ever pointed a gun at me. It made me lose my head,” explained Rand Gauthier.
A Tibetan yak fur
Rand Gauthier knows the place well, and knows that Tommy Lee keeps a safe full of jewelry and weapons in his garage. He does not know that it also contains a much more precious element: the sextape recorded by the couple during their honeymoon. He’ll be planning the heist for weeks.
According to the American magazine Rolling Stone, it was he who installed the surveillance cameras on the property. So he decides to put on a Tibetan yak fur to crawl to the garage in the middle of the night, and thus make believe that it is the dog owned by Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee at the time. He also knew that many vehicles were parked not far from the house, which would prevent his van from being spotted.
A few days before the Halloween party in 1995, Rand Gauthier takes action, seizes the safe, leaves to isolate himself in a remote place, and manages to force it after an hour using a demolition saw. He finds several valuable items, as well as the video tape which will bring in more than 77 million dollars (nearly 68 million euros) according to some estimates. A sum of which he will never see the color.
Contacts in the porn industry
Rand Gauthier will approach his contacts in the porn industry, including Milton Ingley, an adult film director also known as Uncle Miltie. At this time, there is no precedent. TMZ, Pornhub and Kim Kardashian don’t exist yet. The video lasts 54 minutes, including 8 minutes of sexual acts performed by a young married couple. “This is the best video I’ve seen in my life. What is cool with this band, it is that one is with them, one lives their life with them , will summarize Howard Stern in 1997 about the sextape.
According to the American site ScreenRant, Rand Gauthier and his director friend decided to make copies to sell them online for $59.95 (people could order a copy sent home). The original cassette is destroyed as a precaution.
Two months after the robbery, Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson finally realize that the safe is no longer in their garage, and begin to worry. At the same time, the tabloids began to report on a video of the two stars making love on a yacht, which was sold under the counter in Los Angeles. The couple then engages in a war that will last several years to try to prevent the dissemination of the video on a large scale. This will prove impossible in the face of the power of the Internet.
Fooled by his director friend, Rand Gauthier will find himself working for a local mafia godfather from whom Milton Ingley had borrowed money at the start of the operation. And will witness from afar the financial and legal madness surrounding the sextape, seeing others than him enrich themselves with several million dollars on a video that would never have seen the light of day without him. Worse, Rand Gauthier will see the notoriety of Tommy Lee reach new heights, he who thought that this video would, on the contrary, ruin his reputation. “I helped propel his career. This allowed him to cement his legitimacy as a musician, and to let the whole world know that he had one of the biggest b****s in rock’n roll”, confides the former electrician to Rolling Stone.