In 1995, Rand Gauthier snuck into Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson’s mansion to steal a safe that he thought contained jewelry and guns — only to realize that it also held their private sex tape.
The Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson sex tape is one of the most famous — or infamous — such television of all time . But less is roll in the hay about the man who stole it from them and shared it with the world : Rand Gauthier .
An electrician and pocket-size - time porn histrion , Rand Gauthier did n’t mean to steal the household video . He wanted to steal the celebrity couple ’s good after they reject to pay him .
within , he found a tiny smuggled tape with most an minute of salacious footage .
Rand GauthierIn 1995, 38-year-old Rand Gauthier broke into Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s house and stole a safe that contained their sex tape.
Rand GauthierIn 1995 , 38 - year - old Rand Gauthier break into Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee ’s house and stole a safe that contain their sex tape .
What came next would change Rand Gauthier ’s life , the life history of Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson , and the world as we know it . Go inside the true story ofPam & Tommy — and Rand Gauthier .
Who Is Rand Gauthier?
Rand Gauthier spent his life sentence on the fringe of Hollywood renown . His father , Dick Gautier , was a successful actor who had starred inBye Bye Birdieon Broadway and act in TV’sGet Smart . Gauthier even rise up across the street from Dick Van Dyke .
But Gauthier soon found himself heading down a different path . He decided to adjust his last name — from Gautier to Gauthier — becausehe felt his fatherhad never “ really conceive in me . ”
By the 1990s , Gauthier juggled a distich of dissimilar job . He sometimes acted in porno moving-picture show but more often just hung around the solidifying or helped with their building . Meanwhile , he ’d started doing contracting piece of work , include for fame couple Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson .
James Aylott /Getty ImagesPamela Anderson and Tommy Lee wed on 11 April 2025 in Cancun, Mexico after a brief courtship.
James Aylott /Getty ImagesPamela Anderson and Tommy Lee we d on February 19 , 1995 in Cancun , Mexico after a brief courtship .
Lee , the drummer for Mötley Crüe , and Anderson , the star ofBaywatch , had shocked the world by get married in 1995 after a brief , whirlwind romance . By the time Gauthier entered their lives , they ’d depart a sprawling , dramatic restoration project on their shared star sign in Malibu .
However , when it came time to pay Rand Gauthier the $ 20,000 they owed him for electrical workplace , the couple refused . What ’s more , Lee menace Gauthier with a scattergun when he generate to the attribute to break up up his tool .
IEGRand Gauthier eventually made VHS copies of the sex tape and sold them online before a company called the Internet Entertainment Group gained sole distribution rights.
“ I was never really that popular with people , ” Gauthier toldRolling Stonein 2014 . “ But I had never been held at gunpoint . It sleep together with my head . ”
Gauthier started to plot his revenge . He knew that the couple had a safe full of valuables . And thanks to his extensive oeuvre on the assumption , Gauthier think he could get away with stealing it .
But Rand Gauthier had no estimation what the secure in reality contain .
Jeffrey Mayer/WireImagePamela Anderson and Tommy Lee in 1996.
How Tommy Lee And Pamela Anderson’s Sex Tape Went Viral
Shortly before Halloween 1995 , Rand Gauthier put his plan into move . With a white yack fur rug shed over his head — he hoped to be slip for a dog in security footage — Gauthier crept into Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson ’s home around 3 a.m. and made a beeline for the secure .
Leelater said thatthe good was “ as big as a fridge and weigh 500 pound when empty . ” But Gauthier claim he managed to dispatch it from the wall , deposit it on a dolly , and lift it into his motortruck on his own . Once he made his getaway , he used a saw to smash indoors .
IEGRand Gauthier eventually made VHS copy of the sex tape and sold them online before a company visit the Internet Entertainment Group gained sole distribution rights .
HuluSeth Rogen as Rand Gauthier in the 2022 miniseriesPam and Tommy.
As he had hop , Lee and Anderson had fill the safe with expensive jewelry and watches . But they ’d entrust something else there , too : a tiny , fatal , Hi8 camcorder tape . Gauthier brought it to the porn studio where he worked — and realized with a jolt what it contained .
“ We put it in and see what it is , and of course , cha - ching , ” Gauthier recall of ascertain the 54 - bit tape recording with the studio director . “ The dollar sign fly before our eyes . But we ’re going , this is the variety of thing people will get obliterate over . ”
Danger apart — not to note the ethical motive of the issue — Rand Gauthier began plan to sell the tapeline . He team up with his friend , porno studio apartment owner Milton Ingley , and essay to regain a electrical distributor . But no one want to equal it — no one , that is , except the gang .
After all , the tapeline was stolen property , and neither Lee nor Anderson had approved its distribution . But New York City gangster Louis “ Butchie ” Peraino , a phallus of the Colombo crime family , agree to loan Gauthier and Ingley the capitol to distribute the tape themselves . To do , they turned to the fledling World Wide Web .
Only 25 million Americans had access to the Internet in 1995 . ( Today , that issue iscloser to 313 million . ) So Gauthier and Ingley were mesh under the radar when they set up websites like pamsex.com , pamlee.com , and pamsextape.com .
Online , people could tell the tape for $ 59.95 and have it delivered discreetly to their door . But as Rand Gauthier daydream of buying a castle in Spain with the godsend , his plot to sell the sex activity tapeline begin to fall aside .
How Gauthier’s Scheme Fell Apart
As 1995 turned into 1996 , two thing pass off almost simultaneously : anyone with a copy of the tape figured out that they could duplicate it themselves and betray it , and Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson bring in that their dependable was gone .
Jeffrey Mayer / WireImagePamela Anderson and Tommy Lee in 1996 .
“ My heart and soul stopped for a second when I realized it had been steal , ” Lee recalled . “ We do it the tape was in the safe but we never thought that the thieves were after anything but guns and money . ”
Rand Gauthier suddenly faced danger on several fronts . After hire a private detective , Lee allegedly enlisted the Hells Angels to provoke Gauthier and Ingley to essay to get the tape recording back . The bikers started show up at the porn studio where they work out , waving guns and shouting threat .
“ You tell that motherfucker we ’re give out to follow back and bollocks up somebody ’s balls off unless that magnetic tape gets set up back , ” one of the rockers threatened .
Worse , Gauthier ’s dream of rich people vanished in a puff of gage . As he go into hiding — racked with paranoia and insomnia — emulator websites begin pour down up to sell Lee and Anderson ’s gender mag tape . His earnings take a nosedive . And Peraino still expected his loanword to be repay .
“ We were having dinner party , watching the news in the kitchen , when we see footage of shop clerk stock the ledge at Tower Records with copies of a videotape of me and Pamela fucking , ” Lee say . “ We were horror-struck . ”
Meanwhile , Rand Gauthier owed the mob money that he did n’t have . So he started work for Peraino . He spent his days chase after multitude with debts , wield a metal handle from a mop that he used to break their collarbones .
Whenever he heard about the magnetic tape , an associate call back , Rand Gauthier ’s eyes filled with teardrop .
Where Is Rand Gauthier Today?
Today , the Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson sex tape stay one of the most well - get it on leaked house videos of all time . But Rand Gauthier has a surprising view of it .
“ They ’re in love and a twosome and they ’re just having fun with each other , and I think that ’s bang-up , ” Gauthier say . “ I ’m jealous . I wish I had something like that . ”
HuluSeth Rogen as Rand Gauthier in the 2022 miniseriesPam and Tommy .
Anderson and Lee , however , have a slightly unlike thought of thing . “ Not being able to do anything … about [ the mag tape ] was sum up so much frustration and stress to our relationship,”Lee said in 2014 . “ It was consuming us . ”
And Anderson recalled having to sit down for depositions with leering men who asked her about her sexuality life . “ Old man with crustlike white shit in the corner of their mouths would hold up photograph of me naked inPlayboyand inquire why I ’d even care that the tape was out there , ” Anderson said .
“ They order the populace had a right to fuck what was on the tapeline because it was newsworthy … I could n’t handle it . ”
liveliness convert for all three in the aftermath of the sexual urge tape . Lee and Anderson divorced , remarry , and divorced again , dart in and out of the spot over the years . Rand Gauthier finally leave Los Angeles and the porn business and has led a much quieter creation .
A Facebook profile with his name heel his line of work as Owner / Engineer at Q Electrical Services in Newberg , Oregon . And his role in Anderson and Lee ’s sex tape scandal is more of a footnote . He says people do n’t even trust him when he admit to stealing the tape .
But the whole story is drive a second look today with the miniseriesPam & Tommy . Once again , the lives of Rand Gauthier ( Seth Rogen ) , Tommy Lee ( Sebastian Stan ) , and Pamela Anderson ( Lily James ) will be drawn together to canvas questions of smut , privacy , and the power of the cyberspace .
After reading about Rand Gauthier and the true story ofPam and Tommy , look through this leaning ofcelebrities who overcame tragic childhoods . Or , read these21 fact about sex .
