Featured Image Credit: S. Granitz/WireImage via Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Pamela Anderson, Viral, Adult Industry, Sex and Relationships, Documentaries, Business
Joe Yates
Topics: Celebrity, Pamela Anderson, Viral, Adult Industry, Sex and Relationships, Documentaries, Business
Almost 30 years after one of the most infamous celebrity scandals in Hollywood history, a man involved in the distribution of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s private sex tape has broken his silence.
Cort St. George, a former consultant at Internet Entertainment Group (IEG) - a company that pioneered online adult content in the late 1990s - has come forward to share his side of the story as part of A&E’s new documentary series Secrets of Celebrity Sex Tapes.
Speaking publicly for the first time, he shares his remorse for his actions as he explains he’s speaking out to 'clear his conscience'.
“I know firsthand that Pamela and Tommy made not one dime off that video,” he said. “They didn’t demand any money, I know they turned down money. They fought so hard against it and it did so much damage in their life.”
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Reflecting on his involvement, he added: “I feel like I’m constantly wanting to clear my conscience even though I had very little to do with the whole thing. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the right time. I feel bad about being involved in it.”
St. George claims he sold the now-notorious home video to IEG founder and adult industry entrepreneur Seth Warshavsky in 1997, after being shown the tape by a friend who’d received a copy from a contact at another studio.
“I was flabbergasted by what we saw,” he recalled. “I had just started working as a consultant at IEG in Seattle and I said this guy will probably want this video.”
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The tape - originally recorded by Anderson and Lee during a 1995 trip to Lake Mead - was stolen from a safe in their home by disgruntled workers. The couple didn’t even know it was missing until January 1996. By then, copies were already circulating behind the scenes.
St. George said he approached Warshavsky with the tape and negotiated a deal.
"He said yes. I go, let me see if he'll give us $10,000. I couldn't really believe that Seth was willing to pay for it," he explained.
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"Now I know why he was willing to pay for it actually - he just wanted my signature on the dotted line in case the sh** hit the fan, he had somebody to blame.”
IEG’s legal team later sent Anderson and Lee a contract, which St. George described as a 'limited contract' designed to cover the release.
In a previously recorded interview, Anderson said she only agreed to sign because she felt threatened and was days away from giving birth.
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“The only reason we signed the agreement was [because] it was a week before I was due to give birth and they were making threats to me,” she claimed. “I was very focused on much more important things.”
While in a 2023 CBS interview, Anderson said the leak left her devastated: “We were two crazy naked people in love... those tapes were not meant for anybody else to see.
“I was a mother. That saved me. You know, if I wasn’t a mom, I don’t think I would’ve survived," she added.
Despite fighting to stop the video’s distribution, the tape was eventually streamed online and sold in stores. Anderson and Lee later sued Warshavsky, winning a judgment in 2001 of $740,000 each.
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However, they reportedly never received any of the awarded money, with Warshavsky passing away last year.