Pamela Anderson has spoken out in Tim Allen’s defense after accusing him of flashing her on the set of Home Improvement when she was 23 and he was in his late 30s.
The claim made headlines this week after an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, titled Love, Pamela, was obtained by Variety.
In her book — which is set to be released in full on Jan. 31 — Anderson alleges that the disturbing incident took place on her first day on the Home Improvement set in 1991, where she portrayed Lisa in the first two seasons before moving onto play C.J. Parker on Baywatch.
“On the first day of filming, I walked out of my dressing room, and Tim was in the hallway in his robe,” Anderson writes. “He opened his robe and flashed me quickly — completely naked underneath.”
Home Improvement was Anderson’s first ever TV role, but she’d already carved a big name for herself in the modeling industry, namely posing for Playboy. She went on to claim that Allen’s reasoning for flashing her was to get “even,” having presumably seen her naked in the magazine.
“He said it was only fair, because he had seen me naked. ‘Now we’re even,’” she recalled him saying. “I laughed uncomfortably.”
When the excerpt surfaced on Sunday, Variety reached out to Allen, prompting him to vehemently deny that the incident ever took place.
“No, it never happened. I would never do such a thing,” he said in a statement provided to the outlet.
The next day, Anderson doubled down on her claim and spoke about the alleged flashing in more detail, telling Vanity Fair: “This true story is just one of many surreal and uncomfortable situations I learned to navigate.”
She went on to emphasize that she has “no ill will” toward Allen, but that the incident “should never have happened.”
And now, it seems she’s trying to make it clear that the claim was not made with malicious intent, following up on the topic as part of her new Variety cover story this week.
Attempting to account for her costar’s behavior, Anderson wrote in a text message to the Variety writer: “Tim is a comedian, it’s his job to cross the line. I’m sure he had no bad intentions.”
She continued: “Times have changed, though. I doubt anyone would try that post #MeToo. It’s a new world.”
To add to the controversy, a clip of Allen appearing to flash another one of their Home Improvement costars on set resurfaced online on Tuesday.
The footage was taken from a blooper reel and shows a scene between Allen and his onscreen wife, played by Patricia Richardson. Facing away from the camera, Allen lifts the front of his kilt, shocking his costar and sending the live studio audience into fits of laughter.
Discussing the blooper after it surfaced, Richardson emphasized to TMZ that Tim was “well dressed under there,” and went on to clarify that she was “shocked that he lifted the kilt, not by a man in boxer shorts.”
Some have attempted to draw comparisons between the experiences of both Richardson and Anderson, however it’s important to note that Anderson claims that Allen was completely naked and that the encounter took place backstage, not as part of a scene in front of an audience.
