Arranging a Hit_ _Stripping a Body_ _Drowning a Body_ _Fencing a Body_ _Burning a Body_ _Sinking a Body_ _Killing a Body_ _Leaving a Body_ _Disposing of a Body_ _Lying to the Police_ _The Sting of Scandal_ _The Coup de Grâce_ _Uncovering the Scandal_ The Secrets of Private Life How to Survive in Bed Dressing for Success: The Art of Getting Out of Bed (and Into Your Best Dress) Shoes: The Astonishing Story of Absurdly Expensive Footwear Women and Work Sexual Secrets of Great Danes and Labradors Cats: How to Sell Cats (and Buy Kittens) for Profit Love and Life with Men: A History A Woman's Journey Through the Minefields of Divorce Marriage: A Profession The Art of the Sale Women and Religion The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Sex and Married Love _For My Mother, Shirley_ I was married first, _I don't know where_ , to a prince, not only a prince but a king of Egypt, and so I found myself a widow, _yes, but just for a little while_ , for he too soon departed. . . . I was so pretty, so tall, and so wealthy that my husband made a festival of my funeral, saying: "This woman did her hair well, her eyes were splendid, her stature magnificent, her beauty matchless." But then came the king of Lydia with his daughter who cried: "How can you be a widow when you're still young?" I didn't understand the king's words and was offended: "How could I ever have been a woman before I was married?" I answered and told him the truth: "I am still young; for though in death I'm dead, in life I had to wait for you. . . . You, the first man, took me from my father, from my homeland, and led me far away to make me your bride, but never did you have me to sleep with, no, not at all." She's the one you'll find in the _Romance of Alexander_. It's a long book, two feet thick, in large volume. But it's a fascinating tale of the love between Alexander and Roxane. —Plato ( _c_. 427–347 BC), _Protagoras_ , 360a A king with nothing to do became a king with everything to do. —Sophocles (496–406 BC), _Aias_ , fr. 703 A lady is like a parrot, a dog, or a child: she barks the loudest at the person who pays her most attention. —Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574), _Lives of the Artists_ , tr. George Bull (London: Penguin, 1987), p. 964 # _Introduction_ ## THE FIRST TIME On the morning of July 15, 1966, a twenty-six-year-old American woman named Ann Morrissett (better known as Pamela Anderson) left her home in Greenwich Village in New York City to take a bus to school. She wore a sundress and sandals. Pamela, as she was universally known, wore a lot of makeup, including blue eye shadow. This was the summer of her first film and photo shoot. She got to school in time for her first-period English class. In America in 1966, first-period English included study of _Romeo and Juliet_. For no particular reason, her teacher, Ms. G, called on Pamela to answer questions on the reading. In the course of discussion she happened to mention that she was the same age as Juliet, fifteen. Ms. G told Pamela to stay after class, after which she made the unusual request that Pamela would come back to the school before going home for lunch. Pamela returned in the afternoon and was told that Ms. G wanted to see her in her office. She was told that it was a matter of some urgency and that Pamela would know what it was about. Pamela followed Ms. G into her office, where the teacher made an unexpected announcement: Pamela was pregnant, she told her classmate. Ms. G was a teacher and had taken the morning off work in order to meet with Pamela, who, as her students well knew, was a very attractive and bright student and the oldest of four. Ms. G then asked Pamela to leave school and visit a doctor, and to bring back a report that the doctor had given her in confidence. Two months later, on September 16, 1966, Pamela was back at school to tell the story of her first appointment with the gynecologist. The room fell silent as Pamela told them that she was indeed pregnant and that the doctor had informed her that he was able to perform an abortion but that she could not become pregnant again for at least three years. All of the students thought that this was absurd and that the gynecologist was wrong and that if there were a God in heaven, he would not have allowed this to happen. As she finished her story, Ms. G began a discussion and said, "Now, I am going to tell you what he told me this morning: as long as this baby grows inside you, it is very dangerous for you and for your baby. You must have an abortion now!" And all the students in the room nodded their heads. ## THE FIRST TIME ON TELEVISION On June 25, 1968, a day after the beginning of the Summer of Love, Pamela, after graduating from high school in Manhattan, arrived in New York City and arrived for work at WNEW-TV (channel 5), a local television station, where she was hired as a reporter for the entertainment and gossip department of the station. The show was called _People Are Talking_ , a kind of local talk show for the general audience in New York City. At that time, a major part of the show consisted of getting celebrities in front of the camera to interact with the viewers. Among these celebrities were her fellow students from St. Bernard's High School, many of them actors and actresses. She interviewed them and reported on the activities of celebrities, and that was how she first met her future husband, Tom Anderson, who had been an actor on Broadway. For a period of ten months, starting in September 1968, Ms. Anderson was frequently on camera with Tom, her husband-to-be, as he was on his way up the ladder of success. She was just about to marry Tom when the producers at the station asked her to go on _What's Happening?_ , a popular late-night talk show, where she reported on the lives of local celebrities and celebrities from around the country. It was at this time that she first had to confront her love of the camera. Although she was not yet the global phenomenon that she would later become, she was already recognized for her striking features, her beauty, her unusual look—and for a very specific characteristic of her mouth: when she smiled, it looked as if she were smiling with her mouth wide open. It took only six weeks to put the rest of the pieces in place. During this time, Pamela went to Los Angeles, California, to meet with some reporters who wanted to profile her. Her trip was organized by an extraordinary man named Richard C. Hottelet, the then chief of _National Enquirer_ magazine, and when she landed, she was given a cover story by a very prestigious reporter. The article described Pamela's love of television, as did an interview that she gave to another magazine on her return to New York City. During this period, Pamela had the very good fortune of getting to know a very wealthy producer from Los Angeles, Bob Rafelson. Rafelson was very generous, always bringing her with him to functions and parties, and as a result of being in these situations and being very beautiful, people began to ask for interviews and interviews led to her becoming more involved in television as a reporter and as an on-air personality. She met other people who went into TV and wanted her to join them, and who introduced her to those who started a syndicated entertainment show called _Bewitched_. She took a role in _Bewitched_ , which was a major hit. The most significant opportunity in her life came, in fact, on a Saturday night when she was being interviewed on _What's Happening?_ and the subject turned to Bob Rafelson. At that point, he appeared in the studio, and she remembered him for years after. It was not long after this that she got the first hint of what would become her first role in a feature film: she was called to the side of the host of _Bewitched_ , Bob Sweeney, who told her that her first role in a feature film would be in _Bonnie and Clyde_ , which was being filmed in New Jersey. There was a role for her—one that would, she thought, be a very close and challenging experience for her. The producers at the time were trying to find a woman who was right