Inside Pamela Anderson and Jon Peters' Romance: Meeting Over 30 Years Ago to Their 12-Day Marriage
Before Pamela Anderson’s split from film producer Jon Peters, the two knew each other for decades as they worked in Hollywood.
The model and actress, 52, married Peters, producer of Batman, Superman Returns and A Star Is Born, on Jan. 20 and announced their split on Feb. 1.
Peters, 74, spoke out for the first time about their brief marriage, telling Page Six on Monday it was Anderson who proposed to him allegedly to pay off her debts.
“Needless to say that when she texted me that she wanted to get married, it was kind of a dream come true even though I was engaged to someone else and the lady was moving in,” Peters told the outlet.
He claimed, “I dropped everything for Pam. She had almost $200,000 in bills and no way to pay it so I paid it and this is the thanks I get. There’s no fool like an old fool.”
A rep for Anderson told PEOPLE, “These claims are not only entirely fabricated, they are ludicrous. Despite Mr. Peters’ scurrilous and ongoing efforts to elicit a response from Ms. Anderson, she has no comment to provide and hopes he is well.”
Anderson and Peters go way back having met at the Playboy Mansion in the 1980s. The two began dating shortly after.
“I walked in and saw this little angel sitting at the bar. It was Pammy. She was like 19. I knew she would be a big star,” Peters told The Hollywood Reporter in October 2017.
RELATED: Pamela Anderson Only Has ‘Kind Things’ to Say About 12-Day Husband: ‘We Remain Friends’
He said the two “ended up living together.”
“Of course, Hefner loved her and saw her beauty,” Peters continued. “Pamela was a girl who with no makeup was gorgeous. She was very smart and very talented. I tried to talk her out of doing Playboy. I said, ‘Don’t do Playboy. Focus on a serious career.’ She said, ‘You’re nuts.’ She wanted to do Playboy and she went on to do 13 covers.”
The two remained friends until they surprised everyone by announcing they’d tied the knot last month. Just 12 days later, Anderson revealed they had gone their separate ways in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I have been moved by the warm reception to Jon and my union,” the actress and activist said. “We would be very grateful for your support as we take some time apart to re-evaluate what we want from life and from one another. Life is a journey and love is a process. With that universal truth in mind, we have mutually decided to put off the formalization of our marriage certificate and put our faith in the process. Thank you for respecting our privacy.”
Their marriage may have come too soon for the actress and model.
A source told PEOPLE earlier this month Anderson “had just returned from India” when she married Peters.
“She spent several weeks on an Ayurvedic cleanse to start the new decade off fresh,” the source said. “I can understand how that could have influenced her propensity to accept a marriage proposal.”
The insider added, “That’s Pamela: she’s Hollywood’s wildflower.”
After Anderson announced their split, the same source told PEOPLE the Baywatch star “just needed to take a step back.”
RELATED VIDEO: Brandon Thomas Lee Says He’s ‘Incredibly Happy’ for Mom Pamela Anderson After Surprise Wedding
“Although they have known each other for more than 30 years, they had never lived together,” the source said. “Living with someone, you truly get to know them. Pam’s a romantic, but she is also very independent.”
“This all moved a bit fast, so they both agreed to put it off,” the source added.
Anderson said she and Peters had “been friends for a very long time.”
“He has been nothing but nice to me and, for that, I love him,” she said in a statement to PEOPLE provided by her publicist. “Jon opened up his heart and home to me, has helped me through sad times, and I only have kind words to say about him. We remain friends.”
RELATED: Pamela Anderson Splits from Husband Jon Peters 12 Days After Secret Wedding
Anderson was previously married to Tommy Lee from 1995 to 1998 and they share sons Brandon, 23, and Dylan, 22.
The actress later married and divorced Kid Rock in 2006. Then she married and divorced producer Rick Solomon twice — in 2007 and 2013. Both marriages to Solomon dissolved in less than a year.
Meanwhile, Peters, who produced both Barbra Streisand’s A Star Is Born in 1976 and the remake in 2018 with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, was previously married to actress Lesley Ann Warren and producer Christine Forsyth-Peters.
