Nearly three decades after one of the most infamous celebrity scandals of the 1990s, a man directly tied to the distribution of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s private video has stepped forward to share his side of the story. Cort St. George, who once worked as a consultant for Internet Entertainment Group (IEG), has decided to break his silence in an attempt to ease what he describes as a lingering burden on his conscience.
The tape in question, recorded in 1995 during Anderson and Lee’s honeymoon at Lake Mead, was meant to remain private. The newlyweds, who had married only days after meeting, documented their early days of love and spontaneity in the way many couples might—intimate, unfiltered, and for their eyes only. The footage was kept in a safe at their home, seemingly secure, until it fell into the wrong hands.
The safe itself was stolen by disgruntled workers who had been fired by Lee. By the time the couple realized the safe was missing in early 1996, duplicates of the tape had already begun circulating among individuals in the entertainment industry. Among those who came across a copy was a studio executive who later passed it along, setting off a chain of events that would eventually draw St. George into the picture.
In 1997, while working with IEG in Seattle, St. George was shown the tape by a friend. He recalled being stunned by what he saw, and at the same time, recognizing its potential to create a sensation. As he later admitted in the A&E documentary Secrets of Celebrity Sex Tapes, he immediately thought of his boss, Seth Warshavsky, who was the founder of IEG and always on the lookout for content that could draw attention. “I was flabbergasted by what we saw,” St. George remembered. “I just started working as a consultant at IEG, and I thought, this guy will probably want this video.”
He quickly contacted Warshavsky and asked whether he would be interested in buying the tape. According to St. George, the response was an immediate yes. He even recalled suggesting a figure of $10,000 for the sale, and to his surprise, Warshavsky agreed without hesitation.
At the time, St. George couldn’t fully understand why his boss was so eager to pay for the tape. Years later, he came to believe it wasn’t only about the video itself but also about securing his own liability. “Now I know why he was willing to pay for it. He just wanted my signature on the dotted line, so if things went bad, he had somebody to blame,” St. George explained.
The release of the tape turned into a legal battle. Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee were provided with a so-called “limited contract” by Warshavsky’s legal team, something Anderson later regretted signing. A court eventually ruled that IEG was to pay the couple $740,000 each. However, St. George insisted in his interview that the payment never actually reached them.
“I know firsthand that Pamela and Tommy made not one dime off that video,” he said firmly. “They didn’t demand money, and I know they even turned down offers. They fought so hard against it, and it ended up doing so much damage to their lives. That’s part of why I’ve come forward now—to set the record straight.”
The scandal had a lasting impact not only on Anderson and Lee’s public image but also on their personal lives. Their marriage, which had begun with whirlwind passion in February 1995—just four days after meeting—was already under the scrutiny of the press. The release of the tape intensified the media frenzy and added strain to their relationship. By 1998, the couple had divorced.
Anderson has spoken candidly about her time with Lee in the years since. In a 2015 interview with People, she reflected on how intense their relationship was. “There was Tommy and then there was nobody else,” she said. “We had a wild and crazy beginning that was too much for both of us. But I had beautiful children with him, and my kids are grateful to be born out of true love. Everything else I was trying to piece together.”
The couple share two sons, Brandon, now 29, and Dylan, 27. In her memoir Love, Pamela, Anderson described her children as her saving grace during the most turbulent times of her life. “Brandon and Dylan are true miracles, considering their gene pool,” she wrote. “They have been through so much, yet they are not full of holes. They saved me. I don’t want to put that on my kids, but having children changed everything. I’ve loved every moment.”
For St. George, the decision to speak now stems from a need to acknowledge his role and the harm it caused. He expressed guilt for being a link in the chain that led to the couple’s suffering. Although he profited in the moment, he now sees his involvement as a mistake that contributed to one of the most intrusive celebrity scandals of the era. “That’s again why I’ve done this interview,” he explained, “to make sure the story’s straight.”
The story of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s stolen video has become a cautionary tale about privacy, consent, and exploitation in the entertainment industry. What began as a deeply personal recording between two newlyweds turned into a media spectacle that haunted them for years.
Now, with people like St. George coming forward, the lingering truth of how it all unfolded continues to surface, painting a more complete picture of a scandal that shaped the public conversation about celebrity privacy long before the age of social media.
