Kid Rock Said Getting Married to Pamela Anderson Was a "Blast" but "Being Married Sucks"

SGranitz/WireImage Pamela Anderson, Kid Rock

Who: Actress, model, and activist Pamela Anderson, 54, and musician Kid Rock (born Robert "Bob" Ritchie), 51.

How They Met: The two met backstage at a VH1 Divas Live tribute to Aretha Franklin in April 2001.

"It was right around Easter," Rock recalled in an interview with Rolling Stone, "the next day she sent me Easter eggs and a ton of shit." He then invited her to visit him in Detroit.

"It was weird when we met," Rock told Spin of his introduction to Anderson. "I was thinking, 'Wow, here's someone who kinda thinks like I do. Let's go out and have a great (expletive) time and party like animals. But there's a time and a place for that, and a time and a place for family.'" Family was crucial, as both parties were parents to young boys — Anderson shared sons Brandon and Dylan with her Mötley Crüe drummer ex-husband Tommy Lee; Rock and ex-girlfriend Kelley South had welcomed son Robert James Ritchie Jr. about 8 years prior. That said, Anderson and Rock weren't exactly eager to publicly personify a Norman Rockwell painting. "No one will ever see us hanging out with the kids and barbecuing all day," he said. "You only get what's flashy."

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One year after the pair's serendipitous meeting, Rock proposed to the Baywatch star in Las Vegas.

The following summer, Anderson began dropping hints that she and Rock were no longer together, telling People, "the word that best describes me now is 'free.'" Rock would later cite Anderson's reluctance to move to Michigan and issues surrounding the pre-nup as reasons behind their split.

Three years later, in July 2006, the former couple reconnected on a friend's yacht in the South of France. Things reignited between the exes and, as Rock told Rolling Stone, "it was like, 'Let's just fuckin' get married and get it over with.'"

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Later that month, the two wed aboard a yacht in St. Tropez — Anderson clad in a white string bikini and captain's hat; Rock shirtless and accessorizing with his signature fedora. The marriage was considered illegitimate under French law, so the two made it official in a Beverly Hills courthouse the following week.

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Why We Loved Them:

For a minute there, we thought these two might just have what it takes to go the distance. They both seemed to appreciate and understand how to balance headline-grabbing shenanigans (see: section above) and a grounded family life."We're coming at it from the same perspective," Rock told the Orlando Sentinel early into his relationship with Anderson. "We both love our kids very much and we want to be parents. I didn't think there were any girls left out there — especially with what I do — who want to be moms anymore, who want to do the sewing and cooking and have me go out and fix the car and throw the kids around the yard," he said. "But that's what we have in common. And then when the kids aren't there, we like to whoop it up."

Plus, this relationship brought forth important revelations — for instance, Kid Rock is shy? Anderson reportedly once described the world's foremost fedora-wearer as the shyest person she'd ever met.

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When They Peaked: Despite the issues to come, there is something aspirational about two people so in-sync and in the moment that they're like "I'm putting on my bikini and getting married on this yacht, today." Also, please note, Anderson wore a white bikini when she married Lee, too.

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The Breakup: Four months after Anderson and Rock's spontaneous wedding, the Scary Movie 3 star announced that she and the "All Summer Long" singer were going their separate ways. "Divorce," she wrote on her blog. "Yes, it's true."

"Pamela filed for divorce last week," the actress's rep confirmed to People in late November 2006. "It wasn't a happy Thanksgiving."

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During this same period, the New York Post reported that Anderson's cameo in Borat was responsible for tension between the newlyweds. Rock allegedly had an outburst following a private screening of the film at Universal Studios President Ron Meyer's house.

"It was the first time Bob had seen the movie, and, well, he didn't like it," an anonymous friend of Anderson's told the publication.

"Bob started screaming at Pam, saying she had humiliated herself and telling her, 'You're nothing but a whore! You're a slut! How could you do that movie?' — in front of everyone. It was very embarrassing," the source alleged.

Rock denied the Borat rumors and called his ex "psycho" for spreading them.

Sacha Baron Cohen added to the narrative about a decade later when he went on The Daily Beast's podcast, The Last Laugh, and said he'd texted with Anderson after Rock first screened the film. After asking her what her new husband thought of the film, he said Anderson replied, "'He's getting divorced.' I was like, 'Why?' She goes: 'The movie.'"

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The musician presented alternative reasons for the split in a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone.

Rock and his son ended up uprooting from Michigan and moving to L.A. following the wedding, and the teen was less than thrilled with the west coast culture, telling his dad, "all these kids do here is ride skateboards and do drugs."

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But, according to Rock, the marriage took its final bow while Anderson was shooting in Vancouver.

"She's in Vancouver shooting a movie, and I have Lakers seats on the floor, and I'm gonna go to the Lakers game with my friend Jesse James," Rock explained. "I could tell something was up — it was like she didn't want me to have fun when she wasn't around. She's trying to get me to come to Vancouver, and I'm like, 'Baby, I got these tickets. I'll see you on the week­end there,' and that leads into her say­ing, 'You don't care about me, blah blah blah.'" Then, the conversation took an unexpected turn. "She finally comes up with this: 'I just had a miscar­riage and you don't even give a fuck,' and hangs the phone up." Rock claimed not to have known that his wife was pregnant in the first place.

"Being the dumb fuck I am, I char­ter a $60,000 plane and fly to Vancouver. When I get there, she's partying at this restaurant, drinking champagne, jump­ing on the tables. I'm thinking, 'That's a quick recovery from a miscarriage.'"

When asked to provide a response to Rock's claims that she'd lied about having a miscarriage, Anderson told Rolling Stone, "I hope his album does well. I hope he's happy in life. We were married for four months. If he has nothing nice to say about me, then please tell him to stop talking about me."

Spoiler: he didn't.

But despite all of Rock's fighting words, in 2011 he told Piers Morgan that he didn't regret marrying Anderson. "It was a blast," he said of their wedding(s). "You know, getting married is some of the most fun I've ever had in my life … We loved it so much, we got married like four or five times. It was that much fun."

But, ah, the honeymoon ended and Rock was left with a new takeaway: "being married sucks."

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In 2018, the PETA Honorary Director told The Hollywood Reporter that she and Rock hadn't spoken since their split, but she was surprised by the musician's seemingly newfound MAGA-stumping conservatism. "When he was with me, he didn't hunt," she said. "I don't think he was very Republican, but now he is. Oh well."

Where They Are Now:

Anderson went on to marry Rick Salomon in 2007 — they got an annulment two years later but wed again in 2014 (and divorced after six months). The actress was thought to have spent 12 days married to producer Jon Peters in early 2020, but she later claimed the union was never made legal. People recently reported that Anderson and her bodyguard husband of one year, Dan Hayhurst, had gone their separate ways.

Hulu limited series Pam & Tommy launched on Feb. 2 and tells the story of Anderson and Lee's infamous sex tape, which was stolen from the couple's home in 1995.

Rock was last linked to fiancée Audrey Berry, with whom he keeps an ultra low-profile relationship.

The singer recently made headlines for his refusal to perform at venues with COVID-19 vaccine or mask mandates on his "Bad Reputation" tour.

#TBT: Check in every Thursday as we throw it back to some of our favorite celebrity couples of all time.