Who Is Jon Peters? Pamela Anderson's Ex-Husband Says She Used Him To 'Pay Off Bills' During 12-Day Marriage
He's got a shady past.
It looks like there won't be a happily ever after for Pamela Anderson, 52, and Jon Peters, 74. The two have split after only 12 days of marriage.
On January 20, 2020, Anderson wed the controversial former hairdresser-turner-producer of both the 1976 and 2018 versions of A Star Is Born in a secret ceremony in Malibu, California.
In a surprise announcement on Twitter, the former Baywatch babe and Playboy playmate turned avid animal rights activist and defender of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, shared that she had tied the knot for her fifth time — and the marriage quickly took the internet by storm.
So what happened? Why did Anderson and Peters choose to end things after just 12 days? And who is Jon Peters, Pamela Anderson's newest ex-husband?
Believe it or not, this wasn't the first time Pamela Anderson had kept a relationship or marriage a secret from the public. But here's a look at what we know about Jon Peters, including the details of their shocking split.
1. Who is Jon Peters? He was given credit as a producer on both the 1976 and 2018 versions of A Star Is Born, but was declared ineligible for the 2019 Academy Award.
Born in Van Nuys, CA, in 1945, Peters got his start as a hairdresser to the stars in Beverly Hills. The womanizing playboy hairdresser played by Warren Beatty in the 1975 film Shampoo is said to be based on Peters himself.
It just so happens Peters met client-turned-girlfriend Barbra Streisand when he was creating her wig for the 1973 film "For Pete's Sake." Though he was married to actress Lesley Ann Warren at the time, their affair grew into a powerful Hollywood partnership.
Along with producing her 1976 remake of the 1937 film A Star Is Born, Peters worked with Streisand on several albums and movies before they broke up in 1985. They have remained close since, and in an interview in which he referred to himself as "the Trump of Hollywood", he said of Streisand, "She was probably the love of my life."
From 1989-1991, he and then-partner Peter Guber — with whom he produced several icon films, including Flashdance, The Witches of Eastwick, Batman, and Batman Returns — served as co-chairmen of Sony's Columbia Pictures, now known as simply Sony Pictures, sinking the company $3.2 billion in the red after a series of flops and shady expenditures, including payments for services rendered to infamous Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss.
"He's been a bad guy and done bad things to a lot of people," former partner Gerber said, "and he's been a good guy and done good things to a lot of people."
As for those bad things, an exposé on Peters was published just prior to the October 2018 release of the most recent version of A Star Is Born, detailing the sordid side of a past that includes banishment from the sets of Man of Steel and The Color Purple, as well as five lawsuits filed against him for sexual assault.
Four of the five were settled out of court for undisclosed amounts. The fifth went to trial, with a jury awarding his former assistant $3 million in compensatory damages (despite this, he is said to maintain a net worth of approximately $300 million).
Soon after that article's original publication, the Producers' Guild of America (PGA) declared that Peters was not part of the certified producing team on A Star Is Born, making him ineligible should the film have won the Best Picture Academy Award, despite the fact that it was originally billed as "A Jon Peters/Bill Gerber/Joint Effort Production.”
An official statement from Warner Bros. at the time said only, “Jon Peters’ attachment to this property goes as far back as 1976. Legally, we had to honor the contractual obligation in order to make this film.”
And when asked about Peters involvement, director and star Bradley Cooper said the following: "We had to get his consent in order to make the movie. When you're at the helm, it's a huge responsibility. And I guess — I mean, first of all, on the set... you have to create an environment where everybody feels safe. Everybody. And there's no room for disrespect, nothing.
And that's something that you'd have to ask everybody who was involved, but I feel like that's the environment I created. Luckily, Jon wasn't there. And if I had known all those things, I would have done it differently. And I guess it's... I wanted to make the movie, I knew I had to get consent from him, otherwise there's no film. But I should have checked. I guess that's the thing."
2. Anderson announced their surprise marriage via this throwback image with Peters from 1989.
On January 22, 2020, Anderson posted this image of the couple attending the 1989 premiere of his film Batman, captioned only with her then-newly minted name and a heart emoji.
The two first met at Hugh Hefner's legendary Playboy Mansion in the mid-80s, but Peters recalls that when he proposed to her back then, she turned him down because of their 20-year age difference.
3. Both Anderson and Peters only shared a few minor details about their relationship and wedding.
The former couple revealed they were married in a small private ceremony in Malibu, CA on January 20, with Peters offering a brief statement and Anderson sharing a poem.
Peters' statement:
"Pamela has never seen her full potential as an artist. She has yet to shine in a real way. There is much more to her than meets the eye, or I wouldn’t love her so much... There are beautiful girls everywhere. I could have my pick, but — for 35 years — I’ve only wanted Pamela. She makes me wild — in a good way. She inspires me. I protect her and treat her the way she deserves to be treated.”
Anderson's poem:
“Jon is the original ‘bad boy’ of Hollywood
no one compares
I love him deeply like family.
His life used to scare me.
So much for a girl like me.
Now I’ve seen more of life
and realize
He’s been there all along.
Never failed me
I’m ready now
and
he’s ready too
We
understand
and respect each other
We love each other
without conditions.
I’m a lucky woman.
Proof
God has a plan”
4. Anderson didn't share a photo of herself and Peters on Instagram until a few days after the wedding.
This black and white image uploaded to her Instagram stories on January 24 shows the two looking cozy in winter wear, below what appears to say Wetzlar, Germany.
Photo: Instagram
5. It was the fifth marriage for both Anderson and Peters.
Peters' four ex-wives include:
- Henrietta Zampitella, whom he divorced in 1966
- Actress Lesley Ann Warren, with whom he has a son Christopher Peters, an actor and producer
- Christine Forsyth-Peters, producer of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, with whom he has two daughters, Caleigh and Skye. (Forsyth-Peters was in attendance at their wedding.)
- Mindy Williamson Peter, with whom he has daughter, Kendyl
And like her now ex-husband, Anderson has also been married four times, although only to three men:
- Her first and most infamous marriage was to Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe from 1995-1998 (though they reunited and broke up several times for over a decade), with whom she has two sons, Brandon Thomas Lee and Dylan Jagger Lee.
- She then married musician Kid Rock (real name Robert J. Ritchie) in June 2006 surrounded by pregnancy rumors. Anderson filed for divorce in November of the same year, just two weeks after announcing she'd suffered a miscarriage.
- Anderson then married Rick Salomon in October 2007. The marriage was annulled in February 2008, but in 2014 she announced they'd remarried again at an unspecified date. Their divorce was finalized in February 2015.
6. Anderson's oldest son, Brandon, expressed his thoughts for his mother's new marriage.
While their marriage took many by surprise, Anderson's son Brandon, for one, had seemed pleased with his mom's new relationship status.
"I’m incredibly happy for my mom and Jon," Brandon said. "They’ve known each other for over 35 years and I wish them luck in this next chapter of their lives together. I will support the happy couple however I can and I’m excited to get to know Jon’s family even better."
7. Anderson and Peters split on February 1, 2020 — just 12 days after they married.
Although the surprise wedding came as a shock to the Internet, what was even more shocking was the couple's split only 12 days later.
Anderson herself released a formal statement about the decision, saying, "I have been moved by the warm reception to Jon and my union. We would be very grateful for your support as we take some time apart to reevaluate 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."
In the statement, Anderson revealed that she and Peters had never even filed a legal marriage certificate. A source close to Anderson reiterated the reason she gave on why she made the choice she revealed in her statement, saying, “Pamela asked for a break to think about this a little more."
However, another source claimed that Anderson realized that "she had made a terrible mistake" and that Peters was “trying to be too controlling over her. Pamela felt that he was frustrated over how she wanted to maintain her financial independence... He started to make calls about her career and cast her in a movie he was working on, things she didn’t want.”
8. Peters is claiming that he paid Anderson's debts before they split.
Peters is now speaking out on the breakup, with claims that Anderson was "broke" and revealing that he paid off some of her debts. He said, “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."
Peters also claimed that Anderson was the one who wanted to get married and told him through text: “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."
He revealed that the split was also handled through text. “There’s a lot more to the story but I think the text... is self explanatory," and attached a copy of what he wrote with "dear Pammy" to tell her they were through. "These past 9 days have been a beautiful amazing love fest, this whole marriage thing with lawyers, debt, and jazmin [sic] has scared me. It made me realize that at 74 I need a simple quiet life and not an international love affair."
However, Anderson has now responded to Peters claims about paying off her debts. A representative for the actress stated, “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.”
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, publicist, and photographer whose work has appeared in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, BET.com, and more.