Actor David Chokachi has revealed the unexpected reaction of the Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee after the former kissed the latter’s wife.
David Chokachi talks about Tommy Lee’s reactions
During a new chat with Still Here Hollywood, Chokachi recalled his kissing scene in ‘Baywatch’ with Pamela Anderson, Lee’s then-wife.
“There was an incident. Back in the day when we were shooting the show, they could only police tape off so much area when we shot at Santa Monica at Will Rogers State Beach. That was back in the day when there was an extra and inside edition. Those camera crews would roll up and they’d just stand behind the police line and they could zoom in and shoot if we were shooting. Pam and I were shooting a kissing scene at the ocean’s edge and the extra one of them had shot it. Tommy was sitting at home that night. Basically the tagline was like, ‘Meet Pamela’s new boyfriend.’ This is like my introduction to my character and here they are making out on the Shore Baywatch. He went ballistic.”
“The next day I’m walking down to the set and I’m walking past their trailer and I just hear [what sounded like] someone was in there with that construction crew demolished. He was in there renovating her trailer with his fists. He was not happy and he had threatened the producers. He basically said ‘If you write another kissing scene with David Chokachi, I’m gonna do this to you,’” the actor revealed.
Chokachi then recalled the incident in a different interview. But he made it clear that Lee wasn’t the ‘bad guy’ people thought he was, and that he was just jealous.
“It turns out he wasn’t that bad guy, and we ended up going to dinner and partying together a couple of times, but he was insanely jealous, and he did not like to see his wife or girlfriend at the time on camera kissing another dude. He just was… extremely jealous, threatened the producers’ lives. I mean, I was like, ‘It’s just TV, man.’”
Back in February 1998, a couple of months after Anderson and Lee welcomed their second child, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee was arrested and charged with felony spousal abuse, later pleading no contest. Anderson had filed for divorce shortly afterward. Lee received a six-month jail sentence and three years of probation.
Over the years, the former couple reconciled a few times but eventually found that co-parenting their two sons was the best choice for their relationship.
‘Baywatch’ first aired in 1989 and continued until 1999, with an additional two seasons as ‘Baywatch: Hawaii.’ By 1996, it had become the most-watched TV show globally, reaching over 1.1 billion viewers weekly across 142 countries, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.