Tommy Lee's wife, Brittany Furlan, has come under the microscope since facing backlash over mocking Pamela Anderson in a since-deleted TikTok video. Furlan also told fans not to worry about her since Anderson's documentary, Pamela, A Love Story, dropped on Netflix.
First, the backlash. In a TikTok video, Furlan suggested the Baywatch star wouldn't care if she died, shrugging off the notion. She overlayed the video with the text, "Pam if I died." She captioned the since-deleted post, "Pls guys. I gotta make jokes. It’s how I cope."
Furlan, 36, also took to TikTok to negate something Anderson told The Wall Street Journal.
"I'm sure it's going to be annoying to his wife. I'd be annoyed," said Anderson referring to conjuring up her past love life with Tommy Lee.
But Furlan's far from annoyed.
"I just wanted to come on here to let you know that I'm OK," Furlan said in her TikTok video, "because I know people have been checking on me, which is really nice, and I'm good. Don't worry, and don't worry about all the people that are saying all the mean things that they're saying. That's totally, you know, I don't live in that world. So, please don't stress and thank you to all the people that have been so sweet."
But this isn't the first time Furlan's been under the spotlight. For the Generation Z folks out there, Furlan was part of the small army that revolutionized the social media game and monetized it to their advantage. Here's a closer look at Furlan.
Remember Vine?
Furlan earned fame with short skits on the social media platform that ceased to exist for good in 2016. But in her short time on the app, Furlan grew her following to nearly 10 million followers.
Her influence was so big, TIME in 2015 named her to its list of 30 most influential people on the internet, alongside the likes of Taylor Swift, Barack Obama, Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber. The outlet recalled, "Some 8.6 million follow Furlan's antics on Vine, making her the site's biggest female celebrity."
Furlan told TIME that the platform "changed my whole life."
No stranger to controversy
Back in 2014, Furlan and a few other social media stars were tapped by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to be red carpet hosts. But Furlan -- alongside Lauren Elizabeth, Jessica Harlow and Meghan Rosette -- drew backlash for their interview with General Hospital actor Ryan Paevey.
According to the New York Daily News, the red carpet co-hosts had irked viewers with their over-the-line interviewing skills, but the final straw came when Furlan told Paevey, "We're going to get you away from us before we rape you."
Tommy and Brittany met on a dating app
According to multiple reports, they met on the popular dating app Raya. They'd been linked as far back as 2017, and on Valentine's Day in 2018, Lee popped the question. She said yes, and they tied the knot exactly one year later.
During an appearance in the 2018 Netflix documentary The American Meme, Farlan opened up about her relationship with the rock star.
"I met someone who I can trust because I didn't trust anybody that I've dated before," she said in the documentary highlighting the social media rise of Paris Hilton, Josh Ostrovsky and Kirill Bichutsky. "I'd say Tommy is my first true love and I'm finally safe and happy."
In an interview with the How to Talk to Girls podcast, Furlan opened up, among other things, about past relationships, including a years-long relationship with a man she claimed was a sex addict.
"I found out the whole time -- long story short -- he ended up cheating on me time and time again with prostitutes. So he had this whole thing where he was cheating on me with prostitutes, and I was like 'Oh my God.' Like, I found out all these things. He had a girl in Detroit he would go sleep with. I found out later he is [a sex addict] and we had this horrible breakup. it was just really awful. It made me lose hope in people."
Enter Tommy Lee. Furlan, at first, admitted she was skeptical when it came to jumping into a relationship with him, given her past rocky relationships. But Lee had a plan that would put her at ease.
"He was like, 'Oh, well, I'll just give you the password to my phone and all my devices and anytime you're feeling insecure, you can go look at anything you want,'" she said.
The relationship has thrived ever since, and she gushed about him on the podcast.
"He's great and so loving and so supportive," Furlan said. "Once you kind of find someone you feel safe with, that kind of changes everything."
She's had time on the screen
Furlan, who hails from Perkasie, Pennsylvania, headed to Los Angeles for a shot at acting. She'd eventually land a small role as a biker chick in The Dirt, the biographical 2019 comedy-drama about Mötley Crüe.
She also appeared in Pitbull's 2014 music video "Fireball," as well as other films such as The Unicorn, Deported, We Are Your Friends and Good Mourning.
Brittany studied fashion
...and it wasn't just at any fashion school Furlan attended the prestigious Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise (FIDM) in downtown Los Angeles. Furlan made the revelation nearly a decade ago during an AMA session on Reddit.
The topic came up when someone asked about college or previous job experience.
"I went to FIDM in downtown LA because I didn't want to go to a real college and I needed something easy enough to break away from and go on auditions," she said at the time.
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