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Pop culture isn’t just entertainment—it’s a survival guide in disguise. On Talk Pop To Me, celebrity producer and casting director Ash Cantley dives into Hollywood’s juiciest scandals, love triangles, and money moves with sharp humor and insider cred.
How else would you know how to survive your own scandal, dodge a messy breakup, or decide where to shop… if celebrities didn’t teach us the hard way?
With 20 years behind the curtain, Emmy-recognized work, and a viral TikTok following, Ashley breaks down the drama with wit, perspective, and just enough takeaway to make it stick. It’s gossip—smarter, funnier, and way more useful than it has any right to be.
Welcome back to Talk Pops to Me where I dissect the week's juiciest celebrity drama and stories in the news. Today, I'm going to have a publicist on to talk about the Pamela Anderson, Liam Neeson relationship. Was it real? Was it not? And before that, I'm gonna break down this week's juiciest headlines.
Speaker 1:I feel like I am so far down the Kelly Wolf, Scott Wolf rabbit hole. If you need something to talk about this week with your friends, this is these are the stories. So Kelly Wolf, if you're following along is Scott Wolf's estranged wife. They, she announced her divorce in June. If you listened to my last episode, she was arrested.
Speaker 1:She was held in jail for two days for doxxing Scott. Meaning she is going wild on her Instagram, posting people's names, posting people's phone numbers and addresses. And she posted doxed Scott by posting his phone number, and he got like 40 calls in a span of like just a few minutes. So they had an emergency hearing. She was arrested.
Speaker 1:She spent two nights in jail and then was released and she was banned from social media. Guess what? She has a new social media account where she is posting like, what? And she's following her son. I was hopeful like, oh, this is great.
Speaker 1:She's been off of social media. But someone pointed out to me that she has a new account and indeed she does. But there was another hearing. She is admitting herself into a treatment center on September 12. So that's good news.
Speaker 1:But I'm also told she doesn't wanna do it. She said she's just doing it because other people want her to do it. Nonetheless, I am hopeful and following along. I'm concerned about him, her. I'm concerned about her.
Speaker 1:I'm concerned about her family. I just want a happy ending here. So that is the Kelly Wolf update for the week. Let me know what you think about that. Do you think this treatment center is going to work if she doesn't really believe that she needs to go to treatment?
Speaker 1:Anne Hathaway is on set filming Devil's Wears Prada. Okay? I love all of Anne Hathaway's movies. I sometimes get irritated with her in the media, but I also love her. She was on set filming in this wonderful outfit.
Speaker 1:You must have seen the pictures. She went tumbling down. She's like in these heels, like this high, like four inches high. She runs down the stairs in New York City. She's on set outside, and she wipes out.
Speaker 1:Her leg bends backwards, and she pops up and she's like, I'm okay. I'm like, if I did that, I would have seriously damaged my knee. But I love how she just like popped up and was like kept going and with a good attitude. I think I would have been so upset if that was me. Obviously, it's a little bit embarrassing if that is you.
Speaker 1:I I felt for her watching it, but then so I'm like, I love this. I can't wait to go see Anne Hathaway in Devil's Wears Wears Prada. But I was like, and then she makes news for scolding the paparazzi. And I was like, okay. She knows this is gonna be on social media.
Speaker 1:I I don't hate it. She was like, please, there are kids on set. We are not gonna behave like this. That was the clip that I saw. And I was like, oh, look at her protecting the kids.
Speaker 1:As a mom, I'm sure she really did feel that way. But I was like, good luck protecting the kids from the crazy people of New York City. But I was like, Anne Hathaway is just putting herself out there in this for this filming of this movie and I will be at the theater. I will be there watching. Do you will you that's my question.
Speaker 1:Will you watch do you love Anne Hathaway? I love her. I love her. Okay. And then a continuation from last week, Lana Del Rey has been on my TikTok for making out with her husband in the middle of her show.
Speaker 1:If you've been watching or have been following along Lana Del Rey's journey, she married an alligator hunter. And everyone told me why this match makes sense. He's like a traditional man. He's not in Hollywood. Like, I'm sure she loves to feel taken care of in this masculine way that no offense, a lot of men from Hollywood probably don't do with their wives.
Speaker 1:So then I'm like watching all this footage of her make out with her husband. I'm seeing him watching her. And I was like, okay. Yeah. I actually I cosign this relationship.
Speaker 1:I get it. He's this uber masculine man. He's like cheering her on. He's in awe on her of her. He supports her.
Speaker 1:Like, he's like the man behind her, but he's also very strong and masculine. I was like, yeah, Lana, I get it now. So I'm gonna stop talking about this because I think it is a really good alright. Now speaking of celebrity mystique, let's get into the Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson of it all. First of all, the headlines this week were that their relationship was fake, And then I got really angry about it.
Speaker 1:I have cool mom Jamie. That's her TikTok name. She's a publicist helping me unpack this story. I figured if anyone knew if this was a fake relationship, she could tell us. And I also was trying to figure out would this derail Pamela's comeback.
Speaker 1:So let's get into it. Jamie, thank you so much for coming on
Speaker 2:the podcast. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:I love you because you were a publicist. I was a celebrity booker for twenty years. So you were a publicist and you like aren't afraid to be real about your experience, which I love.
Speaker 2:Well, I got my start in PR, but I spent way more time at talent agencies and management companies. But like PR is pretty formulaic when you boil it down. So I just was always fascinated by celebrity statements and what they actually mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And that's I what wanted to talk about with you because I was like, okay. You're the perfect person to talk about this. The Pamela Anderson, Liam Neeson. So I don't know about you, but I always feel really annoyed when I feel like I've bought into a story and then got duped.
Speaker 1:So before we get into the that part of it, like, what do you think about Pamela Anderson's rebrand? Because as a celebrity booker, she was one of the hardest people to book on TV shows for so long because she was so burned by the business in that. She was the most famous person in the world and made no money from it. So anytime I reached out to her reps to book her, they will be like, no. Like, unless you're gonna pay her major money, you're not booking her.
Speaker 1:So what do you think about the whole comeback of Pamela Anderson? I'm curious.
Speaker 2:I think at the end of the day, the woman is entertaining, and I think she left the industry out of self preservation, but probably not out of a desire to stop being in front of the camera. So I'm happy to see the rebrand. I'm happy to see her come out and just own everything. I think her son did one of the documentaries on her and I think that was pretty healing for her.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I saw like, oh my gosh, her relationship with her sons is so cute. Please let my son be like that to me when I get older. But I heard something like her son made it his mission to like tell his mom's story and show who his mom really is.
Speaker 2:Well, I think as her child, he had a front row seat to the dichotomy between what the media would say about her and then what he was seeing in real life. And because there was such disparity, I think he really viscerally felt the unfairness of it. And then probably also had a front hand seat to like how much it affected her. Like that's gotta be tough to watch people unfairly roasting your mom, your mom always being a punchline and she's. Yeah.
Speaker 2:A victim of a theft and she's had a slew of problematic boyfriends. Who hasn't? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Who hasn't? I feel that. And so you think, like, the Pamela Anderson that I knew before her comeback was that she was like a PETA advocate. She was hardcore PETA. Right?
Speaker 1:And she was living remotely in Vancouver. And then she came out with this Food Network show that, like, illustrated that too. And that was her first. And it would rival to Meghan Markle. We were like, Pamela Anderson's the real one.
Speaker 1:Meghan Markle's the fake. But that I feel like happens simultaneously with the no makeup Pamela. Right?
Speaker 2:That was definitely intentional. And I think what she was clearly communicating here is Pam Anderson is not CJ and CJ was the character she played on Baywatch and hypersexualized, almost a cartoon version of femininity. And she's like, no, I don't wear makeup because I'm not here for the male gaze. I'm cooking because I like it. And it's a departure from anything you've ever seen me do.
Speaker 2:And I'm on camera, but I'm on my own terms now. You're not getting to use paparazzi footage of me in some kind of character as fodder for your entertainment. It was so smart.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And so smart. Okay. So then she started showing up at red carpets. People started talking and, like, she sort of became an icon, at least for women of a certain age.
Speaker 1:But I think all women to who to grow into and who to look up towards, because there's not a lot of women like her in Hollywood.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think we're all traumatized from how women were treated in the nineties and early thousands. Like the way Lindsay Lohan was treated the way Britney Spears was treated these punchlines to be laughed at instead of like, wow, what has this person survived that they're in public this way? And so Pamela was part of that. And so it was really traumatizing. I think, as someone growing up with that in my face all the time, women are here to be made fun of.
Speaker 2:So it's been really refreshing to see Pamela kind of eschew that and just go, I'm here on my own terms. And I'm sure talks for the naked gun were already underway if she wasn't already even in production for it when she was making this, you know, statement. But I also think it was deliberate to be like, when I get on the red carpet for my movie, I'm going to be treated not as a punchline.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And it's funny because she does play the hottie, the hot, you know, the love lead in that, but it's, it comes off in a different way. Okay. So we're here in the movie. We've bought into the the new Pamela Anderson, but I think this is who she she always was.
Speaker 1:This goddess mother Canadian woman. She's left behind her old was it barbed wire? Was that the crazy movie that she did?
Speaker 2:With the big tattoo on her arm? I mean, looked gorgeous in that movie. Yes.
Speaker 1:She did. She left behind barbed wire, and she's this icon. Okay. Cut to Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson relationship. Do you think we all got taken for a ride?
Speaker 1:Do you think it was fake? Because I'm still trying to make sense of it. I'm a little bit annoyed.
Speaker 2:Here's why I think it's fake, but my answer is different right now than it would have been, even if we had this conversation yesterday, they have not come out themselves and confirmed it. So they, they would have had a statement by now. There are allegations flying that they haven't even seen each other since they've done press together. So you've got conflicting reports. Cause if you go to Google right now, you've got people magazine, Fox, and a couple of other outlets saying it's not real, but then you have a bunch of other outlets contradicting that and say, no, it's genuine.
Speaker 2:It's genuine because they have not made a public statement. So that leads me to believe it's fake because they would have said something.
Speaker 1:I agree. And this is why I'm actually irritated. And I think this does more harm to her new image than anything because it was like, I think what happened was they genuinely liked each other on set. They genuinely had chemistry. And I think the team behind the movie was like, play into it.
Speaker 1:This is gold. Play into it. So you have Liam Neeson who's like, you see as this like heartbroken man who's never had a public relationship since his wife died. And Pamela Anderson who's no one's ever treated her with respect and the love that she deserves. And then you're like, oh my god.
Speaker 1:They came together. This is magic. They went on Andy Cohen. The son cosigned it, basically. Or was he just maybe maybe they said, just smile.
Speaker 1:Like, just, like, smile and play along. But I'm like, a bunch of people like Andy was duped. I don't I'm so irritated for it about it because I was so into it.
Speaker 2:Andy Cohen went on the record with page six and said that it's a real relationship. Either like, have two theories either. They did have a lot of chemistry were playing into it and maybe didn't work out or maybe they weren't a thing at all. And this really was publicity. I mean, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper kind of did that after a star is born.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But at the same time they never confirmed or denied it either. And people were like, oh, he's in a serious relationship. This can't be true. We're both Pam and Liam are single, but admittedly I was rooting for it so much.
Speaker 2:I kind of ignored some of the other signs. And that's why when they came out with that article, I think it was TMZ that broke the news that they weren't a couple. I like felt let down. I was like, oh my God, even I fall for that? Like, wow.
Speaker 1:I fall for it all. And I've been in the business so for so long. It's just, wanna believe in love. And I think like the way she was putting on his chopstick and just playing into it, I'm really annoyed about that. And then I started thinking like, maybe I don't like Pamela Anderson.
Speaker 1:Okay. This is where my brain goes. I'm not saying this is where I am now. But then I was like, wait, didn't she have that relationship with that Julian Assange? Do you remember that?
Speaker 2:She's had the weirdest group of relate none of them are like the other one. She she goes for radically different people.
Speaker 1:And this guy was a like, he the WikiLeaks guy where he Okay. Like exposed confidential information that put people who are working for the government at risk. And I was like, why would and she like advocated for him and supported him. And I could see that line of thinking that The US is trying to extradite him back to The US to put him on trial for espionage or something like that.
Speaker 2:Right. And she's not even allowed to come back here. So we're because we're trying to catch him.
Speaker 1:Yes. And I was like, that's wacky that she publicly supported him. And then I'm like, she's Canadian. She's not American, so she has different feelings about that. And then I was like, do I feel differently about her remembering that?
Speaker 1:I'm like, is this whole image thing real? Like, that we bought into Pamela Anderson?
Speaker 2:Do you think? I don't know because you never know the information that the other person has. Like, maybe he raised her up and maybe she fell for it. Like, apparently, Tommy Lee is very passionate and great at that as well. So because he to me is a walking red flag, right?
Speaker 2:They're all actually all three of them. Kid Rock, him, and Tommy Lee are just literal people that I would avoid. Me as the great person in picking relationships.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I so I'm like, these are three crazy people. They must have great risk. Like, I just don't know what else to say.
Speaker 1:You're right. And usually, they're probably a high level of narcissism. And someone like Pam, if her image is real, a sweet, kind mom could easily fall into that trap. Like, I definitely am that person too. Get caught up in the charm of the person.
Speaker 1:And then by the time you know it, you're like deep in their toxicity.
Speaker 2:Could be that. It could be also they're showing you what they wanna show you. And I suspect with all three of them, they got really close to her wound, which is I'm not this person. The media portrays me, and they probably said something along those lines. If you really think about it, like, Tommy Lee is probably like, I'm this nice guy.
Speaker 2:The media thinks I'm this hardcore rocker. Kid Rock, probably something similar. Yes. And then Julian, probably something similar. Yes.
Speaker 2:Everyone thinks I'm a national security villain. I actually saved people. I'm not the person that me and so if you're Pam, you're like, wow, me too.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That makes sense. Okay. So then we're buying into Pam. Is there any way that Liam was like, didn't call her?
Speaker 1:Well, you know, he was like, it's it's real and she no. I'm gonna roll on this and I'm gonna say it's a fake relationship for the movie period. That's my my rolling.
Speaker 2:I just feel like by now with all this speculation and the box office numbers are already set at this point. The ratings are in. People have posted on Rotten Tomatoes. There's no benefit to maintaining this facade at this point. The only thing I can think of is because they don't want to be called liars.
Speaker 2:They're not going to just open up and go, gotcha. So they're just going to let it die out. That's what I think they'll do because there's no, unless they truly are together, by now they would have issued that statement, makes me think they weren't because I think they just want us to forget about it.
Speaker 1:I just remembered, I was just thinking, I have a friend speaking of orchestrated fake relationships. You would know about this too being in the business, and it still comes to a surprise. I'm just gonna tell you who it is. Who cares? I have a friend who told me that she knew somebody who was dating Ryan Gosling.
Speaker 1:Okay? Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. I don't know.
Speaker 1:This is just what someone told me. And then he broke up with her. Maybe he he just need an excuse to break up with her. But he was like, my PR company or my manager wants me to go be public with Eva Mendez. And that's supposedly their relationship was a PR relationship, which obviously, I think then turned real because they have kids together.
Speaker 1:But what other relationships have been PR relationships that we've been duped about, do you think? Do any come to your mind?
Speaker 2:I actually think more common is co stars genuinely hooking up because don't forget, movies are shot on location. You're in an isolated contained environment. And within that environment, there's kind of restriction of movement, depending on if you're A, B or C level talent, if you're in production. So you get these really forced intimate vibes. Plus you're on a shared project where if the project succeeds, it's a win for everybody.
Speaker 2:So it just creates these, I call them false intimate environments. Then people get out to the real world and realize a lot of this doesn't translate. I only liked you when we were playing these characters and then it crumbles. So I think that is far more the norm than, and what I actually think happens too, because I work at a summer camp and I see this happen with camp romances. People want them to, yeah.
Speaker 2:So people hook up over the summer and then they get to the real world. It doesn't work, but like they give it the college try for a few months to try to make it work. And it's just, we're not in the same environment. Things don't translate. I had a summer
Speaker 1:boyfriend like that. I dated him when I lived at the beach. And then when I went back to college, I was like, no, it's
Speaker 2:And tale as old as time from the camp perspective. And I think just every time I'm on set, it reminds me of camp with that, you know, we're all in this together. Only we're gonna have these shared stories. Nobody on the outside even knows what we're dealing with. And it's true, right?
Speaker 2:Because something happens in production, nobody else can really relate to it.
Speaker 1:It reminds me of the Amy Lou Wood and Walton Goggins relationship of the White Lotus, that whole scandal. How could you not fall in love in paradise when you were playing that role? And then he's like, oh, wait a minute. I have a wife. She's like, oh, you're not leaving your wife?
Speaker 1:I don't know if that's true. That's all in my head.
Speaker 2:There is so much. I we're never gonna get the truth on that one because one, I think that was a leak, not a publicity stunt. Like somebody leaked it on set and they looked like they had chemistry from what I could see. And like, I'm a I'm a Goggins fan. I'm an Amy Lee Wood fan.
Speaker 2:So like, I also don't want scandal for them, but I'm like, I think that one actually happened. Cause yeah, you're in Thailand and nobody speaks English in Thailand. Right? So you're on a set where the only people who speak, one of speak English in Thailand, but you know what I mean? Like you're on this set where everybody's on the same schedule.
Speaker 2:We have to meet here and be at this time. We are the English speakers, so we're gonna be a little bit closer knit. And I just think, and you're shooting sex scenes.
Speaker 1:Yeah. No
Speaker 2:doubt. Some kind of chemistry.
Speaker 1:And then I was like, then there are relationships so bad that you know they're real.
Speaker 2:Like the
Speaker 1:Sweeney, Scooter Braun relationship. Right? Like that is such a match made in hell that it Yes. You know it's real.
Speaker 2:Well, okay. So I think there are two people who probably have a shared worldview and I think they're also intelligent in their respective areas. So I think that could definitely be attractive, right? Like we have shared interests and we're, we are intelligent people, But yeah. They make
Speaker 1:so much sense, actually.
Speaker 2:They do. They do. So I'm just like, okay. It's like Lex Lutheran cat woman. Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And then the other thing I would the only other person I can think of, and I'm like, sure there are so many more. But like the Tom Cruise's, I I feel like all of his relationships are arranged because of the position he's in with Scientology. That's my feeling on that. I I think they're handpicked.
Speaker 2:I think that his church heavily influences his choices because I do think at the end of the day, the Katie Holmes thing was one big nightmare for the entire I don't know. Are they a church? Whatever Scientology is. So I do think that they they weigh in and are like that person's gonna be a better fit. But I don't know.
Speaker 2:That man is an enigma.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I think with the Ana de Armas relationship, I think I I, like, researched a little bit to see. I don't think she really has close family. So I was like, that would be a good person for him to be with. Like, no one to, like, pull her back out.
Speaker 1:She could just be in her Scientology.
Speaker 2:She's also someone who doesn't make her own statements. So she's quiet in the press. She's not out there getting paparazzi pics taken. And I think that's ideal because he got Katie Holmes at like kind of the height of her fame there and that just created a frenzy and a microscope for them. And then how she divorced him was like something that should be a movie.
Speaker 2:How she had to get like the burner phones and like meet at this Like, woah.
Speaker 1:Someday. And Suri Cruise will play Katie Holmes.
Speaker 2:Poor Suri.
Speaker 1:And by the way, like, I have such information on that. I don't even think I could say it.
Speaker 2:I don't wanna I know. I'm like, I'm tiptoeing here as well because I have an I have another angle that I'm coming from where I'm like, I don't even want this getting back to me that I said your name.
Speaker 1:Same. Forget it. They're great. Tom Cruise is great. Everything about him is wonderful.
Speaker 1:We love it. Other other relationship that they have said a lot is fake was the Bad Bunny Kendall Jenner relationship. But I think that actually might have been real based on the fact that I've heard Bad Bunny is dating, like, multiple women. They said that she was a cover maybe for I don't know. Because he was gay.
Speaker 1:That's what people have said. I don't know. I don't have opinion on that. But
Speaker 2:I I just also think that's crazy in 2025 that people would need the services of a beard to begin with, but Kendall's so big. It wouldn't serve her to be somebody's beard. So that makes me think it's not true. That's kind of And Yeah. Where I lie on Just, just from a gut instinct, she only stands to lose from that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That makes sense. Unless she was like $30,000,000 to hang out with him, but why he's huge.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's just like, he's huge. She's so huge, so independently wealthy and just doesn't need that. So I don't know. That's why I'm just like, that would be a lot of headache to have to keep justifying and justifying.
Speaker 2:And I, that would just be not something she would be motivated to do. Would think she'd wanna be famous for a product she's selling, not a relationship she's in that might not be real.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I agree. All right. Well, I guess the Liam Neeson and the Pamela Anderson relationship has died in the winds, and that's the last we'll see of it.
Speaker 2:This is what I think. I think we're never gonna hear from them again on this topic. I think Pam has a, has a future. I'd love to see her play a villain. I think that would be a great role for her next, but I think this story, will never get a public statement on and we will never hear about it again.
Speaker 2:That's what I think.
Speaker 1:I agree. I agree. Thank you for your opinion. I I'm going with you. I trust you.
Speaker 2:Jamie,
Speaker 1:where can we find you on the socials? And tell us a little bit about what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I am cool mom Jamie on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram. I my Instagram is more of my cooking stuff because I actually love to cook like Pam, but my TikToks is celebrity stuff and my YouTube is celebrity stuff. So I just weigh in as somebody who was in the industry for over ten years, and I just give my unsolicited opinion.
Speaker 1:And they're always real and they're always like juicy. I'm like, yeah, she's saying it because you'll find people who don't say what they really think and I love that about you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Think people are afraid to also speak the truth because they're afraid to be ostracized by the industry, but like I'm out. So I I can just tell you what I know.
Speaker 1:Yep. I love that. So go follow Jamie.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you. That was such a fascinating conversation. And it has me wondering like what's the line between fabricated celebrity romance, real life romance, like all these relationships either start on set, are orchestrated by management or TV, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. And I just think whether this relationship was fabricated or not, it didn't work out. I'm hurt because I thought they were the perfect match, but I think we'll just let this fade into the wind.
Speaker 1:I wanna hear what you think. Please message me hi at talk pop to me dot com and comment on these stories. Tell me what you want to hear more of. Follow me on TikTok at Ash Cantley and let me know what you think of the latest stories, what you want me to cover. Send a DM, please.
Speaker 1:If you like what you listen, subscribe, share it with a friend. I'm excited to keep keep the stories coming. Until next week.