Pamela Stephenson#Psychology

{{Short description|New Zealand psychologist and actress (born 1949)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Pamela Stephenson

| image = Pamela Stephenson.jpg

| caption = Stephenson in 1992

| alt = A woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, facing to the left

| birth_name = Pamela Stephenson

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1949|12|4|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater = California Graduate Institute (PhD, Clinical Psychology)

| years_active = 1971–present

| works = Full list

| occupation = {{hlist|Actress|clinical psychologist|writer|comedian}}

| known_for = {{hlist|Not the Nine O'Clock News|Saturday Night Live}}

| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Nicholas Ball|1978|1984|end=div}}|{{marriage|Billy Connolly|20 December 1989}}}}

| children = 3

}}

Pamela Stephenson, Lady Connolly (born 4 December 1949) is a New Zealand-born psychologist, writer, actress and comedian. She moved with her family to Australia in 1953 and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). After playing several stage and television roles, Stephenson emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1976.

Stephenson appeared in British television shows, including Space: 1999, New Avengers, The Professionals and Tales of the Unexpected before her breakthrough role alongside Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones in the satirical sketch show Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982). In 1981, for her part in that series, Stephenson was shortlisted for BAFTAs in the Actress and Light Entertainment performance categories. She appeared in the films History of the World, Part I (1981) and Superman{{nbsp}}III (1983), and from 1984 to 1985, she was cast in season 10 of the American comedy-sketch television show Saturday Night Live.

In the late 1980s, Stephenson co-founded the protest group Parents for Safe Food, which successfully campaigned for a UK ban on the possibly carcinogenic plant growth regulator Alar being sprayed on apples and pears for human consumption. Since a career-change to clinical psychology and obtaining a doctorate, Stephenson has written several books, including two about her husband Billy Connolly. She has presented a psychology themed interview show called Shrink Rap (2007), and has written Head Case: Treat Yourself to Better Mental Health (2009) and Sex Life: How Our Sexual Encounters and Experiences Define Who We Are (2011). Since 2007, Stephenson has written a sexual-advice column for The Guardian. She was a finalist in the eighth series of the BBC television show Strictly Come Dancing in 2010. Her autobiography The Varnished Untruth was published in 2012.

Early life

Pamela Stephenson was born on 4 December 1949 in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand.{{cite web |title=Pamela Stephenson |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9ef440ee |website=British Film Institute |access-date=5 May 2023 |archive-date=27 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127235951/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9ef440ee |url-status=dead }} In 1953, she moved to Australia with her scientist parents and her two sisters.{{rp|26}} She attended Boronia Park Primary School, Sydney, and then Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School, Darlinghurst.{{rp|35}} According to Stephenson's autobiography, she was raped at age 16 by a 35-year-old heroin addict and contracted a sexually transmitted infection (STI).{{cite news |last1=Gould |first1=Laura |title=Funny woman Pamela Stephenson opens up about 'rape' ordeal in autobiography |url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/funny-woman-pamela-stephenson-bares-all-in-memoirs/news-story/5f47b0fa70146a501301eaad779d7934 |access-date=14 July 2019 |work=The Advertiser |year=2012}} She concealed the incident but when her parents learnt of her infection, they expelled her from the family home; according to Stephenson: "I remember the feeling well, because I still experience it every time someone rejects me, even in some relatively small way".{{cite news |last1=Mathieson |first1=Jack |title=Junkie rapist took my virginity at 16.. then my parents kicked me out, reveals Billy Connolly's wife Pamela Stephenson |url=https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/pamela-stephensons-rape-hell-1316299 |access-date=14 July 2019 |work=Daily Record |year=2012 |archive-date=14 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714094111/https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/pamela-stephensons-rape-hell-1316299 |url-status=live}} Stephenson studied at the University of New South Wales but soon switched to the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney.{{cite web |title=Pamela Stephenson: Biography |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing/2010/dancers/celebrity/pamela_stephenson.shtml |publisher=BBC |year=2014 |access-date=5 May 2023 |archive-date=26 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426063950/https://www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing/2010/dancers/celebrity/pamela_stephenson.shtml |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Pamela Stephenson-Connolly discovered her passion for dance as a child when she and her sister were sent to classes during their recovery from polio. It was how she realised her love for the stage and dance soon gave way to acting. |newspaper=Western Suburbs Weekly |date=16 September 2014 |page=20}}

Performing career

=Early career=

After graduating from NIDA in 1970,{{rp|35}} Edgar Metcalfe employed Stephenson on a six-month contract for the National Theatre Company, and she performed in six plays at The Playhouse Theatre, Perth, in 1971.{{cite book |editor-last1= Parsons |editor-first1=Philip |editor-last2=Chance |editor-first2=Victoria |title=Companion to Theatre in Australia |year=1996 |publisher=Currency Press |isbn=978-0-86819-357-1 |page=395}} Meanwhile, she appeared with Chips Rafferty in the short film Willy Willy (1970 or 1971).{{cite news |last1=Berryman |first1=Ken |last2=McLoughlin |first2=Kate |title=When im culling you... |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/213879444 |newspaper=Filmnews |date=1 April 1984 |page=9 |via=Trove |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814041102/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/213879444 |url-status=live }} Subsequent theatre roles included a part in Peer Gynt and June in the musical Gypsy.{{cite news |title=Back to star in Sydney Gypsy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-back-to-star-i/124390506/ |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=11 September 1975 |page=19 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814041059/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-back-to-star-i/124390506/ |url-status=live }} Stephenson also appeared in the television programmes Division 4, Homicide and Matlock Police. She then starred in the film Private Collection (1973).{{cite news |title=Rod in role of Ryan |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-rod-in-role-as/124391010/ |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=18 June 1973 |page=15 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814041504/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-rod-in-role-as/124391010/ |url-status=live }} Stephenson starred as Elsie in the ABC-TV production of the opera The Yeomen of the Guard (1972).{{cite news |last=Musgove |first=Nan |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51553466 |title=When iron corsets ruled the curves |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly |volume=39 |issue=50 |date=10 May 1972 |accessdate=18 August 2021 |page=31 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814041510/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51553466 |url-status=live }} From 1972 to 1973, she played Julie King in the Australian television series Ryan{{cite book |last=Moran |first=Albert |title=Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series |year=1993 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |isbn=978-0-642-18462-7 |page=398}} and in 1974, she played Josephine in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) production of Malcolm Williamson's opera The Violins of Saint-Jacques.{{cite magazine |last=Klisko |first=Jule |title=ABC-TV opera in color |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47121984 |magazine=The Australian Women's Weekly |date=13 March 1974 |page=10 |via=Trove}}

In 1976, Stephenson moved to the UK, where she worked in film and television; her roles included Michelle Osgood in the Space: 1999 episode "Catacombs of the Moon" (1976);{{cite book|title=Exploring Space: 1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5E8-mw_OrnoC|first=John Kenneth|last=Muir|publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2015|isbn=978-0-7864-5527-0|page=127|access-date=10 September 2019|archive-date=10 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810164405/https://books.google.com/books?id=5E8-mw_OrnoC|url-status=live}} Wendy in New Avengers episode "Angels of Death" (1977);{{cite book| last=Rogers |first=Dave |title=Avengers Anew |year=1985 |publisher=Michael Joseph |isbn=978-0-7181-2604-9 |page=31}} and a supporting role in "Man from the South", the inaugural episode of Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected (1979).{{cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |author-link=Leslie Halliwell |title=Halliwell's television companion |publisher=Grafton |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-246-12838-6}}{{rp|803}} Stephenson played three roles in the British crime-action television series The Professionals in 1978. According to media scholar Leon Hunt, a scene in which Stephenson plays a nurse from the inside of whose blouse one of the leads retrieves a live hand-grenade epitomises the programme.{{cite book |editor-last1=Osgerby |editor-first1=Bill |editor-last2=Gough-Yates |editor-first2=Anna |last=Hunt |first=Leon |title=Action TV: Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks |chapter=Drop everything{{nbsp}}... including your pants! The professionals and 'hard' action TV |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-415-22621-9 |page=127}} She also played a nurse in Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977).{{cite news |last=Pike |first=Liz |title=Confessions of the conscripts |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/shepherds-bush-gazette-confessions-of-th/124319386/ |newspaper=Shepherds Bush Gazette |date=14 April 1977 |page=18 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814041552/https://www.newspapers.com/article/shepherds-bush-gazette-confessions-of-th/124319386/ |url-status=live }}

Among Stephenson's first appearances in the UK was a live, on-stage role in The Comic Strip with leads Rik Mayall, Peter Richardson and Alexei Sayle at Raymond Revuebar in Soho. This was not a happy experience; according to an interview she gave in 2014: "Doing stand-up was like a war with everyone playing this game of 'I can be funnier than you'{{sp}}".{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/not-nine-o-clock-news-40-anniversary-rowan-atkinson-mel-smith-griff-rhys-jones-pamela-stephenson-a9150431.html|title=Not the Nine O'Clock News at 40: No longer exactly topical but still surprisingly funny|date=16 October 2019|website=The Independent|access-date=10 October 2020|archive-date=13 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113015308/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/not-nine-o-clock-news-40-anniversary-rowan-atkinson-mel-smith-griff-rhys-jones-pamela-stephenson-a9150431.html|url-status=live}}

=''Not the Nine O'Clock News''=

Stephenson gained prominence with her part in the UK sketch-comedy television show Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982) alongside Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones.{{rp|591}} It was a satirical sketch show, influenced by the surreal humour of Monty Python's Flying Circus.{{cite book |editor-last=Newcomb |editor-first=Horace |editor-link=Horace Newcomb |last=Fiddy |first=Dick |title=Encyclopedia of Television |chapter=Not the Nine O'Clock News |year=2004 |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn |edition=Second |volume=3 |isbn=978-1-57958-413-9 |pages=1672–1673 }} In The Guinness Book of Classic British TV, Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping wrote Stephenson "took up the punk ethic of outraging the audience with directness",{{cite book |last1=Cornell |first1=Paul |author-link1=Paul Cornell |last2=Day |first2=Martin |author-link2=Martin Day (writer) |last3=Topping |first3=Keith |author-link3=Keith Topping |title=The Guinness Book of Classic British TV |publisher=Guinness |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-85112-628-9}}{{rp|150}} and that "most critics were united in their praise of Atkinson and Stephenson".{{rp|151}} Stephenson caricatured newsreaders Angela Rippon and Jan Leeming in the show.{{rp|150–1}} In one sketch, she parodied musician Kate Bush with a song called "Oh England, My Leotard", which references Bush's song "Oh England My Lionheart" and is musically similar to "Them Heavy People".{{cite book |last=Dodd |first=Philip |title=The Reverend Guppy's Aquarium: How Jules Leotard, Adolphe Sax, Roy Jacuzzi and Co. Found Their Way Into the Dictionary |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-09-950572-3 |publisher=Arrow |page=108 }}{{cite book |last=Thomson |first=Graeme |title=Under The Ivy - The Life And Music Of Kate Bush |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-78305-747-4 |publisher=Omnibus Press |page=99 }} Bush's biographer Graeme Thomson said the spoof has "clever and very funny" elements.

In one Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch that became famous,{{cite news |first1=Jonathan |last1=Brown |first2=Lucy |last2=Phillips |title=Heard the one about women and comedy? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/heard-the-one-about-women-and-comedy-5347504.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=29 August 2005 |access-date=8 August 2023 |archive-date=10 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810225227/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/heard-the-one-about-women-and-comedy-5347504.html |url-status=live }} Stephenson played a car-rental receptionist who, when asked by a customer if he can use an American Express card, she replies: "That will do nicely, sir, and would you like to rub my tits, too?", and unbuttons her blouse.{{cite book |last=Stephenson |first=Pamela |title=The Varnished Untruth |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-84983-923-5}}{{rp|16}}{{cite news |last=Hamilton |first=Alex |title=From the archive, 17 October 1980: Pamela Stephenson's biting wit |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/oct/17/pamela-stephenson-not-the-nine-oclock-news-1980 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=17 October 2014 |orig-date=17 October 1980 |access-date=6 May 2023 |archive-date=6 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506212222/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/oct/17/pamela-stephenson-not-the-nine-oclock-news-1980 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Affleck |first=John |title=Review: The Varnished Untruth: My Story |newspaper=The Gold Coast Bulletin |date=6 October 2012 |page=18}} The sketch satirises the slogan "That'll do nicely, sir" the American Express company used in its advertising.{{cite book |last1=Ayto |first1=John |last2=Crofton |first2=Ian |title=Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=2006 |page=753 |isbn=978-0-550-10564-6 }} According to a 2007 editorial in Art Monthly, this sketch "perfectly captured the 'greed is good' spirit of the 80s, the legacy of which is still being felt".{{cite magazine |title=Editorial: That'll do nicely, sir |magazine=Art Monthly |date=October 2007 |issue=310 |page=16}} The Guardian columnist Simon Hoggart said the sketch is "[not] exactly subversive".{{cite news |last=Hoggart |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Hoggart |title=Cold comfort on the beach |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/apr/02/politicalcolumnists.politics |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2 April 2005 |access-date=8 August 2023 |archive-date=10 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810231648/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/apr/02/politicalcolumnists.politics |url-status=live }}

Not the Nine O'Clock News was awarded the Golden Rose for innovation at the 1980 Montreux Festival.{{rp|151}} It won the BAFTA for Best Light Entertainment Programme in 1981, and Stephenson was shortlisted in the performance categories Actress and Light Entertainment performance.{{cite web |title=Television in 1981 |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1981/television |website=BAFTA Awards Database |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-date=5 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205161508/http://awards.bafta.org/award/1981/television |url-status=live }} Spin-offs from the show included books, record albums, and the stage show Not in Front of the Audience.{{rp|152}} Stephenson made a comedy-sketch television pilot called Stephenson's Rocket, which was not taken up.{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=J.F. |date=2012 |title=The True History of the Black Adder |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ft0EWWSRdEC |publisher=Arrow books |page=90 |isbn=978-0-09956-416-4 |access-date=8 January 2015 |archive-date=25 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125031926/https://books.google.com/books?id=_ft0EWWSRdEC |url-status=live }}

=1980s and 1990s=

Stephenson acted in Mel Brooks' comedy film History of the World, Part I (1981); she later said she found it a dull experience due the lack of influence she had over the production. In 1982, she starred in the West End production of Joseph Papp's version of The Pirates of Penzance; The Times critic Irving Wardle wrote Stephenson "reveals unsuspected coloratura powers as Mabel, but the part wastes her comic gift".{{cite magazine |title=The Pirates of Penzance |magazine=London Theatre Record |date=19 May 1982 |volume=II |issue=11 |page=278}}{{cite news |last=Wardle |first=Irving |title=Swashbuckling showmanship |newspaper=The Times |date=27 May 1982 |page=15 }}

Stephenson appeared in the music video for Landscape's single "Norman Bates" (1981); the video is a pastiche of Alfred Hitchcock's movie Psycho (1960) with Stephenson in the Janet Leigh role.{{cite book |last=Humphries |first=Patrick |title=The Films of Alfred Hitchcock |publisher=Portland House |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-86124-279-5 |page=147}} Also in 1981, Stephenson appeared in performances of Clive James's 2,000-line poem "Charles Charming's Challenges On The Pathway To The Throne", which he wrote in expectation of Prince Charles announcing his engagement. The poem was performed for a two-week run in London starting in June, with James, Stephenson and Russell Davies, and was and released as an album.{{cite news |last=Colvin |first=Claire |title=Arts diary: Wedding epic |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-observer-wedding-epic/124404999/ |newspaper=The Observer |date=19 April 1981 |page=34 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814041530/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-observer-wedding-epic/124404999/ |url-status=live }} The following year, Stephenson released a four-track double single; the tracks were written by Richard James Burgess and one featured Gary Kemp on guitar.{{cite news |last=Wheatcroft |first=Howard |title=Not good news for Pam |newspaper=Macclesfield Express |date=18 March 1982 |page=10 |quote=the odd amusing lines do not warrant four sides of material.}} Several regional newspapers poorly reviewed the single.

{{cite news |title=TV's off moments |newspaper=Walsall Observer |date=19 February 1982 |page=19 |quote='Mr Wrong'{{nbsp}}... is no more than a gimmick.{{nbsp}}...'Pretty Boys' [lacks] any appeal for a second listen.}}
{{cite news |last=Cusack |first=Jim|title=Charting the rise of She |newspaper=Belfast Telegraph |date=20 March 1982 |page=7 |quote=bland stuff}} Stephenson was the subject of an episode of Behind the Scenes with{{nbsp}}... (1981), a BBC1 series about the creative process.{{cite news |last=Hanson |first=Julie |title=Spotlight on glamour girl |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/coventry-evening-telegraph-spotlight-on/124405964/ |newspaper=Coventry Evening Telegraph |date=10 September 1981 |page=3 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814041524/https://www.newspapers.com/article/coventry-evening-telegraph-spotlight-on/124405964/ |url-status=live }} David Williams of Daily Post said the programme "tarnished her image a little".{{cite news |last=Williams |first=David |title=Win, lose or bore |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-post-the-paper-for-wales-win-los/124406160/ |newspaper=Daily Post |location=Colwyn Bay |date=12 September 1981 |page=3 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814041509/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-post-the-paper-for-wales-win-los/124406160/ |url-status=live }} In 1982, Stephenson was a guest on BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs.{{cite web |title=Desert Island Discs: Pamela Stephenson |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mkk7 |publisher=BBC |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-date=7 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407145854/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mkk7 |url-status=live }}

Director Richard Lester called Stephenson for a part in Superman III (1983) on the basis of her performances in Not The Nine O'Clock News.{{cite news |last=Cain |first=Scott |title=Pamela Stephenson takes her comedy work seriously |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution-pamela-stephens/124281803/ |newspaper=The Atlanta Constitution |date=2 July 1983 |page=W.10 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=15 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715223816/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution-pamela-stephens/124281803/ |url-status=live }} Her character was Lorelei Ambrosia, the Kant-reading girlfriend of the film's antagonist Ross Webster. In the opening sequence, Ambrosia is the foil for a series of sight gags that reference Lester's The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965);{{cite book |last=Sinyard |first=Neil |title=The films of Richard Lester |publisher=Croom Helm |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-7099-3347-2 |pages=160–162 }} the character also has a love scene with Superman at the top of the Statue of Liberty. Joe Baltake of the Philadelphia Daily News rated Stephenson's performance in the film as "excellent"{{cite news |last=Baltake |first=Joe |title=Superman III |newspaper=Philadelphia Daily News |date=17 June 1983 |page=53}} and Steve Jensen highlighted praised her performance in The Berkeley Gazette{{cite news |last=Jensen |first=Steve |title=Mean, rotten parts alienating for often comic 'Superman III' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-berkeley-gazette-mean-rotten-parts/124284427/ |newspaper=The Berkeley Gazette |date=11 June 1983 |page=15 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814042007/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-berkeley-gazette-mean-rotten-parts/124284427/ |url-status=live }} but Colin Greenland of Imagine said she was "completely wasted in a part which would have been too dumb for Goldie Hawn".{{cite journal |last=Greenland |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Greenland |title =Film Review |journal=Imagine |date=November 1983 |issue= 8|page=19 }} Stephenson starred alongside John Gielgud and Robert Hays in Scandalous (1984), which Rob Cohen directed; critic Ben McCann said the film is "notable only for wasting the talents of all concerned".{{cite book |editor-last1=Allon |editor-first1=Yoram |editor-last2=Cullen |editor-first2=Del |editor-last3=Patterson |editor-first3=Hannah |last=McCann |first=Ben |title=Contemporary North American Film Directors: a Wallflower Critical Guide |chapter=Rob Cohen |year=2001 |publisher=Wallflower |isbn=978-1-903364-10-9 |page=95 }} Also in 1984, Stephenson appeared in the comedy horror film Bloodbath at the House of Death, which according to Barry Forshaw's negative review in Starburst is a "shameful waste of talented performers like Pamela Stephenson".{{cite magazine |last=Forshaw |first=Barry |title=Video File |magazine=Starburst |issue=4 |volume=7 |date=December 1984 |page=41 }} Stephenson's performance in Finders Keepers (1984) received mixed reviews;{{cite book |last=Yule |first=Andrew |title=The man who "framed" the Beatles: a biography of Richard Lester |year=1994 |publisher=D.I. Fine |isbn=978-1-55611-390-1 }}{{rp|333–334}} Andrew Yule, in his biography of the director Lester, praised "a deft appearance by the wonderfully funny, ridiculously underrated Pamela Stephenson"{{rp|334}} but in 1989, Jon Casimir wrote: "As sure an indicator of imminent mediocrity as any, Pamela Stephenson is cast as a supporting actress".{{cite news |last=Casimir |first=Jon |title=Finders Keepers |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-finders-keeper/124403924/ |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=1 May 1989 |page=13S |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814041551/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-finders-keeper/124403924/ |url-status=live }}

In 1984–1985, Stephenson was cast in the 10th season of the American comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live (SNL),{{cite magazine |last=Sheffield |first=Rob |title=Saturday Night Live. 40 years. 141 cast members. We rank them all. |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=26 February 2015 |page=38 }} making her the show's second—and only female—cast member to be born outside North America, joining Tony Rosato, and {{as of|2019|alt=as of 2019}}, the show's only New-Zealander cast member.{{cite news |first=Gus |last=Wezerek |title=The 'S.N.L.' Stars Who Lasted, and the Ones Who Flamed Out |work=The New York Times |date=2019-12-14 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/14/arts/television/SNL-history.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2019-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214233933/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/14/arts/television/SNL-history.html |archive-date=2019-12-14 |url-status=live

|quote=Some of the names here will be familiar only to die-hard fans; others, like Murphy, defined what was funny for generations of viewers.}} Her characters on the show included Billy Idol and Cyndi Lauper. In a retrospective article about SNL in Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield described Stephenson as "a bright spot in a weak season". In the UK in 1986, Stephenson hosted an episode of the television show Saturday Live.{{rp|713}} The same year, Stephenson appeared in the television drama Lost Empires; The Daily Telegraph critic Charles Clover called her was one of the positives in a dull series.{{cite news |last=XLover |first=Charles |title=Dali's dream |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-dalis-dream-image/124335884/ |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=22 November 1986 |page=10 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814042007/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-dalis-dream-image/124335884/ |url-status=live }} In 1987, Stephenson appeared in Prince Edward's charity television special The Grand Knockout Tournament with many other celebrities.{{cite news |title=Some of the Knockout stars |newspaper=Staffordshire Newsletter |date=19 June 1987 |page=10}} She had leading parts in the black comedy film Those Dear Departed (1987) and the critically-panned and commercially unsuccessful film Les Patterson Saves the World (1987).{{cite book |editor-last=Murray |editor-first=Scott |editor-link=Scott Murray (filmmaker) |last=Martin |first=Adrian |author-link=Adrian Martin |title=Australian film, 1978–1992: a survey of theatrical features |chapter=Les Patterson Saves the World |year=1993 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-553584-6 |page=223}} She toured the one-woman theatre shows Naughty Night Nurses Without Panties Down Under (1985) and Scandalous Behaviour (1987).{{cite news |title=A trifle controversial |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/coventry-evening-telegraph-a-trifle-cont/124404375/ |newspaper=Coventry Evening Telegraph |date=5 June 1987 |page=20 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814041516/https://www.newspapers.com/article/coventry-evening-telegraph-a-trifle-cont/124404375/ |url-status=live }}

Authors Mike Lepine and Mark Leigh, who had worked with Adrian Edmondson on the 1986 comedy book How to Be a Complete Bastard, approached Stephenson to collaborate on a companion volume How to Be a Complete Bitch, which was published in 1987.{{cite news |title=The book bitches have been waiting for |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stanmore-observer-the-book-bitches-have/124302477/ |newspaper=Stanmore Observer |date=15 October 1987 |page=22 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814042007/https://www.newspapers.com/article/stanmore-observer-the-book-bitches-have/124302477/ |url-status=live }} How to Be a Complete Bitch became a top-ten bestseller in the UK{{cite news |title=Bestsellers |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-bestsellers/124303180/ |date=16 November 1996 |page=68}} and sold over 300,000 copies by October that year.{{cite news |last=Barlow |first=Lynn |title=The joys of being a bitch! |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/western-daily-press-the-joys-of-being-a/124302552/ |newspaper=Western Daily Press |date=8 October 1987 |page=8 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814042008/https://www.newspapers.com/article/western-daily-press-the-joys-of-being-a/124302552/ |url-status=live }} Stephenson told Candida Baker of The Age she was pleased the book was described as "sexist, violent and crude".{{cite news |first=Candida |last=Baker |title=Bitchy response to a book for bastards |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-bitchy-response-to-a-book-for-ba/129623279/ |newspaper=The Age |date=26 December 1987 |page=30 |access-date=8 August 2023 |archive-date=11 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811135717/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-bitchy-response-to-a-book-for-ba/129623279/ |url-status=live }} The book spawned an eponymous board game.{{cite web |first=Simon |last=Hattenstone |author-link=Simon Hattenstone |title=Honey, I shrink the stars |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/mar/31/lifeandhealth.channel4 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=31 March 2007 |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-date=11 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711062640/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/mar/31/lifeandhealth.channel4 |url-status=live }}

Stephenson made her radio acting debut in the BBC Radio 4 play The Spectre of Ernie Pike (1989).{{cite news |title=Radio |newspaper=The Sunday Telegraph |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-telegraph-the-spectre-of-ernie-pi/124306232/ |date=22 October 1989 |page=7D.39 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814042024/https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-telegraph-the-spectre-of-ernie-pi/124306232/ |url-status=live }} She presented Move Over Darling (1990), a series of five BBC television programmes about the role of women at work and at home; the show had an all-female editorial team with Janet Street-Porter as executive producer.{{cite news |last=Sampson |first=Val |title=The BBC's balancing act |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-the-bbcs-balancing-act/124305813/ |newspaper=The Guardian |date=6 March 1990 |page=37 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814042521/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-the-bbcs-balancing-act/124305813/ |url-status=live }} In 1993, Stephenson hosted the Australian lifestyle programme Sex, which The Sydney Morning Herald{{'}}s critic criticised as being "prurient".{{Cite news |title=Armchair critic |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-heres-an-end/124309078/ |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=20 June 1993 |page=TW.54 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814042509/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-heres-an-end/124309078/ |url-status=live }}

Psychology and writing

According to her autobiography, after some years of consideration and having met all of her goals in comedy, Stephenson decided to switch to a career in psychology.{{rp|214}} In the early 1990s, after studying at Antioch University in the United States, Stephenson qualified as a clinical psychologist. In 1996, she obtained a doctorate in clinical psychology from the California Graduate Institute and set up a private practice.{{cite news |last=Greenstreet |first=Rosanna |title=Q&A: Pamela Stephenson Connolly |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/09/pamela-stephenson-connolly-interview |newspaper=The Guardian |date=9 November 2012 |access-date=7 May 2023 |archive-date=21 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021175053/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/09/pamela-stephenson-connolly-interview |url-status=live }} Her doctoral thesis topic was the "intra-psychic experience of fame".{{cite news |last=Schwartzkoff |first=Louise |title=Sex is on her mind |newspaper=The Sun Herald |date=26 June 2011 |page=E.4}} With an interest in sex therapy, she co-founded the Los Angeles Sexuality Centre and became an adjunct professor at the California Graduate Institute.{{cite news |last=Lallo |first=Michael |title=A funny road to talking sex |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/a-funny-road-to-talking-sex-20110607-1fqxw.html |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=8 June 2011 |access-date=7 May 2023 |archive-date=30 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430212716/http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/a-funny-road-to-talking-sex-20110607-1fqxw.html |url-status=live }} Stephenson's research included an investigation into the lives of transgender people in Samoa, Tonga and India.{{cite news |first=Wendy |last=Tuohy |title=Wild at Heart |newspaper=Herald Sun |date=10 May 2011 |page= 10}}

In 2002, Stephenson published Billy, a biography of her husband Billy Connolly, which Kirkus Reviews considered "balances wifely affection with professional analysis".{{cite magazine |title=Billy |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/pamela-stephenson/billy-3/ |magazine=Kirkus Reviews |date=24 June 2010 |orig-date=1 August 2002 |access-date=8 May 2023}} It was a best-seller in Britain. Two years later, she released Bravemouth, a diary-style book focusing on Connolly in the year following his sixtieth birthday. Robbie Hudson of The Sunday Times wrote that it was "insubstantial" and "syrupy",{{cite news |last=Hudson |first=Robbie |title=Bravemouth – Paperbacks |newspaper=The Sunday Times |date=5 September 2005 |page=C.55}} while Kirkus Reviews felt that, like the earlier book, it contained "incisive revelations".{{cite magazine |title=Bravemouth |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/pamela-stephenson/billy-3/ |magazine=Kirkus Reviews |date=19 May 2010 |orig-date=1 December 2004 |access-date=8 May 2023}}

Starting in 2004, Stephenson took a year-long sailing voyage that followed a route Robert Louis Stevenson had taken; she wrote about the experience in Treasure Islands: Sailing the South Seas in the Wake of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson (2005). Kirkus Reviews described the book as "earnest and endearing", and said the illustrations "help make this a dreamy, empowering retirement fantasy".{{cite magazine |title=Treasure Islands: Sailing the South Seas in the Wake of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/pamela-stephenson/treasure-islands/ |magazine=Kirkus Reviews |date=19 May 2010 |orig-date=15 May 2006 |access-date=8 May 2023 |archive-date=21 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921201532/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/pamela-stephenson/treasure-islands/ |url-status=live }} The following year, Connolly travelled on her family's boat to follow the South Pacific route her great-great-grandfather Samuel "Salty Sam" Stephenson took. The journey was documented in a four-part series shown on Sky Television and in her book Murder or Mutiny: Mystery, piracy and adventure in the Spice Islands (2006).{{cite news |last=Cockle |first=Jenny |title=In search of Salty Sam: Tales from the Deep|newspaper=The Independent|date=8 October 2006 |pages=CT.2–4} }}

Shrink Rap, in which Stephenson conducted psychology-based interviews with celebrities including Salman Rushdie, Carrie Fisher and Robin Williams premiered on More4 in 2007.{{Cite web |last=Donaldson |first=Brian |url=https://www.list.co.uk/article/7937-shrink-rap/|title=Shrink Rap|date=24 April 2008|website=The List|access-date=3 July 2019|archive-date=16 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116000745/https://www.list.co.uk/article/7937-shrink-rap/|url-status=live}} Her book Head Case: Treat Yourself to Better Mental Health was published that year,{{cite news |last=Hoggard |first=Liz |title=Stars on her couch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-independent-stars-on-her-couch/124275193/ |newspaper=The Independent |date=1 April 2007 |page=21 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814042510/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-independent-stars-on-her-couch/124275193/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |first=Alison |last=Cameron |title=Easier on the troubled brain – mental health |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald| date=18 October 2007 |page=20}} and was followed by Sex Life: How Our Sexual Encounters and Experiences Define Who We Are in 2011. Since 2007, Stephenson has written a weekly advice column called "Sexual Healing" for The Guardian in which she responds to reader-submitted sexual issues and scenarios.{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/pamelastephensonconnolly |work=The Guardian |date=24 April 2008 |access-date=21 May 2010 |title=Pamela Stephenson Connolly |archive-date=30 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730092910/http://www.theguardian.com/profile/pamelastephensonconnolly |url-status=live}} At a time when celebrities were being engaged to write advice columns, Stephenson was unusual in having a relevant qualification.{{cite journal |last1=Attwood |first1=Feona |first2=Meg John |last2=Barker |first3=Petra |last3=Boynton |first4=Justin |last4=Hancock |year=2015 |title=Sense about Sex: Media, Sex Advice, Education and Learning |journal=Sex Education |volume=15 |issue=5 |pages=528–39 |doi=10.1080/14681811.2015.1057635 |s2cid=145394325 |url=http://oro.open.ac.uk/43896/2/AttwoodBarkerBoyntonHancockSE2015.pdf |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414041025/http://oro.open.ac.uk/43896/2/AttwoodBarkerBoyntonHancockSE2015.pdf |url-status=live }} Starting in 2009, she also wrote a relationships-advice column called "Love Matters" for Australian Women's Weekly.{{cite magazine |last=Krum |first=Sharon |title=Dr Pamela, we presume? |magazine=Australian Women's Weekly |date=January 2009 |volume=79 |issue=1}} In 2009, she received an honorary degree from Robert Gordon University{{cite news |title=Ex-comic's jobs dare |newspaper=The Times |date=16 July 2009 |page=18}} in recognition of "her achievement in the field of human sexuality where she has made a marked, sustained and international contribution".{{cite news |last=Gilchrist |first=Jim |title=The Graduate |url=https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/billy-connollys-wife-receives-honorary-1031087 |newspaper=The Scotsman |date=16 July 2009 |page=18 |access-date=7 May 2023 |archive-date=7 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507233957/https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/billy-connollys-wife-receives-honorary-1031087 |url-status=live }}

Stephenson competed in the eighth series of the BBC1 television show Strictly Come Dancing (2010), in which she was partnered by James Jordan.{{cite news |last=Gordon |first=Bryony |author-link=Bryony Gordon |title=There can only be one winner of Strictly Come Dancing: Pamela Stephenson |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/strictly-come-dancing/8209558/There-can-only-be-one-winner-of-Strictly-Come-Dancing-Pamela-Stephenson.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=17 December 2010 |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-date=10 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310164757/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/strictly-come-dancing/8209558/There-can-only-be-one-winner-of-Strictly-Come-Dancing-Pamela-Stephenson.html |url-status=live }} They reached the final and finished third, and Stephenson returned to the show for the 2016 Christmas Special.{{cite news |last=Hogan |first=Michael |title=Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special review: a fitting send-off for Len, Strictly's own Father Christmas |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/12/25/strictly-come-dancing-christmas-special-review-fitting-send/ |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=25 December 2016 |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-date=8 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108094607/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/12/25/strictly-come-dancing-christmas-special-review-fitting-send/ |url-status=live }} Stephenson was a guest on the BBC Radio 3 programme Private Passions in 2010, where her music choices included pieces by Vincenzo Bellini, Erik Satie and Claude Debussy.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wlh1j|title=BBC Radio 3 – Private Passions, Pamela Stephenson Connolly|publisher=BBC|language=en-GB|access-date=25 April 2019|archive-date=6 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106031226/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wlh1j|url-status=live}}

Her autobiography The Varnished Untruth: My Story was published in 2012. Lee Randall of The Scotsman described it as "compelling and emotion-churning",{{cite news |last=Randall |first=Lee |title=Interview: Pamela Stephenson, psychologist and author |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/interview-pamela-stephenson-psychologist-and-author-1607281 |newspaper=The Scotsman |date=24 September 2012 |access-date=8 May 2023 |archive-date=8 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220708220533/http://www.scotsman.com/news/people/interview-pamela-stephenson-psychologist-and-author-1607281 |url-status=live }} and Jane Wheatley of The Sydney Morning Herald said there is plenty of "humour and vivid anecdote", and that "the real heft of this book and its leitmotif is Stephenson's childhood experience of being rejected by her parents; a legacy that dogs her life to this day".{{cite news |last=Wheatley |first=Jane |title=Analyse this |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=15 September 2012 |page=29}}

Stephenson formed a dance company with Brazilian lambazouk dancer Braz Dos Santos, and wrote and produced a dance-drama stage production called Brazouka. Harley Medcalf was lead producer and Arlene Phillips directed. The biographical show told the story of Dos Santos, who performed in the show, and his dancing. It premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2014 and toured South Africa and Australia until January 2015.{{cite news |last=Kaufman |first=Andi |date=16 April 2014 |title=Pamela Stephenson and Arlene Phillips bring 'Brazilliant Dance Company' to Edinburgh Fringe |url=http://www.whatsonstage.com/edinburgh-theatre/news/04-2014/pamela-stephenson-and-arlene-phillips-bring-brazil_34180.html |newspaper=What's On Stage |access-date=26 February 2015 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233759/http://www.whatsonstage.com/edinburgh%2Dtheatre/news/04%2D2014/pamela%2Dstephenson%2Dand%2Darlene%2Dphillips%2Dbring%2Dbrazil_34180.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Thomas |first=Sarah |date=7 November 2014 |title=Brazouka showcases Pamela Stephenson-Connolly's passion for dance |url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/brazouka-showcases-pamela-stephensonconnollys-passion-for-dance-20141104-11g85j.html |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=26 February 2015 |archive-date=7 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407000102/http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/brazouka-showcases-pamela-stephensonconnollys-passion-for-dance-20141104-11g85j.html |url-status=live }}

During a lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic of the early 2020s, Stephenson wrote Bum Farto – The Musical about the 1970s Florida fire chief Joseph "Bum" Farto.{{cite news |last=Assam |first=Kevin |title='Bum Farto – The Musical returns |url=https://keywest.floridaweekly.com/articles/bum-farto-the-musical-returns/ |website=Key West Florida Weekly |date=15 September 2022 |access-date=10 May 2023 |archive-date=18 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118080853/https://keywest.floridaweekly.com/articles/bum-farto-the-musical-returns/ |url-status=live }} On the podcast Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, Sarah Silverman revealed in 2023 that Pamela Stephenson was her therapist.{{cite web |last1=Sarah Silverman Returns |first1=starting at 40 minutes, 34 seconds |title=Episode 215 |url=https://www.earwolf.com/episode/sarah-silverman-returns/ |website=Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend |access-date=2 March 2025}}

Politics and activism

At the 1987 United Kingdom general election, Stephenson was a candidate for the Blancmange Throwers Party in the parliamentary constituency of Windsor and Maidenhead;{{cite news |title=2,327 seek your vote |newspaper=The Times |date=9 June 1987 |pages=13–15}}{{cite news|last1=Nosowicz|first1=Dorota|title=10 key players in no-hope polls|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1999/nov/14/uk.politicalnews1|work=The Guardian|access-date=2 January 2022|date=14 November 1999|archive-date=3 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803055215/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1999/nov/14/uk.politicalnews1|url-status=live}} her campaign pledges included "free blancmanges for pensioners and the unemployed". She finished with 328 votes, the fewest of all of the candidates.{{cite news |title=Election special |newspaper=Cambridge Daily News |date=12 June 1987 |page=64}}{{efn|Her party affiliation was reported as "I Want to Put a Blancmange Down Terry Wogan's Y-fronts party"{{cite news |title=Pam eyes wobbly voters |newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-pam-eyes-wobbl/129624577/ |date=31 May 1987 |page=25 |access-date=8 August 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814042510/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-pam-eyes-wobbl/129624577/ |url-status=live }} and "Put a Blancmange Down Terry Wogan's Y-fronts party"{{cite news |title=Kindred spirits: parliamentary flops |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-kindred-spirits-par/129624032/ |date=20 July 1991 |page=M.10 |access-date=8 August 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814042514/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-kindred-spirits-par/129624032/ |url-status=live }}}}

Stephenson co-founded the pressure group Parents for Safe Food group after becoming concerned about the spraying of the plant-growth-regulating chemical daminozide (also known as Alar), which is believed to be carcinogenic, on apples and pears for human consumption.{{cite news |last=King |first=Linda |title=Pamela's out to save us from our food|newspaper=Reading Evening Post |date=7 June 1990 |page=4}} In 1989, she led a group of celebrity mothers who went to 10 Downing Street to hand Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher a petition calling for a ban on the use of daminozide.{{cite news |title=Star mothers make pesticide plea |newspaper=Aberdeen Press and Journal |date=18 May 1989 |page=12}} Use of the chemical to spray fruit was banned in the UK later that year; news sources attributed the ban to Stephenson's group's campaign.{{cite news |last=Thompson |first=Irene |title=Francesca acts for safer food |newspaper=Huddersfield Daily Examiner |date=10 November 1989 |page=10}}{{cite news |title=Pesticide ingredients disclosure bid |newspaper=Newcastle Journal |date=14 December 1989 |page=3}} In 2010, Stephenson travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo with the international medical-aid charity Medical Emergency Relief International (Merlin) to meet survivors of sexual-and-gender-based violence against women.{{cite web | url=http://www.merlin.org.uk/dr-pamela-stephenson-congo-special-report | title=Dr Pamela Stephenson in Congo: A special report | publisher=Merlin | date=7 June 2010 | access-date=9 April 2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130311061555/http://merlin.org.uk/dr-pamela-stephenson-congo-special-report | archive-date=11 March 2013 }}

Personal life

File:Billy Connolly (26221271743) (cropped).jpg

In 1978, after filming an episode of Hazell with its star Nicholas Ball, Stephenson and Ball married.{{cite news |title='Quickie' divorce for Pamela |newspaper=Liverpool Echo |date=2 May 1984 |page=2 }} Stephenson converted to Buddhism in 1979, shortly before she joined the cast of Not the Nine O'Clock News.{{cite news |last=Waldren |first=Murray |author-link=Murray Waldren |title=But seriously – The new Pamela Stephenson on the real Billy Connolly – The Last Laugh |url=http://members.optusnet.com.au/~waldrenm/pam.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070910051958/http://members.optusnet.com.au/~waldrenm/pam.html |archive-date=10 September 2007 |date=29 September 2001 |newspaper=The Weekend Australian |page=R.01}} Stephenson left Ball to start a relationship with Billy Connolly, and she and Ball divorced in 1984. Connolly and Stephenson first met in 1979, when they filmed a sketch for Not the Nine O'Clock News and had lunch together. The following year, Stephenson and Connolly met again backstage at one of Connolly's shows.{{cite news |last=Gold |first=Tanya |title=Strictly Pamela – She's the dancing sex therapist who flew with Superman, married Billy Connolly and left a loveless childhood behind. Tanya Gold wonders if the irrepressible Pamela Stephenson can learn to love herself. |newspaper=The Sunday Times |date=16 September 2012 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/strictly-pamela-273wz2tcbbx |url-access=subscription |pages=12–17 |access-date=5 May 2023 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814042512/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/strictly-pamela-273wz2tcbbx |url-status=live }} The pair lived together for ten years before they married in Fiji on 20 December 1989;{{cite web |last=Milsom |first=Rosemarie |url=https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/916568/pamela-stephensons-unflinching-autobiography/|title=Pamela Stephenson's unflinching autobiography|website=Newcastle Herald online|date=10 November 2012|access-date=3 April 2018|archive-date=4 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404072951/http://www.theherald.com.au/story/916568/pamela-stephensons-unflinching-autobiography/|url-status=live |quote=After escaping to Bali in a futile attempt to forget Connolly and her failed short marriage to British actor Nicholas Ball, Stephenson returned to the UK and her 'gypsy lover' ... A decade after their first meeting, they married in Fiji in 1989 ...}} Stephenson was "given away" by the comedian Barry Humphries. The couple have three daughters together.

Stephenson and Connolly moved to Los Angeles in 1991, and later alternated between homes in New York and Scotland. In 2002, on the BBC Radio 4 programme Devout Sceptics, Stephenson told Bel Mooney through Buddhism, "I could at last feel I had begun life as a wonderful piece of creation, that a person doesn't have to struggle every day to overcome darkness and sin".{{cite web |title=Devout sceptics |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/92ba8aa707d54475a2644c366412dfcc |website=BBC Programme Index |date=6 August 2002 |access-date=5 May 2023}}{{cite book |last=Mooney |first=Bel |author-link=Bel Mooney |title=Devout sceptics : conversations on faith and doubt |year=2003 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=978-0-340-86202-5 |page=4}}

Connolly was knighted in 2017,{{cite news |title=Billy Connolly receives knighthood at Buckingham Palace |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-41814961 |publisher=BBC |date=31 October 2017 |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-date=16 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216102216/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-41814961 |url-status=live }} meaning Stephenson can formally style herself as Lady Connolly.{{cite web |title=Addressing a baronet |url=https://www.baronetage.org/baronets/addressing-a-baronet |website=Standing Council of the Baronetage |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-date=28 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128094432/https://www.baronetage.org/baronets/addressing-a-baronet/ |url-status=live }} As of September 2022, the couple lived in Key West, Florida.{{cite news |last1=Connolly |first1=Pamela Stephenson |title=Billy Connolly's most intimate interview yet (by his wife): 'Comedians never used to worry about what was correct to say. You said it, and soon found out |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/sep/30/billy-connolly-interview-pamela-stephenson-connolly |access-date=30 September 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=30 September 2023}}

Bibliography

Books

{{cite book |last1=Stephenson |first1=Pamela |last2=Lepine |first2=Mike |last3=Leigh |first3=Mark |title=How to Be a Complete Bitch |publisher=Virgin |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-86369-224-6 |ref=no}}
{{Cite book |last= Stephenson |first= Pamela |title= Billy |year= 2002 |publisher= Overlook Hardcover |isbn= 978-1-58567-308-7 |url= https://archive.org/details/billy00step |url-access= registration |ref=no}}
{{Cite book |last= Stephenson |first= Pamela |title= Bravemouth: Living with Billy Connolly |year= 2003 |publisher= Headline Book Publishing |isbn= 978-0-7553-1284-9 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/bravemouthliving0000step |ref=no }}
{{Cite book |last= Stephenson |first= Pamela |title= Treasure Islands: Sailing the South Seas in the Wake of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson |year= 2005 |publisher= Headline Book Publishing |isbn= 978-0-7553-1285-6 |url= https://archive.org/details/treasureislands00pame |url-access= registration |ref=no}}
{{Cite book |last= Stephenson |first= Pamela |title= Murder or Mutiny : Mystery, piracy and adventure in the Spice Islands |year= 2006 |publisher= Weidenfeld & Nicolson |isbn= 978-1-84188-270-3 |url= https://archive.org/details/murderormutinymy0000step |url-access= registration |ref=no }}
{{Cite book |last= Stephenson |first= Pamela |title= Head Case: Treat Yourself to Better Mental Health |year= 2009 |publisher=Headline Book Publishing |isbn= 978-0-7553-1282-5 |ref=no}}
{{Cite book |last= Stephenson |first= Pamela |title= Sex Life: How Our Sexual Encounters and Experiences Define Who We Are |year= 2011 |publisher=Vermilion |isbn= 978-0-09-192985-5 |ref=no}}
{{Cite book |last= Stephenson |first= Pamela |title= The Varnished Untruth: My Story|year= 2012 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn= 978-1-84983-921-1 |ref=no}}

Book chapter

{{cite book |last=Stephenson Connolly |first=Pamela |chapter=Whispers, Vanities, Covert and Overt Fury |title=Whispers and Vanities: Samoan Indigenous Knowledge and Religion |editor1=Tamasailau M. Suaalii-Sauni |editor2=Wendt, Albert |editor3=Mo'a, Vitolia Mo'a |editor4=Fuamatu, Naomi |editor5=Upolu Luma Va'ai |editor6=Whaitiri, Reina |editor7=Filipo, Stephen L. |publisher=Huia |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-77550-160-2 |pages=203–11|ref=no }}