“I have spent the last two weeks with her and I conclude that she is sickeningly self-obsessed, utterly immoral and unashamedly amoral. Ironically though, in the context of such words, her story is of considerable relevance to our times.” – Lynda Lee-Potter, who wrote the Daily Mail’s exclusive story on Pamella Bordes.
In the year 1961, in Haryana’s Rohtak district was born a girl Pamela Chaudhry Singh to an officer with the Indian Army, Major Mahinder Singh Kadian.
Her schooling was done at Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’, Jaipur. Then she went to study literature from the prestigious Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi. She had ravishing looks and pursued photojournalism. To further hone her skills in photojournalism she also studied at Parsons School of Design, New York; The American University of Paris, France and the International Center of Photography, New York.
A born talent, she won the Miss India pageant in the year 1982. Later in that same year, she also represented India in the Miss Universe beauty cavalcade.
She later moved to Europe and married the arms dealer Henri Bordes and became Pamella Bordes with an extra “L” in her forename. However, the marriage didn’t last long. She did not fit into the category where she could settle with one man in her life.
Pamella was in a relationship with the then editor of Sunday Times, Andrew Neil, and she was also embroiled in the powerful stratum of confraternity and photographed around town with people who had a lot of political importance.
David Shaw and Henry Bellingham squabbled a House of Commons security pass for Pamella as she was considered a threat on the flimsy suspicion that she was masquerading as a researcher. She was also the escort of Colin Moynihan, the Tory Minister of Sports. The Evening Standard also linked her with a high ranking Libyan bureaucrat called Ahmed. She was also linked to the arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.
She was too well connected. Little did she realise that it would turn the tables on her much later.
Within the weeks that followed was the scandalous exposure of Pamella’s escapades, where one tabloid claimed Pamella had sex with the reporter for €500 on weekdays and €2000 on weekends. She gradually turned into a high society call girl for power and money. Her mother, her grandmother, and her grandfather, a doctor and erstwhile lieutenant colonel loathed her. They did not want to see her face. The shocking disgrace degraded her into a soft-porn sally typical of London’s scandalous tabloid press. Left with no choice, Pamella had to let go the comforts of a €750,000 London penthouse and go into hiding.
To list, the several men in her life are Adnan Khashoggi, the arms dealer; Julio Iglesias, the best selling Spanish Singer; Mark Phillips, the British Horse Rider; Steve Cauthen, the American Jockey; Jim Davidson, the American actor; Colin Moynihan, member of parliament, United Kingdom; Bill Wyman, the British bassist. Sadly none of these relationships could be sustained. She knocked on all the wrong doors.
What followed next was the downfall of Pamella’s stardom. The once high profile, flashy and exotic Pamella left everything and now resides in Goa. She has turned into a recluse, surviving on the meagre earnings of her photography. She has even dropped the extra “L” from her forename.
She leads a hippie life and has a new circle of friends much younger to her. Now in her early fifties, not a single British can trace her from her new looks. She practices yoga, is a member of the Himalayan Climbing Club. She avoids the press and media, who still try to make contact with her. She shies away from the world and refuses to speak in public. She has chosen a rather solitary life and resides in a small fishing village in the rented apartment of her friend. She lives a simple life with her yoga, reading, and her hobby, climbing. Her mother Shakuntia, with whom she had severed her ties for her notoriety, has forgiven her and appreciates her daughter for her courage to emerge as a victor and not a victim of her ruined stardom.