It will soon be 100 years since Marilyn Monroe was born – and despite tragically dying young in 1962, she is still making headlines today.
The fascination with the Hollywood actress remains as strong as ever and tech investor Anthony Jabin recently bought a burial crypt close to Marilyn’s final resting place.
Anthony “always dreamt” of being next to her and therefore had no problem forking out $195,000 (£154,443) for the plot at the macabre auction.
The sale was titled Playboy, Hugh Hefner, and Marilyn Monroe. The Hollywood icon’s pink silk Pucci dress went for $325,000 while an Elizabeth Arden lipstick she used was bought for $65,000.
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(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Tourists still visit Marilyn’s crypt in Los Angeles, California, to pay tribute to the icon who featured in films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire and Some Like It Hot.
But where she was buried has a chilling story behind it. Below we look back at why it has stirred so much controversy in recent years.
Despite being Hollywood’s brightest star, Marilyn was found dead at her home in Brentwood aged 36 after a barbiturate overdose. Her naked body was discovered lying face down on her bed as her hand gripped a telephone receiver.
But many of her fans believe she was never truly allowed to rest in peace since Hugh Hefner spent $75,000 for a crypt beside hers at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
The pair are linked over Playboy but they never actually met in real life – despite Marilyn’s naked pictures being used for the inaugural cover and centrefold of the famous magazine in 1953.
This helped to launch Hefner’s mammoth career as a multi-millionaire publishing mogul – even though Marilyn was never properly compensated.
Colour photos of Marilyn’s naked body ended up on Playboy years after she posed for snapper Tom Kelley when she was broke and yet to become a successful actress and model.
And she was later quoted as saying that Tom only paid her a measly $50 modelling fee when she signed away her rights to the racy snaps that went on to help generate fortunes.
The landmark cover showed Marilyn on top of an elephant at Madison Square Garden alongside the teasing words: “First time in any magazine, FULL COLOR, the famous MARILYN MONROE NUDE.”
And a paragraph inside the mag read: “There were actually two poses shot au naturel back in ‘49, just before the gorgeous blonde got her first movie break. When they appeared as calendar art, they helped catapult her to stardom. We’ve selected the better of the two as our first Playboy Sweetheart.”
Despite Playboy becoming a cultural phenomenon, Marilyn felt like she never got the deserved recognition for her role in it. Writing in her book, Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words, she said: “I never even received a thank you from all those who made millions off a nude Marilyn photograph.
“I even had to buy a copy of the magazine to see myself in it… I admitted it was me who posed for that nude calendar even when the Fox executives became nervous and believed this would cause the ruination of any films I would appear in and also the end of my movie career.
“Of course they were wrong. The fans, my public, cheered when I admitted it was me, and that calendar and that Playboy first-issue publicity helped my career.”
Some concluded that her nude photos were exploited by Hefner and as such there was public outcry when he revealed he would be buried beside her.
And speaking about never meeting the woman who propelled his career, he once said: “She was actually in my brother’s acting class in New York. But the reality is that I never met her. I talked to her once on the phone, but I never met her. She was gone, sadly, before I came.”
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Hefner, who died aged 91 in 2017, also spoke to the Los Angeles Times in 2009 and said: “I’m a believer in things symbolic. Spending eternity next to Marilyn is too sweet to pass up.”
Many of her biggest fans have taken umbrage with this and none more so than Suzie Kennedy who is the world’s most famous Marilyn Monroe impersonator.
Suzie, who is from London, has embodied the star for almost 30 years and has featured in Blade Runner 2049, Britain’s Got Talent and The Chase.
She said having one of the most recognisable faces in the world was a “freak of genetics” and she spoke with the Daily Star about having stalkers and getting sex requests from men who want to conquer her.
But she also opened up about how uncomfortable she felt about Hefner’s corpse being placed near to the woman she has emulated so successfully.
(Image: Suzie Kennedy)
The 46-year-old, who was born in America but grew up in England, told us: “It is so bittersweet for me this whole Playboy thing. I will tell you why because Marilyn Monroe was never ashamed of her body which I love.
“I love that she was never ashamed of her sexuality and she was never ashamed when they tried to shame her about those nude pictures. But what makes me sad is that it made Playboy and it made Hugh Hefner and he never paid her.
“He never even met her or gave her the grace… and on top of that he is buried next to her and it is like he benefited from her liberation. She was never ashamed of what she did – so it is bittersweet for me.
“Women should not be ashamed of anything they have done in their lives or of their bodies but it is sad that a man had to capitalise from it and make money from it.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
