On the week marking what would be Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday, we are revisiting (and reframing) one of the most famous brand relationships she was understood to be a part of: Playboy Magazine, serving as their first ever cover model. We’ll overview the story of why Marilyn posed nude in the first place, how Hugh Hefner got his hands on the rights to those images, and her own reflection on how she was used to generate millions (with not even a thank-you note). Plus, the follow-up invitation to pose for the magazine, after she posed unclothed in a swimming pool on the set of Something’s Got To Give – photos that ended up in Life Magazine, successfully generating buzz for her career again while Fox poured money and attention into Elizabeth Taylor. The Playboy “invitation” came on her last day alive. Finally, we’ll overview another Playboy model’s celebrated “kinship” to Marilyn, Anna Nicole Smith, and our understanding of how Marilyn was used as a template for the magazine’s next 60+ years.
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Time stamps:
00:00 Intro
03:13 Norma Jean poses for $50
05:25 She’s Discovered
07:51 Hugh Hefner Launching Playboy
10:17 They Never Even Met!
12:02 Marilyn is The Blueprint
13:36 Something’s Gotta Give – Pool Scene
15:49 Playboy Cover Proposal
16:56 The Crypts
18:12 Marilyn’s Legacy at Playboy
18:52 Anna Nicole Smith
20:04 Conclusion
Watch…Women of Playboy/Girls Next Door Laura Diez hosts guest conversations and shares stories and pop culture history…on SloppBoxx.Com.
Great Episode!!
I’m so glad to see someone talking about this!! 💕 it’s so sad what happened, and I wish more people knew about this!
It’s such a sad and important story!! Thank you for watching 💛
Thank you for this video 🥺❤️
thank you!! 💛
Hugh also did the same to Vanna White. He actually knew her. She did not want it either.
He was gross!! Vanna White story is added to my queue
Do Vannah White! Hef bought her photos too !!!
Her story is on my list!!
This is something I always tell people when playboy comes up bc so many think she was in on it or don’t know it happened if they’re not in this world. Have you ever done a video about star Stowe her story is so interesting to me the way so many men used her and spit her out is so sad.
I knew the nude photoshoot appeared on playboy without her consent but i had no idea it was literally what started playboy ! She should’ve gotten a lot more than a thank you and she didn’t even get that.
It is so disappointing!!!
Hefner bought her photos, never spoke to her, AND made sure he was buried next to her?! So sick & creepy. Poor Marilyn. She deserved so much better. ❤
When you lay it all out … it’s beyond disrespectful!!!
I hate that Playboy was referenced at her birthday exhibit, Hugh didn’t deserve to be even remotely acknowledged and I hate that he’s constantly following her in death🙄
this was a suggestion of mine! thank you 🙂
I think Brooke Shields has a story with playboy. I think she was a minor when she took photos? You could cover the horrors of that and anything else similar playboy did