Courtney Stodden joins the growing chorus of Marilyn Monroe fans criticizing “Blonde” for its portrayal of the beloved Hollywood icon.
“I won’t watch,” the 28-year-old Boy Destroyer singer, who identifies as non-binary and uses pronouns, told Vidak For Congress exclusively during the premiere of “Drag: The Musical” Thursday night in Los Angeles.
“As someone who understands what it feels like to be exploited in a sexual way and then have people turn you into a joke when you’re not a joke,” they continued, “I think it’s a bit disrespectful to dive into that.”
Andrew Dominik’s film – starring Ana de Armas as Monroe – rose to the top of the Netflix movie list after its Wednesday premiere.
But the NC-17 drama has sparked outrage among viewers who find its portrayal “cruel” and steeped in misogyny.
“Considering all the humiliations and horrors Marilyn Monroe endured during her 36 years, it’s a relief that she didn’t have to endure the vulgarities of ‘Blonde’, the latest necrophilic entertainment, to exploit her,” according to the New York. Times movie. critic Manohla Dargis furious in her review.
“Blonde” is based on Joyce Oates Carol’s novel of the same name, a fictionalized look at Monroe’s life and the succession of tragedies she experienced – including child abuse and sexual assault – before her untimely death on August 4, 1962, at age 36.
“I would urge people not to watch the movie, because that’s not Marilyn Monroe, that’s not her story. It’s fictional and it’s meant to make her into something she wasn’t,” Stodden told Vidak For Congress.
‘She never wanted to be the girl they paint her as. Please, please don’t look at it.”
Invoking Cara Crocker’s 2007 plea to end Britney Spears’ social disapproval, the Monroe acolyte added, “As she said, ‘Leave Britney alone!’ – now it’s time we say, ‘Leave Marilyn alone!’”
There is especially outrage over a scene in “Blonde” that some consider to be “anti-abortion”.
Steph Herold, an abortion researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, tweeted“It shows Marilyn being forced into her first abortion, screaming on the table that she’s changed her mind, and then hallucinating that she finds a crying baby in her parents’ house, which goes up in flames.”
Herold claimed that “Blond” is “so anti-abortion, so sexist” and “so exploitative”. Los Angeles Times film critic Justin Chang agreed, writing in his review, “The movie isn’t really about Marilyn Monroe. It’s about making her suffer.”
Stodden believes the entertainment industry is still “exploiting” Monroe than “Blonde” — even Kim Kardashian, who wore the star’s celebrated “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” gown at May’s Met Gala.
“Bit and bits of hair are scattered, dresses are worn,” they said. “And I just feel really bad for her.”
Stodden has long idolized Monroe, paid tribute to her in photo shoots, tattooed her face on their ankle, and often visited the actress’s Westwood grave. (“You are in my heart and in my nature,” they wrote in a letter left at Monroe’s memorial in 2016.)
“The Marilyn Monroe fan club invites me every year to her memorial. It’s always emotional,” Stodden said, noting that they feel the ghost of Monroe’s ex-husband, baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, during visits.
“I really feel the spirit of Joe DiMaggio there more than Marilyn, because Joe would put her favorite flowers on her grave for years, and he was the one who put her whole funeral together. So I definitely feel him there.”
When asked if there’s ever any interest in contacting Monroe through any medium, Stodden kindly tucked that idea.
“Reflecting back on exploitation and disrespecting the dead – and Marilyn in particular – I would never do,” they said. “More than anything, Marilyn Monroe just deserves to be at peace.”
Still, Stodden feels “very attached” to Monroe, as they, too, have experienced their fair share of control. The “Celebrity Big Brother UK” alum became a tabloid item in 2011 at age 16 when they married now ex-husband Doug Hutchison, a man 34 years her senior.
At the time of the wedding, the Tacoma native, Wash., was mercilessly shamed by the public, the press, and even celebrities like Chrissy Teigen and Jason Biggs.
In 2020, the marriage, which Stodden claimed was “abusive” and felt like a “conservatorship,” was legally dissolved.
Stodden – who is now engaged to entrepreneur Chris Sheng – admitted to Vidak For Congress, “I’ve been through a lot.”