CELEBRITY
How Marilyn Monroe Worked With the Media to Manage Her Own Nude Photo Scandal: ‘Masterful’
Marilyn Monroe saved her own career by going against studio bosses’ wishes to out her own nude photo scandal.
Photography historian David Wills, reflected on how the blonde bombshell reacted when naked photographs of her from a calendar she had posed for years before shooting to global fame began circulating in 1952.
Rather than “hide or deny it,” as Twentieth Century-Fox chiefs “insisted she do,” Wills told People for a Monday, June 1 report, the Some Like It Hot star worked closely with journalist Aline Mosby to “essentially break the story herself.”
“In her ‘starlet’ days, she achieved most of her publicity herself — casually courting reporters and press photographers, becoming friendly with them over time,” said the author, who contributed to the new book Marilyn Monroe 100: The Official Centenary Publication.
“During 1952’s ‘Nude Calendar Scandal’ — which sent Twentieth Century-Fox executives into a panic and threatened to end her career just as it was about to skyrocket — Marilyn used strategic honesty and light manipulation to defuse the situation,” he explained.
After collaborating with Monroe, Mosby published an article entitled Marilyn Monroe Admits She Is Girl on Calendar.
Wills admitted the “masterful” move to work with the journalist effectively secured Monroe a PR battle victory before it “had a chance to take hold”.
“She explained that she was broke and hungry when she posed for the calendar photo in 1949 and declared, ‘I’m not ashamed of it. I’ve done nothing wrong,’ ” he noted.
Photographer Sam Shaw‘s granddaughter, Melissa Stevens, also insisted Monroe didn’t have a huge PR “machine” to keep her name relevant during her heyday, like some stars have nowadays, meaning she had to play that role herself.
Speaking about her grandfather and Monroe, Stevens explained: “He said she kept her name in the press by giving these wonderful interviews, giving these one-liners. She did that. She did that really on her own.”
Following the scandal, Monroe became the cover girl for Life magazine. The headline read: “Marilyn Monroe: The talk of Hollywood.”
The Hollywood icon died in 1962 at 36.
