For a person who’s been dead for almost 50 years, Marilyn Monroe gets a lot of press. The public’s continued fascination with the shapely siren attracts modern day figures who want to hitch their wagons to her star. Most recently, Lindsay Lohan made headlines by mimicking the “Some Like it Hot” actress in a Playboy magazine pictorial that appears in the popular men’s magazine’s January issue.
Lohan’s seductive pictures, some of which were similar to Monroe’s iconic photos in the magazine’s first issue, generated a big splash on the Internet — especially when the steamy images were leaked on the web before the magazine hit the newsstands.
More problems ensued when the “Mean Girls” actress failed to show up for her exclusive TV interview with Ellen DeGeneres after lingering too long in Hawaii, a jinxed jaunt during which she had her purse stolen with $10,000 inside. (We know, who else would have ten grand stashed in her wallet and then lock her purse in a car?)
Though her biological mother may be the much-maligned momager, Dina Lohan, the Long Island native is clearly more the spiritual spawn of the girl-child Marilyn, who had a similar reputation of being undependable and under the influence. Like Lohan, the “Misfits” actress also seemed to be trailed by a stalker named Trouble.
Three years before she posed for the Playboy shoot, Lohan impersonated Monroe for New York magazine, reprising photos of the unlucky legend from a book called “The Last Sitting.” Like the famed flirt, Lohan used scarves, beads and other props to coyly cover parts of her body. It was no coincidence: the same photographer, Bert Stern, shot both sets of pictures.
In recent years, as Lohan has rotated through jail, rehab and beach condo arrest, more and more people are comparing the one-time teen star to her mid-20th century celluloid heroine. Both failed to live up to their potential, sabotaging themselves with drugs and alcohol. And although Lindsay — the modern-day Marilyn — could still make a comeback, her decision to pose for New York and now Playboy as a Monroe clone foreshadows a grim future.
One celebrity expert who subscribes to this bleak theory is Jo Piazza, author of the new book “Celebrity Inc.” which focuses on the finances of celebrydom. She recently declared that Lohan’s “brand” would become more valuable if the actress died young, as did the woman she seemingly worships.
“At this point yet another glimpse at her prematurely aging breasts paying homage to Marilyn Monroe will not reinvigorate Lindsay’s sagging brand and career,” wrote Piazza. “The only thing that will save brand Lohan from total Kristy McNichol-dom is if she truly channels Monroe and actually leaves us for good.
Even without Lohan’s eerie, if not creepy, echoing of the woman who died mysteriously at age 36, the legend of Marilyn Monroe would live on. “My Week with Marilyn,” a popular new film starring Michelle Williams, depicts a week in the life of the thrice-married actress, and “Smash” — a new TV show about the making of a Broadway play about the former model and showgirl’s life — is set to premiere on NBC in February.
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Dina Lohan Could Compete on DWTS: Which Other Celebs’ Moms Should Tango on TV?
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