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Lindsay Lohan Recreates Marilyn Monroe's "Last Sitting"
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 18, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 18, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
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Lindsay Lohan by Bert Stern.
In 1962, photographer Bert Stern shot a series of photos (2,571 in all) of Marilyn Monroe at the Hotel Bel-Air that are collectively known as “The Last Sitting.” The 36-year-old Monroe was in the darkest period of her life, having weathered two recent divorces, gallbladder surgery and sickness during production of the romantic comedy Something’s Got to Give, from which she was fired and rehired. Six weeks after the Stern photo shoot, Monroe died from a barbiturate overdose in her L.A. home.
46 years later, Stern has revisited the series with Lindsay Lohan filling in for Monroe in a NY Magazine shoot that fastidiously replicates the original poses, lighting, and clothing. “It was very similar, déjà vu you might say, like revisiting an old street,” says Stern, who adds that the project arose from his interest in “controversial women,” or “bad girls,” like “Britney, Paris, and Lindsay.”
Lohan, who owns a lot of Monroe “stuff”, including an apartment the doomed starlet once occupied, seems to be in denial about the parallels between her troubles and Monroe’s last days, instead pointing to Heath Ledger’s death as “both prime examples of what this industry can do to someone.”
When asked during a break in the shoot why that fate befalls some and not others (hint, hint), Li Lo “replied with a flicker of annoyance: ‘I don’t know. I’m not them. But I sure as hell wouldn’t let it happen to me.’”
Photo composite of Marilyn Monroe by Bert Stern.
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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