The life of the founder of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner, was full of controversy. However, a detail that has been quite controversial since 2017 (the year of his death), was the fact that he decided to rest next to the grave of Marilyn Monroe, the Hollywood actress who, without her consent, in 1953 became the first woman to appear on the cover of the popular adult magazine.
It is said that since 1992 the millionaire began with his plan, as in that year he acquired a crypt next to Monroe’s for more than one million pesos. Although this move was applauded by many, others criticized him since Hefner used the image of the actress without asking her permission, and with it, his business grew in fame.
In 1949, the actress, who was just beginning her career, had done a photo shoot for a calendar that included very intimate photos, for which she was only paid 50 dollars. Unfortunately, some time later they reached the hands of Hefner, who bought them for 500 dollars and later used them both for the cover of the magazine and for the inside of its pages.
In the publication, Marilyn Monroe appeared totally nude, and as a result, more than 50,000 copies were sold. As the situation got out of control, the actress said in some interviews that she had made the bad decision to take those photos due to the economic shortage she was living at that time and even mentioned that she had to buy the magazine to see the photos that had been published.
In the book “Marilyn; Her Life in Her Own Word,” the actress recounted, “I never even received a thank you from those who took millions of nude photos of me. I even had to buy my own copy of the magazine to see myself in it.”
Hugh Hefner Followed Her to the Grave
Despite the fact that the tycoon never met Marilyn Monroe in person and never had a close relationship with her, he said in some interviews that since he supposedly had several friends in The Westwood Village Memorial Park in California, the same place where Marilyn Monroe’s grave is located, he had decided to rest her remains next to the actress.
The action was widely criticized at the time, as it appeared to some netizens as an act of harassment and some women even showed their stance in support of Marilyn.
“In life and death, our bodies are never ours. They are always belongings. And men always have the right to them,” wrote one user on Twitter.
In life and death, our bodies are never our own. They are always Belongings. And men are always entitled to them. https://t.co/sr2fs4GiBl
— Courtney Enlow (@courtenlow) September 28, 2017
But Hefner was not the only man who stalked Monroe to the grave, because since the mid-eighties, another elderly businessman rests next to Marilyn. This is Richard Poncher, whose body is located right in the crypt above the actress.
It is said that Poncher, who was linked to the Los Angeles mafia, bought the niches directly from Joe DiMaggio, ex-husband of the actress, and made his wife promise to bury him there, but facing down so he could lie face to face with her.
“If you don’t put me face down on top of Marilyn I will haunt you for the rest of your life,” Poncher told his wife in 1986.
This story was originally published in Spanish by Cultura Colectiva.