Marilyn Monroe lookalike condemns modern beauty standards as she spends £400 a month maintaining star’s youthful look

A Marilyn Monroe lookalike has condemned modern beauty standards as she spends £400 a month maintaining the youthful look of the Hollywood star.

Isabella Bliss, 38, from Essex, said she started becoming Marilyn in her late 20s when she “pranked” her friend at his birthday party with a surprise performance inspired by the star’s famous Happy Birthday, Mr President song.

After a decade working as a stripper and burlesque performer, Isabella wrote her first solo show as a Marilyn impersonator in 2017, aged 30, and has since toured globally – but maintaining Marilyn’s look comes at a price amid today’s beauty standards.

Isabella dyes her hair every two-and-a-half weeks and spends around £400 a month on makeup, skincare and other treatments, including Kim Kardashian’s famous vampire facial, which she said looks “horrific” and involves patients being injected with samples of their own blood.

As Isabella approaches 40, she is acutely aware of the challenges of portraying a woman who died at just 36, but wants to “defy” societal norms and empower women to pursue their dreams.

“People comment on my pictures or videos and say, ‘She’s a bit fat to be Marilyn’,” Isabella told PA Real Life.

“Even people that I know, they’ll say, ‘Well, what’s your backup plan? You can’t play Marilyn forever’.

“Society tells us that as women, after we’re 30, we’re basically written off, we’re not deemed valuable in society, but I have a different perspective.

“I get the privilege to age and experience life as a woman, and Marilyn didn’t get that privilege, so to me, every year I age is like a gift.”

Marilyn Monroe became a superstar in the 1950s, starring in films including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Some Like It Hot (1959) but in 1962, aged 36, she died of a suspected drug overdose.

Isabella grew up watching her films and found herself spellbound by the golden age of Hollywood, but her own journey to show business was a slow one.

“I grew up watching those films and TV programmes and I loved them, but I never went to musical theatre school or performing school because I come from a working-class family,” Isabella said.

“You were very much expected to just go out and get a job.”

In her teenage years, Isabella said she worked in several “normal jobs”, including in hair, beauty and nail salons.

However, she did not “find (her) way” into performing until her 20s when she started working in a strip club.

“I had just got my first home on my own and I would cry every time a bill came through,” she said.

“I had learned pole dancing for fitness with my friends and I just thought, ‘Well, I’ll do one weekend in a strip club and I’ll be able to pay my bills’, but I ended up staying in the industry for a decade.”

Isabella moved into burlesque and striptease performing in her mid-20s and found that vintage clothing suited her “curvy” body.

She said she leaned into the “retro aesthetic” with her clothing and makeup, and she noticed people commenting on similarities with Marilyn Monroe.

“I would do the red lipstick and the eyeliner and then, when I was performing, people would say to me, ‘Oh, you look like Marilyn when you’re on stage … you remind me of her’,” Isabella said.

“I just thought they were being nice and I didn’t really think much of it.”

It was not until her late 20s that the idea to impersonate Marilyn came about – and it all started off as a prank for her friend’s birthday party.

Isabella fully committed to the process and paid for a vocal coach to learn how to sing and mimic Marilyn’s voice.

She watched the actress’s performances and films, listened to “every interview and audio recording” that she could find and she loved “getting to know the woman behind the image”.

When it came to the day of her friend’s party and she presented herself on stage as Marilyn, she said “everybody gasped”.

“I got a wig because my hair was long at the time, I had a dress made, I got all the jewellery and everything, and I came out to a room full of some of my closest friends, doing this impersonation,” she said.

“It just brought so much joy to do these little bits of comedy as Marilyn and see that fun and laughter.”

Ever since then, Isabella has written shows and performed globally, and soon hopes to travel to Australia to showcase her talents there.

A typical show will involve her singing songs such as Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend, sharing insights about Marilyn’s life and even getting the audience involved by doing a “blind date sequence” with men from the crowd.

However, as she has aged and faced ever-increasing criticism and pressure, she has realised her dream of performing Marilyn will not last forever.

“Every year that passes I think, ‘OK, how long can I still play a woman that died at 36?'” she said.

“I’ve been passionate about skincare from a young age, but it’s the pressure of how long will it look like this?

“What can I do to keep it looking like this that doesn’t stray into the realms of drastic surgery?”

Isabella said she teaches “female empowerment and confidence” and wants to encourage other women to be authentic and “love the skin they’re in”.

Having discovered her passion in her 30s, she said she hopes her story helps others “have the courage to follow (their) dreams”.

“Next year would be Marilyn’s 100th birthday and we’re still here celebrating her,” Isabella said.

“She’s a beautiful human being with an incredible story and, for as long as I can, I’d like to be able to share that with the world because I feel she deserves that.

“Ageing is a privilege that not everybody gets.”

To find out more, search @miss_isabella_bliss on Instagram.