Marilyn Monroe lookalike speaks of the ‘terrifying’ rise in AI images as she tries to ‘defend’ Hollywood star’s image

A Marilyn Monroe lookalike has spoken of the “terrifying” rise in AI images as she tries to “defend” the late Hollywood star’s image and reputation.

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, she wrote her first solo show as a Marilyn impersonator in 2017, aged 30, and has since toured globally – but maintaining Marilyn’s “effortless” look comes at a price amid today’s beauty standards.

She said she now spends around £500-a-month on makeup, skincare products and treatments, including Kim Kardashian’s famous “vampire facials”, where patients are injected with samples of their own blood, and she uses castor and olive oils on her skin at night.

She owns 25 different shades of red lipstick – her most-used product when transforming into Marilyn – and dyes her hair every two-and-a-half weeks, saying: “It costs me a lot of money to look like this.”

As Isabella approaches 40, she said she is acutely aware of the challenges of portraying a woman who died at just 36, but she is currently most concerned about the rise in AI-generated images, describing it as an “unsettling, scary time”.

“We’re seeing people creating AI versions of Marilyn and they’re being plastered all over the internet,” Isabella told PA Real Life.

“With these AI-generated images, they can make Marilyn do whatever that person wants her to do and it’s terrifying.

“How do we advocate for these celebrities who have passed and who haven’t given the right for their image to be used in such a way?

“It’s sad that in her lifetime, when she was alive, her image, her brand and her body were used against her will… and, even after her death, people can’t just honour her and be respectful.

“Her image is now, again, being used against her consent.”

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 showbusiness 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 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,” she said.

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 her 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.

When 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.”

Since then, Isabella has written shows and performed globally, and she has recently returned from an “amazing gig” on a cruise ship from Hawaii to New Zealand, which she said “felt very glamorous”.

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.

As she has aged and faced ever-increasing criticism and pressure, however, she said 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.

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

Isabella teaches “female empowerment and confidence” and wants to encourage other women to “love the skin they’re in” – but she said this is becoming increasingly challenging with the rise in AI, fake images and today’s beauty standards.

“I feel like I’m constantly on the internet, going, ‘This isn’t a real picture of Marilyn Monroe’, and trying to defend her,” she said.

“How do we police that? I know what it feels like to have your image stolen and used without your consent… and people just don’t respect that.”

With Marilyn’s 100th birthday approaching next year, however, Isabella is determined to continue celebrating the iconic Hollywood star.

“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,” she said.

To find out more, search @miss_isabella_bliss on Instagram.