Addressing her criticism. Emily Ratajkowski did not hold back about the Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde — even though she didn’t have a chance to see the project for herself yet.
“I’m not surprised to hear it’s yet another movie fetishizing female pain even in death. We do that in many, many different ways, but I want that to change. We love to fetishize female pain,” the model, 31, said in a TikTok video posted on Friday, September 30. “Look at Amy Winehouse. Look at Britney Spears. Look at the way we obsess over [Princess] Diana‘s death. Look at the way we obsess over dead girls and serial killers. Watch any CSI episode, and it’s this crazy fetishization of female pain and death.”
While calling out the movie, Ratajkowski reflected on her personal experience in Hollywood over the years.
“I think as women, I can say for myself, I’ve learned how to fetishize my own pain and my own hurt, so it feels like something that can be tended to, that’s kind of sexy,” the U.K. native, who filed for divorce from husband Sebastian Bear-McClard in August, added. “‘Oh, I’m this f–ked up girl and whatever.’ I think we do that in many, many different ways.”
The Gone Girl star also encouraged other women to embrace their emotions, saying, “I was thinking about it, and you know what’s kind of hard to fetishize? Anger. Anger is hard to fetishize. So, I have a proposal. I think we all need to be a little more pissed off. 2022 is my bitch era. I think we should all be in our bitch era. So, I’m going to be pissed off when I see this movie, I already know it, but it’s nothing new. I’m just going to get angry.”
Ratajkowski’s commentary comes shortly after Blonde made its debut on Netflix. Less than a week after its release, the biopic made headlines for its subject matter and its depiction of the late Monroe.
The film, which stars Ana de Armas in the lead role, is based on Joyce Carol Oates‘s novel about Monroe’s public and private life. “From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, Blonde blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves,” the synopsis stated.
Amid online backlash, a representative for Planned Parenthood called out a scene where Armas’ character talks to her unborn fetus following an abortion.
“While abortion is safe, essential health care, anti-abortion zealots have long contributed to abortion stigma by using medically inaccurate descriptions of fetuses and pregnancy,” Planned Parenthood rep Caren Spruch told The Hollywood Reporter on Friday. “[Director] Andrew Dominik‘s new film, Blonde, bolsters their message with a CGI-talking fetus, depicted to look like a fully formed baby. It was a shame the creators of Blonde chose to contribute to anti-abortion propaganda and stigmatize people’s health care decisions instead.”
Ahead of the movie’s premiere, the Knives Out actress, 34, detailed her approach to becoming Monroe.
“We worked on this film for hours, every single day for almost a year,” the Cuba native told Netflix Queue in June. “I read Joyce’s novel, studied hundreds of photographs, videos, audio recordings, films — anything I could get my hands on. Every scene is inspired by an existing photograph. We’d pore over every detail in the photo and debate what was happening in it.”
De Armas continued: “The first question was always, ‘What was Norma Jeane feeling here?’ We wanted to tell the human side of her story. Fame is what made Marilyn the most visible person in the world, but it also made Norma the most invisible.”
For the Deep Water star, it was important to explore the ups and downs in Monroe’s life. “Our movie is not linear or conventional. It is meant to be a sensorial and emotional experience,” she noted. “The film moves along with her feelings and her experiences. There are moments when we are inside of her body and mind, and this will give the audience an opportunity to experience what it was like to be Norma and Marilyn at the same time.”
