Fading Star Betty Page: Why Pin Up Queen Spent 10 Years in a Mental Hospital

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

11 years ago, on December 11, 2008, Betty Page passed away. In the 1950s. her name was known to everyone - she became famous as the most published model in the history of the United States, actress and queen of pin-up style. She was called the standard of beauty and one of the most desirable women of the twentieth century. Later, many Hollywood stars imitated her, and for many years nothing was heard about Betty Page herself, whose career lasted only 7 years. What happened to the "dark angel", where she disappeared at the peak of popularity and why she turned out to be a permanent patient of a psychiatric clinic - further in the review.

Betty Page's childhood years were difficult. Her parents divorced when she was 10 years old and took over the responsibility of caring for her younger sisters. The mother constantly disappeared at work, which is why the children periodically lived in a Protestant orphanage. From her youth, Betty dreamed of becoming a movie star and attended acting school. At 24, she moved to New York, where for the first 3 years she had to work as a secretary until fate brought her together with a policeman who is fond of photography. It was he who recommended that she try herself as a model. Interestingly, a non-professional prepared the first portfolio of the future pin-up star and created an image of a femme fatale for her: bright red lips, black hair with bangs falling on her forehead, fishnet stockings, hairpins.

Betty Page willingly posed nude and soon became the # 1 star in the genre of erotic photography. Her photographs were printed on postcards, posters and in magazines, the liberated beauty was called the most desirable woman in America in the early 1950s. Collaboration with photographers Meg Riley, Irwin Clow and Cass Carr has made her the pin-up queen. In parallel, Betty Page was engaged in a film career. She played several roles in television projects and in Broadway theaters. There she performed in the same role as a fatal seductress.

Betty Page's most famous photo was a centerfold photograph of the January issue of Playboy magazine, where she posed nude in a Christmas hat, kneeling in front of a Christmas tree. Hugh Hefner said about her: "". After that, the model received the title "Miss pin-up", she was called the "dark angel" and the vicious incarnation of Marilyn Monroe. A series of photographs of Bunny Yager “Betty in the Jungle”, in which she posed in a leopard-print swimsuit, is also considered the model's visiting card.

One of the photographers who worked with Betty Page said about her: "".

The pin-up queen's career lasted only 7 years - from 1950 to 1957. After that, Betty Page unexpectedly announced her retirement from show business. Then there were rumors that her decision was influenced by a loud scandal that erupted after the death of a young man during sexual experiments with ropes - his apartment was hung with spicy pictures of Betty Page. The cause of his death was called "those indecent photographs." Lawsuits began, photographers Irvine and Paula Clow were summoned to court, and in order to avoid responsibility, they destroyed most of the pictures with Betty.

The model herself did not comment on this incident, but about her photographs in her declining years she said: "".

In one of the few interviews, Betty said that in the late 1950s. became a convinced Christian, and that her religious views no longer allowed her to be filmed nude. In the 1960s. she even wanted to become a Christian missionary in Africa, but was not allowed due to her previous two divorces. Nevertheless, she worked in the church community. Even after she disappeared from the pages of magazines and screens, her image did not lose popularity, and many stars imitated the "dark angel". Among them were Demi Moore, Madonna, Natalia Oreiro, Katy Perry, Dita von Teese. Many books have been written about her life, and films such as Betty Page: The Dark Angel and Obscene Betty Page have been made.

For many years, nothing was heard about Betty Page. She stopped giving interviews and forbade photographing herself in adulthood. And if someone approached her on the street and asked: "", she answered: "In the 1990s. Penthouse magazine even offered a $ 1,000 reward to anyone who can prove whether the pin-up queen is still alive and where she is.

The most desirable woman in America turned out to be very unhappy in her personal life and was never able to build a family. At the age of 20, she married for the first time, but soon after the wedding, her husband went to the army, and after 4 years this marriage broke up. When Betty embarked on a career as a model and actress, she did not think about a serious relationship and was limited to fleeting romances. For some time she met with industrial designer Richard Arbib, but the family was not included in their plans.

Only after the end of her career did Betty get married in 1958, but after 5 years the marriage broke up. In 1967, she married for the third time, but this relationship lasted only 5 years. The woman could not find a common language with her husband's three children from her first marriage, and she had no children of her own. This divorce was the last straw for a desperate Betty - her dreams of a big family did not come true, and she plunged into a deep depression.

Later it became known that in 1978 the pin-up queen had a nervous breakdown in a psychiatric hospital, and then remained her patient for almost 10 years. When Betty was admitted to a mental hospital, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. For 20 months, the ex-model was undergoing treatment, but this did not give the desired results. After she attacked her landlord, she was again taken to the hospital, where this time she stayed for many years. Only in 1992 was she released from supervision. Betty Page spent her last years in obscurity and oblivion. All these sad events undermined her health. In 2008, Betty Page suffered a heart attack, after which she fell into a coma. On December 11 of the same year, she died at the age of 85.

In her youth, Betty Page was among winners of the weirdest beauty contests.