Madonna Under Fire After Recreating Marilyn Monroe Death Photo

Madonna is drawing controversy yet again for a new photoshoot. In a new spread for V Magazine, Madonna and photographer Steven Klein decided to use Bert Stern’s “The Last Sitting,” the last photos taken of actress Marilyn Monroe before her untimely death at 36 in 1962, as inspiration. According to Klein, he didn’t want to simply recreate the photos but instead do a homage. 

“When I sent Madonna the photos she was really taken by the incandescent fragility of Marilyn at that moment in her life,” Klein explained. “We decided to find a hotel suite and try to capture the liaison between a star and the camera, the mystery, and magic of this creative collaboration. We hope we have done justice to the great work of Bert Stern and Marilyn Monroe.”

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However, many people online thought the photos were in bad taste and “ghoulish,” considering Monroe’s overdose and death. “This makes me queasy. Seems to me in bad taste,” tweeted one person. “Must be sad to still need so much attention.And this is so gross,” wrote another. “Stop giving her an audience. This is sick and nothing good could come of it,” pointed out another Twitter user. Another person called it “gross and inappropriate.“

Madonna also waded into difficult territory in the interview by claiming that Kanye West‘s Donda was the only recent record to inspire her because no one else is “working toward failure” like he is. “I can’t say that I agree with all of his politics and the way that he thinks of women, or unmarried people having sex, or the gay community. But his work is on the razor’s edge, and it’s inspiring and it’s rare,” Madonna said, offering up many caveats to her praise. “Everybody was waiting so long for his record to come out and then finally when it came out, everybody else’s record came out too. And he still stood out.” Madonna has been a lightning rod for controversy for her entire career, and it’s clear that she has no plans to stop.