Was Marilyn Monroe a pot smoker?
A decades-old "home movie" allegedly shows the troubled icon — a known substance abuser — enjoying a joint
A 90-second video emerged this week of Marilyn Monroe purportedly smoking marijuana with friends in a New Jersey home. The film, which was shot in 1958 or 1959 and stored in an attic for years, recently sold for $275,000 to collector Keya Morgan, who will be auctioning off the "home movie" on eBay later this week. The unnamed woman who shot the footage claims to have supplied the pot for the private "get-together," but the clip has triggered both skeptical and celebratory speculation.
Watch the video then read what's being said (below):
Monroe certainly demonstrates high spirits: While it's impossible to verify whether the Seven Year Itch star is actually smoking marijuana, "it certainly looks like it," says the Huffington Post. It's worth noting that the starlet "is all smiles and giggles throughout the video."
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"Marilyn Monroe smoking (allegedly) in home movie"
There is some evidence of a heightened sense-awareness: High spirits? At one point, says Lukas I Alpert of Reuters, the clearly stoned star "appears to take a whiff of her own armpit and breaks into hysterical laughter."
"Roll 'em! Marilyn's pot party"
Take the "joint" claim with a healthy drag of skepticism: The supposed joint "looks more like a cigarette to me," argues Azaria Jagger at Gawker. Not only that, but the film reveals Monroe to be the most "reviled class of smokers: the filter licker," someone who insists on "making out" with the cigarette rather than "just inhaling."
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"Marilyn Monroe 'smokes pot' in home video, but it looks more like a cigarette"
What's with all the questions?: Is it so hard to believe that Marilyn Monroe, "who spent her last years popping pills like they were candy," would smoke a little marijuana? asks Sabrina Brody in L.A. Examiner. Perhaps people are just "shocked" that the "compelling arguments offered by 'Reefer Madness'" didn't stop the starlet from taking a few puffs.
"Gasp! Marilyn Monroe smoked pot"
No 'smoke and mirrors' here: "Marilyn laughing and making 'stoned' faces," is conclusive enough for us, writes blogger Lindsay at Jezebel. "Not since Anna Faris in 'Smiley Face' has a bombshell actress looked so convincingly stoned on screen"
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