She Was a Michigan Boy's Dream: Marilyn Monroe From the Inside

Throughout the 1950s, she was every man's fantasy and every woman's subject of jealous scorn - Marilyn Monroe died at the all-too-young age of 36 in 1962 under questionable circumstances.

Since her passing, she has become one of America's classic and iconic pop culture figures, with her likeness appearing on everything from posters, coffee mugs, and clothing. What better way to memorialize Marilyn than with a 40,000 pound, 26-foot statue of her most memorable movie moment from the 1955 film “The Seven Year Itch”?

The statue was dubbed 'Forever Marilyn' and placed in Chicago's Pioneer Court in the summer of 2011. Right away it became a controversy. Marilyn's figure depicts the moment when a blast of air shoots up from the subway while she is standing over a grate – the wind blows her skirt up, to the pleasure of the male moviegoers.

Get our free mobile app

The 26-foot tall statue was not roped off, so the public could walk underneath her, between her legs, look up, and see her thighs, butt, and underwear. Most locals didn't have a problem with it, but there was a section of the population that thought it was sexist, 'trashy' and in poor taste. Vandals began taking their toll on it a number of times, including splashing it with red paint.

The executive director of the Chicago Public Arts Group went so far as to exclaim, "In our society, we have little room for sexually expressive images.....The social contract doesn't work, because it is itself laden with political meaning, and provocative meaning and sexual meaning." Huh?

So in 2012 it was dismantled and eventually sent – piece by piece – to a few places around the world before it finally settled in Palm Springs, California. But before Marilyn's remains were shipped off, we could catch a glimpse of what the inside of her statue looked like. The gallery below shows a good handful of photos, with some showing inside her torso and legs as well.