A Marilyn Monroe impersonator sick of potential dates making lewd comments and asking for sexy pictures says she doesn't dress up to 'fulfil a fantasy'.
Talented Isabella Bliss, 36, is a burlesque dancer, comic, singer and writer alongside her role as the iconic sex symbol.
But she says most suitors can't look past her blonde bombshell looks - which has made it hard to find a partner.
Isabella says some men make crude jokes while others think she'll likely be self-obsessed and a narcissist due to the perception of Monroe's personality.
Unmarried and without children, Isabella, from Basildon, Essex, blames her love life struggles on her job.
But she says she loves what she does - and she has never wanted to have to give it up for anyone.
Isabella said: "I clearly state on dating apps that I know I look a bit like Marilyn Monroe - it’s my job. But nine out of 10 times they get inappropriate.
"Some people are confused and don’t understand how I get paid for it. Sometimes they want to go on date to see if I do look like Marilyn.
“But I still haven't given up on idea of meeting the love of my life and having my happy ever after.”
Isabella first started performing as a burlesque dancer at 20.
People quickly started commenting on her resemblance to Monroe, who is still widely held as one of the great sex symbols.
An actress, model and singer, Monroe died in 1962.
Isabella first performed as Monroe in 2013 at her friend's birthday as a joke.
But her performances escalated from there - and she made a name for herself as the 'Marilyn Monroe of burlesque'.
In 2017 she wrote a one-woman show dedicated to the icon, and next year will be touring the show as a full theatre production.
But Isabella says she feels like she has to make a choice between the career she loves and finding the man of her dreams.
And she says she worries the opportunity to meet the right man and start a family is beginning to fade away.
Isabella said: “Marilyn herself just wanted to find her person and be loved and feel loved but who she was made it so difficult for her.
“I’m another year older and another year closer to making a choice – do I choose to pursue my dream, tour my show and enjoy the career I love so much?
“When in the background I’m watching that opportunity to meet right person, have kids and get married start to disappear."
Isabella says she's had all manner of crude comments - with one man bizarrely asking if she'd slept with the late US president John F Kennedy.
The real Monroe is alleged to have had an affair with Kennedy.
Isabella said: "Someone messaged on my Instagram and asked what John F Kennedy was like in bed. They see me as a thing and not a person."
“Men think I’ll be really smutty or sleazy or that it’s ok to talk to me about my body - they ask for selfies all dressed up or in lingerie. It’s like I’m there to fulfil their fantasy.
Talented Isabella Bliss, 36, is a burlesque dancer, comic, singer and writer alongside her role as the iconic sex symbol.
But she says most suitors can't look past her blonde bombshell looks - which has made it hard to find a partner.
Isabella says some men make crude jokes while others think she'll likely be self-obsessed and a narcissist due to the perception of Monroe's personality.
Unmarried and without children, Isabella, from Basildon, Essex, blames her love life struggles on her job.
But she says she loves what she does - and she has never wanted to have to give it up for anyone.
Isabella said: "I clearly state on dating apps that I know I look a bit like Marilyn Monroe - it’s my job. But nine out of 10 times they get inappropriate.
"Some people are confused and don’t understand how I get paid for it. Sometimes they want to go on date to see if I do look like Marilyn.
“But I still haven't given up on idea of meeting the love of my life and having my happy ever after.”
Isabella first started performing as a burlesque dancer at 20.
People quickly started commenting on her resemblance to Monroe, who is still widely held as one of the great sex symbols.
An actress, model and singer, Monroe died in 1962.
Isabella first performed as Monroe in 2013 at her friend's birthday as a joke.
But her performances escalated from there - and she made a name for herself as the 'Marilyn Monroe of burlesque'.
In 2017 she wrote a one-woman show dedicated to the icon, and next year will be touring the show as a full theatre production.
But Isabella says she feels like she has to make a choice between the career she loves and finding the man of her dreams.
And she says she worries the opportunity to meet the right man and start a family is beginning to fade away.
Isabella said: “Marilyn herself just wanted to find her person and be loved and feel loved but who she was made it so difficult for her.
“I’m another year older and another year closer to making a choice – do I choose to pursue my dream, tour my show and enjoy the career I love so much?
“When in the background I’m watching that opportunity to meet right person, have kids and get married start to disappear."
Isabella says she's had all manner of crude comments - with one man bizarrely asking if she'd slept with the late US president John F Kennedy.
The real Monroe is alleged to have had an affair with Kennedy.
Isabella said: "Someone messaged on my Instagram and asked what John F Kennedy was like in bed. They see me as a thing and not a person."
“Men think I’ll be really smutty or sleazy or that it’s ok to talk to me about my body - they ask for selfies all dressed up or in lingerie. It’s like I’m there to fulfil their fantasy.
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FunTranscript
00:00 Hello, my name is Isabella Bliss and I'm from Essex and I am a full-time Marilyn Monroe
00:06 impersonator or tribute artist. I'm the writer and the creator of An Evening of Marilyn,
00:12 which I play, and I tour theatres around the UK and Europe performing as Marilyn in corporate
00:18 and private events and sometimes I get just paid to turn up and sing Happy Birthday to
00:22 Arabian royalty. It's never a dull moment. I've been performing as Marilyn for nearly
00:29 ten years and it started as a bit of a practical joke for my friend's birthday because people
00:41 had started commenting and saying that I looked like Marilyn and I told my friend about it
00:45 and he thought it was hilarious so I did it as a joke for his birthday and then here we
00:49 are nearly ten years later and I am still performing as Marilyn.
00:56 One of the problems I've been having recently is Meta's AI on Instagram seems to get really
01:05 confused with my pictures and it thinks I'm actually Marilyn Monroe or pretending to be
01:09 such a likeness of her and it goes against her community guidelines so they actually
01:13 just keep deleting me. So my account's been deleted twice in the last week, I currently
01:18 don't have any access to it. It happened a couple of years ago and it's really frustrating
01:22 and stressful because it's how I showcase my work to my followers and my fans or people
01:27 that come to see the show or clients or bookers. I know it's not the way to advertise yourself
01:33 all the way, I still have a website and everything else, but social media is a huge part of how
01:38 people find you in the world now and if you don't have a social media presence people
01:42 think you don't exist. Meta have just deleted it again, they're refusing to communicate
01:47 with me even though I've filled out all their forms, I've emailed their support team and
01:53 not getting any help. So they just are non-supportive. They say that tribute artists are allowed
01:58 to be on their platform but yet they're not letting me be on their platform and they're
02:04 taking away my kind of way of how I advertise my shows and where I'm going to be.
02:09 As you can imagine I work most evenings and weekends so it makes it really hard to hold
02:14 a relationship down or date anybody or even go on dating apps. You imagine when you unload
02:21 a dating app and then my picture comes off and they're like, "Is that Marilyn? Why does
02:25 she look like Marilyn? That's weird." And some of the messages I can get on dating apps
02:29 are a bit inappropriate sometimes. So yeah, I guess, is it the reason why I've been unlucky
02:37 in love? I don't know, maybe. But I still hope that one day I'll have my happy ever
02:42 after.
02:42 [Music]
02:42 [Music]
02:47 [MUSIC]