BY TORI RODRIGUEZ
The popular YouTube star and “historian” started a false rumor that Bettie was a murderer.
This is a companion piece to the Official Bettie Page Podcast, Episode 2: Rectifying a Smear Job Against Bettie. (Click title to listen.)
As the manager of Bettie Page’s official social media sites, I’ve enjoyed seeing the love and admiration shared by fellow Bettie lovers over the years. Ranging from praise for her stunning physical attributes to comments about how she has helped countless women and others embrace and express their authentic selves as she did, it’s always nice to see Bettie receive the respect and appreciation she deserves.
So imagine my surprise when comments containing false allegations started popping up on some of the posts on Bettie’s social media pages. Here are just a couple of the many gems these kind, intelligent humans saw fit to post on a public thread:
“Celebrating the birthday of a murderer… smh”
“I love her but she was a complete psychopath and murder – like stabbed someone to death while reciting the bible.”
“If Bettie wasn’t a crazy super religious murderer I would love her more.”
“Bettie Page is a crazy Christian an murdered someone.”
It turns out these comments were a direct result of Bailey Sarian’s “Murder Mystery & Makeup” series, specifically an episode in which she weaves a false narrative painting Bettie as a murderer. First, she named the episode “Bettie Page a Killer?” – although it’s easy to find out through even the most basic, lazy online search – that the answer is definitely “No.”
Then she proceeds to tell this complete mess of a story, interspersed numerous times with comments like “I feel like I might be making this up” and “ I don’t even know if this is true,” and most egregiously, “I remember watching an interview… where I swear she mentioned that she killed the lady.” (Wrong.)
Sarian also claims that details about these incidents are hard to find and wonders why no one has talked about them – although many have, including me. Most Bettie fans are well-aware of the long list of traumas and other hardships Bettie endured throughout her life before her death at age 85 – none of which were mentioned by Sarian for any kind of context.
Some folks think mental illness is just hilarious! By the way, it wasn’t prision; it was a psych hospital.
Central among these was her long struggle with paranoid schizophrenia, a debilitating brain disorder that can cause hallucinations, delusions, emotional and social impairment, and disorganized thinking and speech. Schizophrenia is reportedly the most stigmatized of all mental illnesses, and people with the disease have a much higher suicide risk as well as greater odds of being a victim of crime and exploitation compared to people without schizophrenia. While these individuals are generally no more violent than others, untreated schizophrenia has been linked to an increased risk of violence.
Bettie did not receive adequate treatment for her illness – or presumably for the countless traumatic events she suffered – until later in life, despite multiple encounters with the mental healthcare and criminal justice systems where she presumably should have been helped. [Sadly, this gap persists – currently, less than half of US adults with mental illness receive needed treatment and support, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).]
During two of numerous psychotic breaks, Bettie was accused of assaulting different landlords with a knife in separate incidents in 1979 and 1982. They all survived, contrary to Sarian’s sloppy implication. Bettie was found not guilty by reason of insanity and cumulatively spent more than 8 years at Patton State Psychiatric Hospital in California before transitioning to a group home setting.
While she was deemed not criminally responsible for her actions due to her inability to understand the nature of her actions during these psychotic episodes, she still paid dearly with many years of institutionalization. (Nonetheless, Sarian says, “She got off the hook a lot,” and asks, “How many chances does one person get in their lifetime?”)
Bettie tattoo and Bettie bangs bedamned, this dame bites Bettie’s style while trashing her name.
These events have been covered publicly numerous times, including in Mark Mori’s documentary Bettie Page Reveals All, and in Bettie Page: The Lost Years, the book I wrote with Bettie’s nephew Ron Brem that features Bettie’s letters written to her family while she was institutionalized at Patton State. In one of these letters, she denies having assaulted anyone and describes in detail the life circumstances and immediate situation leading to the confrontation. (And while these and other details about Bettie’s life and condition don’t justify or minimize any harm that may have occurred, they certainly do explain a lot.)
So, it’s really weird, self-serving, and just plain untrue that Sarian could only find “like two articles” on these topics, as she states. Especially in light of her new show focusing on “lesser known history stories,” in partnership with a company co-founded by Jimmy Kimmel, she has even more of a responsibility to do thorough research and consult with experts before making potentially false and damaging claims. It is alarming to know that she will have an additional, possibly larger platform on which to spread harmful historical inaccuracies without ever addressing the smear job she singlehandedly launched and continues to perpetuate against Bettie.
The hateful comments and false accusations about Bettie started appearing on social media only after Bailey Sarian posted her YouTube episode – which has over 4.5 million views at present, and as Mark Mori and I discuss in our podcast, an apology and retraction are clearly in order. Sarian should go out of her way to make sure her viewers understand that her video contains inaccuracies and stigmatizing material.
She basically started a rumor that Bettie was a murderer and spread this rumor to her millions of fans, and nearly two years later, she obviously has not realized how wrong this was, both because it’s untrue and because it further stigmatizes people with mental illness – and let’s not forget, this includes those close to us who simply haven’t revealed their condition to us yet. They are watching and listening, along with people who will emulate Sarian’s stigmatizing, dehumanizing treatment of these already vulnerable and marginalized individuals. They deserve far more compassion, respect, and understanding, and we owe it to them and our communities to educate ourselves about mental illness.
Toward the end of her video, Sarian says, “I loved Bettie Page” (past tense), encourages her viewers to “Get better idols,” and says she herself should heed this advice, what with her zombie Bettie tattoo and all. (She also borrowed Bettie’s look without credit in subsequent videos.) Personally, I can think of few better icons to admire than one who found the strength to overcome unrelenting hardship and went on to become the most emulated person in global history.
Original photo without text is from Grapefruit Moon Gallery
Further Reading
To learn more about schizophrenia and how you can support and advocate for those living with it, check out the resources below. (Click the name to visit the site.)
Pledge to Be StigmaFree | NAMI
NIMH » Schizophrenia (nih.gov)
Schizophrenic.NYC Mental Health Clothing Brand - Also check out her page on Instagram for first-person accounts of what it’s like to live with schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia & Psychosis Action Alliance
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