Netflix’s new biopic, “Blonde”, has stirred controversy as it portrays the life of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe as a victim of sexual assault and harassment by predatory men in the film industry.

The film’s director, Andrew Dominik, has emphasized the #MeToo movement’s influence on the movie’s narrative.

The biopic is an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ semi-factual novel from 2000, which Dominik turned into a three-hour movie, starring Ana de Armas as Monroe.

The film paints a bleak portrait of Monroe’s life, marked by loneliness, abuse, and trauma.

The narrative is far from the bubbly s^x symbol portrayed in some of her most famous movies like “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” “Some Like It Hot,” and “The Seven Year Itch.”

Instead, Dominik’s Monroe is riddled with insecurity, anger, and helplessness.

Her story includes rape, drug abuse, and forced abortions at the hands of Hollywood moguls.

Although Monroe’s life was tumultuous, with failed marriages, affairs, and mental health issues, the biopic mixes facts, hearsay, exaggeration, and fiction.

Here are some of the facts and fictions presented in the film:

The movie begins with Monroe’s childhood, depicting her as a seven-year-old girl named Norma Jeane Mortenson living with her alcoholic and abusive mother, Gladys.

In the film, Gladys tries to drown her daughter in the bathtub, and Monroe’s lifelong obsession with finding her father begins when her mother shows her a photo of a man she claims is her father.

The movie depicts Monroe’s fixation on finding the mystery man, leading her to call the various men in her life “Daddy.”

In reality, Monroe’s early years were tumultuous, and she spent most of them in foster homes and orphanages before the depicted bathtub incident.

Her mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was institutionalized when Monroe was seven.

Although Monroe did not have a relationship with her father, she was able to determine his identity as Charles Gifford through investigating her mother’s colleagues.

The film also portrays Monroe as a victim of Hollywood’s notorious “casting couch” system.

Monroe is seen being raped by a studio boss identified as “Mr. Z,” who she later worked for.

In reality, “Mr. Z” is supposed to be the 20th Century Fox mogul Darryl F. Zanuck.

Although Zanuck had a difficult relationship with Monroe, none of her biographers have suggested that he raped her.

According to a friend, Monroe had casting couch encounters, and she had an arrangement with film executive Joe Schenck in which she “serviced” him for career advancement, including a six-month deal with Columbia Pictures.

Monroe allegedly refused to have s^x with studio president Harry Cohn in his office, and once declined an invitation to his yacht.

The film also depicts Monroe being taken to a New York hotel suite where John F. Kennedy is lying on his bed taking an important phone call.

JFK then forces Monroe to pleasure him and later rapes her, with his bodyguard sitting just feet away. This scene, however, is not based on factual evidence.

While Blonde mixes facts, fiction, and hearsay, it highlights the struggles that Monroe faced as a woman in Hollywood during the mid-20th century.

The biopic is one interpretation of the life of the Hollywood icon and is unlikely to be the unvarnished truth.