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A lot of people don’t know that after her most prolific modeling career, she had ongoing issues with schizoaffective disorder. She was arrested multiple times, and institutionalized for a total of about 15 years in California. In 1994 she was found by an artist that used to draw her a lot and wanted accountability, to give her money for all of the time effort and resources she gave to him for his art career.
He re-introduced her to the pinup world, and Bettie found Assistance in the Playboy universe, which not many people did, and the artist world where people were very grateful and thankful for her. They helped her directly, with money. She was able to move out and live on her own with an assistant. People would often stop by and bring her groceries or anything else she asked for. Her final days were spent living in a comfortable California home with an assistant and access to the outside world, and invitations to playboy mansion parties.
I’m really glad that she was treated well later in life, but she had a very rough patch where her mental illness was not taken seriously or treated very kindly because she was a angry Christian woman who made people in California feel really uncomfortable.
Her story is incredibly nuanced and difficult, a lot of people wanna be mad at her for her religious tendencies, her mental health issues, but in the end, what really helped Bettie thrive was having connection to Community. That gave her grounding in reality.
About 20 years ago I did an interview for Bettie page blog.com. I talked a lot to the artist who reached out to her, people who helped her. I gave money. I was really proud of them and I still am.
