The Queen of Burlesque.

Dita Von Teese will be celebrating a birthday this month (the 28th); born in Michigan - real name Heather Renee Sweet since she was a little girl she was fascinated with the whole 1940s cinema and classic retro style. Her mother was a fan of old Golden age-era Hollywood films and this is when Von Teese developed a love for Betty Grable.

Von Teese studied ballet when she was young and wanted to be a ballerina but at the age of 15 she thought that would be the best she would be at it. The family then moved to Orange County, California and worked at a lingerie store as a salesgirl and eventually became a buyer. She began Burlesque in 1992 and in her words she puts "the tease back into striptease". (My favorite dance: the Martini Glass!!)

She has done several fetish films, soft-core pornographic films, mainstream features and music videos as well.

Dita Von Teese got her name 'Dita' as a tribute to silent film actress Dita Parlo. For the 2002 Playboy cover they required a sur name so she chose 'Von Treese' (from the phonebook), when the magazine came out, they misspelled it as 'Von Teese' and she stuck with it. (She has been in Playboy in 1999, 2001 and 2002 with a cover pictorial.)

 

 

The Burlesque dancer, model, designer, entrepreneur and occasional actress was romantically involved with Mike Ness of Social Distortion and actor Peter Sarsgaard before meeting and marrying performer/singer, Marilyn Manson. They married on December 2005 and on December 2006 Von Teese filed for divorce (it was said and later proven by Von Teese that Manson was seeing Evan Rachel Wood on the side)

Honestly ... who in the right mind would cheat on Dita Von Teese?!! And then for Evan Rachel Wood?! REALLY? Well, we are talking about Marilyn Manson here. (Did you know that once Manson was officially divorced and his relationship with Wood became public, she began dressing all retro as well ... kinda like 'the ex-wife'. I'm sure that's what Manson wanted ... a girlfriend who copied his ex.

In the end, Bettie Page is the Pin-Up of the Universe as Dita Von Teese is the Queen of Burlesque. :D

 

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