Where did it start? I felt something in me fall to my feet and hurt me . In the old days mental illness was covered by the person who went through it or not at all. Today, even if there might be a risk of hurting someone the public finds out. The bombshell that is about to be unleashed on Bettie Page and her fans is called THE REAL BETTIE PAGE by RICHARD FOSTER of BIRCH LANE PRESS. In some ways an angry retort to the image route that her previous handlers took her on, it takes away the legend only in that it shows us a sad and deeply troubled life. Marilyn Monroe had to die before the public realized she was more than a sex bomb. The heart of the public went out to her in death and made her more real. We now have a fairly good idea of Miss Page and her life. She emerges at long last as a human being. And one your heart can’t help but reach out to... Bettie was kept in mental institutes for a decade from the late 1970's through the Eighties. In one stretch she served time for stabbing a man  and his wife.  In another, she stabbed a female roommate in 1982 and was held until 1992 in an institution...It is hard to describe the devastation that I felt when I saw the book. I could only compare it to how I felt when my mother died while I was in college. I suppose at some time this would have come out. Bettie herself is of the generation in the south that didn't’t talk about their problems and tried to keep them quiet. Women raised 70 years ago were not expected to talk about their problems. America is different. Changed forever by talk shows and tabloids... For better or worse... If BETTIE PAGE would speak now, on national television and gave her story, in a format that told her life story , she could have an impact into our culture far beyond that of her present fandom. It may just happen anyway. She has a new management company, a legion of fans (have you noticed the number of women in their 20's with Bettie bangs) and a whole new life ahead of her.....