Vanity Fair straight-up jacked a famous Marilyn Monroe photo and splashed it on its pages to make a buck ... so says a collector suing the magazine.
Aric Hendrix says he owns rights to the Marilyn pic taken during President John F. Kennedy's 45th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden. Yes, that's the one where she sang "Happy Birthday" to the Prez.
In docs, obtained by TMZ, Hendrix says he's a collector of historical photographs and owns the photo AND the negative of Marilyn. He says VF never asked for permission to use the photo inside a special Marilyn-themed edition published in July 2016.
He's suing for damages in excess of $1 million. We've reached out to Vanity Fair, so far no word back.