By Despoina Herouvim,
It has been nearly sixty years since Marilyn Monroe died, yet she still is one of the most recognizable faces in the entire world. The actress and model have been in a way immortalized by the public, as her face is literally on everything and her life and death are still a topic of disxcussion to this day. Let us take a moment and think about how many movies have been made for her life since she died. Too many to count, right? Another biopic about Marilyn Monroe is being released on Netflix this month, starring Ana de Armas as Marilyn.
It is a known fact that Marilyn led a tragic life for many reasons. We must remember though that Marilyn was so much more than just her tragedies. She was a strong and intelligent woman that through so many hardships managed to become one of the most successful actresses of all time. In order to understand her better as an actual human being and not just as a beautiful face, we need to take a walk down memory lane and look back at her tragic life.
Marilyn Monroe was born on June 1, 1926, as Norma Jeane Baker. Her mother, who was named Gladys Baker, was a very complicated and troubled woman that was facing mental health issues. Just two weeks after giving birth, she gave up her daughter to foster care. She was taken in by a loving family and she lived with them until the age of seven. In 1933, her mother took her back and was able to provide them both with a home for some time. Yet, after some time her mental health took a turn and she was taken to a mental hospital, where she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. As for Norma Jeane’s father, he remains unknown.
Without a father and with a mother incapable to take care of her, Norma Jeane spent her childhood in many foster homes, some of which had been abusive and neglectful. Later on, she claimed that she had even been sexually assaulted by a lodger in one of the homes, which resulted in a stutter as a response to trauma. The happiest years of her childhood were spent in the home of a family called the Goddards. When they could no longer support her, they had the idea of marrying her to their neighbor, the 21-year-old James Dougherty, since she had just turned sixteen. Norma Jeanne did not want to go back to the orphanage, so she went along with the marriage.
The marriage lasted for four years, during which time James went to war and Norma Jeanne took a job in a defense plant. It was there that she was discovered by a photographer and soon landed a modeling job, igniting her dream to become an actress. She filed for divorce as soon as she could and followed a modeling career which she used as a stepping stone for acting. Her magazine covers were such a hit that she was invited to a screen test at Twentieth Century Fox and that was when Marilyn Monroe was born, as she was asked to change her name. She signed a contract with the company, yet her acting career was still unstable and she could not even afford to pay her bills. That is when she agreed to pose naked for a photographer in exchange for $50.
Moving on, she was finally noticed by big producer Johnny Hyde, who managed to cast her in The asphalt jungle. After this, Marilyn worked even harder and landed roles in movies like Love Nest, Clash by Night, and Don’t Bother to Knock. The blonde actress was on the rise, but all was threatened to tumble down when her nude photos were leaked to the public and it was revealed that her mother resided in a mental institution. These revelations almost cost Marilyn her career, but thankfully she decided to just be honest with the world and explain that she posed nude because she was in desperate need of money, and as for her mother she kept her situation a secret because she wanted to protect her. The public appreciated her honesty and she kept rising in Hollywood.
In 1952, Marilyn met and fell in love with retired baseball player Joe DiMaggio and two years later they got married. During that time, she starred in many high-profile movies like Niagara and Gentlemen prefer blondes. Despite her success, she was not happy. She did not want to keep playing the sexy dumb blonde in all of her movies. She needed better roles and she fought for this during her entire career. She read classic literature and took acting classes. After breaking her contract with Fox, demanding better roles and a higher salary she became the second woman to found her own production studio. This rebellion of hers worked and soon Fox raised her salary and gave her creative control. In 1954, she starred in hit movies There’s no business like show business and The seven-year itch. Unfortunately, her role in the latter movie was the beginning of the end of her marriage. After the famous scene with her skirt blowing up, DiMaggio, who had been in the audience while shooting this scene, became furious and hit her. Soon after that Marilyn filed for divorce and her second marriage came to an end.
1995 was a year of growth for Marilyn as she moved to New York, she started psychoanalysis and she met Arthur Miller, whom she married a year later. She desperately wanted a child, but unfortunately, she had many miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, never giving her the chance to become a mother. She was worried that her excessive alcohol and drug abuse were at fault for this. She also had endometriosis, for which she took very strong painkillers and she was battling depression and insomnia for which she was prescribed barbiturates. As for her marriage with Miller, it soon broke down after he wrote The Misfits, her last completed movie. The character he wrote for her was based on her personality. It was too personal and too raw and led to their divorce in 1961.
Her mental health had been unstable throughout her entire life. She was depressed and some say suicidal. Marilyn Monroe was found dead when she was only 36 years old on August 5, 1962, and was the victim of an apparent overdose of barbiturates in a probable suicide. Many though, refuse to believe this. There have been many theories regarding her death, and many speculate that she did not take her own life but that is not the point here. It is most likely that we will never be sure but maybe it does not matter as her life is so captivating. All Norma Jeane ever wanted was to be loved and understood, because let us be honest: Marilyn Monroe was merely a persona created by the little girl that dreamt of becoming an actress.
References
- The Sneering Documentary The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe Reveals More About Us Than the Star, times.com, Available here
- Marilyn Monroe: why are we still obsessed 60 years after her death?, the conversation.com, Available here
- Marylin Monroe, biography.com, Available here
