Marilyn Monroe- the real name, life in orphanages, abused as a child, married at 16, plastic surgery, 3 lost pregnancies

Real name Norma Jeane Mortenson, was born on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles, her mother was Gladys Pearl Monroe Baker Eley, a film editor at a film studio, and her father, as far as is known, Charles Stanley Gifford, a salesman, although on her birth certificate, was passed to her father the name of the Norwegian Martin Edward Mortensen.

Marilyn had a terrifying childhood, her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia - and the child was raised in an orphanage, just two weeks after birth, a place where the little girl was raped several times, an experience that had to prove traumatic for her entire existence.

She later grew up in the care of her grandmother, Della Monroe Grainger, who renamed her the Baptist Norma Jeane Baker, but soon after her grandmother's death in August 1927, she was raised by her adoptive parents, Albert and Ida Bolender of Hawthorne, all of which were milestones in the life of a seven-year-old child.

Under these conditions, the weekly visits that her natural mother made to her, devoid of any kind of affection, probably marked Marilyn even more.

However, Gladys bought a house for herself and her daughter, but after a few months of living together, her mother suffered a serious mental breakdown, being again admitted to the Mental Illness Hospital in Norwalk, California, and later lost her father, her guardianship going to her mother's girlfriend, Grace McKee, who married Goddard.

Marilyn Monroe's childhood nightmare would not end here, as after Grace McKee's marriage, when the child was nine, she was sent back to the orphanage to follow a move to several adoptive families, where she was neglected and often abused.

In September 1941, Norma Jeane reunites with her mother, who is moving with her child to the east coast of the United States. Under these conditions, her mother considers that it would be best for her daughter to get married, in order to avoid her return to the orphanage.

Thus, after meeting, in November 1941, the son of a neighbor, an athletic-looking man named James Dougherty, and after turning 16, the two married on June 19, 1942. Shortly after the happy event, James enlists in the US Merchant Navy, leaving to fight in World War II.

Meanwhile, young Norma Jeane Dougherty was employed as an unskilled worker in a factory where she painted aircraft parts.

But working in this factory, totally unsuitable for a woman, would bring her another perspective for the future. Her luck was called David Conover, a young photographer who took snapshots of factories in the area to illustrate an article in YANK magazine about women's support for American participation in the war. David immediately notices the young woman's potential as a model and makes her a collaboration offer with the modeling agency The Blue Book.

In a short time, Norma Jeane becomes one of the most successful models of the agency, gaining a fulminating fame.

In 1946, she came under the watchful eye of talent scout Ben Lyon, who facilitated a collaboration with the 20th Century Fox film house, a time when his stage name Marilyn Monroe was found, after the actress Marilyn Miller and his mother's maiden name.

The young woman had just turned 20, and her career prospects looked fabulous. That is why, at this stage of his life, on September 13, 1946, she divorced James Dougherty, taking in return hair lessons, makeup, costumes, acting, dance and stage play.

Interestingly, James Dougherty then remarried twice and had 4 children, and his second wife forbade him to watch Marilyn Monroe movies.

The first two supporting roles in the films “Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! ” and "Dangerous Years", released in 1947, two resounding financial failures that brought Marilyn to a contract and return to a modeling career.

In 1948 follows a collaboration with the production company Columbia Pictures which offers her a leading role in the musical "Ladies of the Chorus", a new financial failure and a new contract for the young artist.

Her first great love was director Fred Karger, but he never considered her the right woman to become his wife, so she soon made a new conquest, Johnny Hyde, one of the most influential men in Hollywood. The gentleman was 70 years old, and the actress was only 23, and he convinced her to have cosmetic surgery, to dye her hair blonde, and then he helped her get a contract with 20th Century Fox studios, for supporting roles. in the productions "All About Eve" and "The Asphalt Jungle", which bring him the appreciation of the spectators and countless letters from fans.

In 1950, sentimental disappointments, as well as a new difficult period in her career, pushed her to the first suicide attempt.

In 1952 she received the lead role of a babysitter in the film "Don't Bother To Knock", which critics characterized as one of the strongest in her entire career, especially since this is the time when sex appeal of the star was starting to impress more than the actual action of the film.

In 1953, a year rich in events for the artist, Marilyn Monroe gets the lead role in the production of "Niagara", a character embodying a woman of light morals who wants to kill her husband, her interpretation giving rise to extremely favorable opinions from critics of specialty.

In the same year, Marilyn Monroe posed nude, and photographs taken by Tom Kelley were purchased by Hugh Hefner and, in December 1953, appeared in the first edition of her new Playboy magazine.

And also in 1953, she began a relationship with the baseball player Joe DiMaggio, intensely publicized at that time, the unanimous opinion of the press being that the two were a perfect couple, and a few months later, on January 14, 1954, the two married in San Francisco.

In 1954, she starred in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", an exceptional musical, bold for those times, but also in "How to Marry a Millionaire", in which Monroe teamed up with two other 20th Century Fox attractions, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable - in which she plays the role of Pola Debevoise, blonde… bad -, still managing to shine even with the two stars.

Filming for her role in the film "Seven Years of Marriage" followed, and at one of the sessions, in which the scene in which her dress was lifted was played, DiMaggio, extremely jealous by nature, quarrels with her in public. This was followed by the announcement of the divorce, made by the artist, after only nine months from the marriage, DiMaggio being very affected by the separation, trying, unsuccessfully, to convince Marilyn to return to him.

Interestingly, the official reason cited by the court in the divorce between Marylin and the baseball player, was (her) mental cruelty… due to lack of time, she being busy with the filming, and he with the matches.

In the chronology of events in her life, this separation seems to have been ominous, as if announcing the beginning of the end for her.

In the next two films, the western "River of No Return" and the musical "There's No Business Like Show Business", she was given minor roles, then, in early 1955, she signed a contract - on the grounds that she was assigned roles which she did not consider appropriate - and left Hollywood to study acting at The Actors Studio in New York.

In 1955, the art world is surprised by the relationship that the artist - famous until then for comedies and roles of a stupid blonde, and very capricious and full of mood in private life - begins with Arthur Miller, a very successful writer at the time, a very mature and serious man. Appearances, of course, have always deceived: Marilyn was not only very attractive but also extremely intelligent - she frequented intellectual circles, gave extremely cleverly constructed interviews, almost always won the case in conflicts with producers, was an avid reader, in addition to scenarios, in her library there are hundreds of volumes of the best quality and especially guidance for the development of personal skills.

On June 29, 1956, the wedding of the two took place, not before she, a Catholic until then, converted to Judaism - the religion of her future husband.

Artistically, in the absence of alternatives, the production company again asked the artist, offering her a new contract that allowed Monroe full directorial rights as well as the option to star in other studio projects.

This was followed by the film "Bus Stop", directed by Joshua Logan, in which Marilyn presents a deeply approached role - that of a poorly made-up starlet in a bar, who falls in love with a cowboy, for which she receives a nomination for the Gold.

During her marriage to Arthur, Marilyn became increasingly addicted to drugs and alcohol, the cause of her emotional suffering being, apparently, the loss of two pregnancies - one ectopic (outside the uterus) and one interrupted.

In 1957, Marilyn Monroe was the first woman to open her own production house, alongside photographer Milton H. Greene - Marilyn Monroe Productions - the first film she produced was "The Prince and the Showgirl," in which she performed with Laurence Olivier. Her role earned her a David di Donatello Award, the Italian equivalent of the Oscars, as well as a French Crystal Star Award.

In 1959 she starred opposite Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the comedy "Some Like Jazz", directed by Billy Wilder, where she critically realized (another) interpretation (of) his career. After the success, the production director stated that he is always ready to get over the extremely difficult way of being of the artist, for such achievements. The performance of the character Sugar Kane, a second-hand singer, full of compassion but in love with drink, was rewarded with the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.

Tony Curtis, stated that when he kissed the actress, it was as if he "kissed Hitler", of course as a private joke, but with a certain substratum, Curtis being in total opposition to the behavior, the whims and her frequent delays on set.

This success were followed by several less successful roles, the artist's latest film being "The Misfits", starring alongside Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift and Thelma Ritter.

On January 24, 1961, Marilyn divorced Arthur Miller, a separation that left a void in her life, greater than she would have thought, leading to a severe depression and the increasingly frequent refuge in alcohol and drugs.

Monroe and DiMaggio resumed their relationship after her divorce from Arthur Miller, but her self-destructive habits, as well as her trust in people whom DiMaggio considered harmful to her, led to the collapse of her physical and mental condition. Monroe's therapist arranged for her to be admitted to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, and on February 10, 1961, she was discharged from the most seriously ill ward.

In the same year, one of the artist's most famous photographs was taken, Douglas Kirkland immortalizing her angelic face for the 25th anniversary of Look.

On a sentimental level, I should also mention the idyll with Frank Sinatra but also the great meeting of his life, the one with the US President, John F. Kennedy, and related to the harmful entourage, are of interest relations with people who were very close to mafia circles.

On May 19, 1962, on a Saturday, Marilyn Monroe - dressed in a sexy dress, visibly emotional, timid, "destroyed" - being under the influence of drugs, as bad mouths spoke - made her last public appearance. important, singing the famous song "Happy Birthday, Mr. President", accompanied by jazz pianist Hank Jones, in a televised party in honor of US President John F. Kennedy, on the occasion of his birthday.

In early August 1962, finding out that her condition was rapidly deteriorating and that she had a dubious entourage, her ex-husband, Joe DiMaggio, left his job at the Army Post Office, returned to California and wanted to remarry, but on August 5, 1962, Marilyn was found dead in her home, completely naked, lying on the bed face down, with the telephone receiver in one hand.

An autopsy revealed that the death was caused by a suicide drug overdose - a fatal combination of sleeping pills, Nembutal and chlorine hydroxide - but conspiracy theorists say her death was not an accident or suicide, but a suicide. murder commissioned by John or Robert Kennedy - with whom Marilyn is alleged to have had a very close relationship - or even by the CIA (see Marilyn Monroe's adventures with individuals in key positions that allowed her to access some of the best kept US secrets) or the Mafia.

What in the life story of the actress was new to you?