“Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn’t that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you”

She was a woman that no one could resist her sensuality.  She was a dynamic sensual woman, full of charm – a woman who could be admired by men and envied by women, no matter where she went. She was an amazing woman with immense elegance who devoted time to her appearance, showed off her beauty while she could win the heart of people around her and charm them due to her innocence, her geniality and her affection.

She used to be a needy and aching little girl who went down as a sex symbol due to her glamorous style, her white complexion, her blond hair, her sexy way of talking to others with a voice that was a mixture of baby-talk and cat’s purr and a mole on the left side of her face. While most people knew Marilyn Monroe by her stage name, the star was actually born Norma Jeane Mortenson and baptized Norma Jeane Baker.

“Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves. But it is something I must do.”

Marilyn Monroe- A melancholic smile

Sometimes being dressed in a bustier with ostrich feathers and a huge shiny necklace or in a flamboyant outfit like a corduroy peddle-pusher suit or in her favorite white terry-cloth robe, she used to draw the attention of other people on her.  She was a woman who seemed to be fiery, confident and charismatic who could charm other people with her unpretentious nature and her melancholic gaze.

It was a deep gaze that had less to do with a showbiz star, with money and glamour, a constant smile that could perfectly conceal her deepest desires, the most tragic events of her life, the uncontrollable grief, the rejection and the melancholy she felt.

Besides, a proverb says “If a person laughs too much, even at stupid things, this person is lonely deep inside and suffers more.”

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”

Marilyn Monroe – Her difficult childhood

Norma Jean Baker, better known as Marilyn Monroe, experienced a disrupted, loveless childhood that included two years at an orphanage.

The life story of Marilyn Monroe was surrounded by mysteries, omissions, and misunderstandings, since her birth. Marilyn Monroe was born on June 01, 1926, at the Los Angeles County Hospital. She grew up in a quite peculiar family environment. The childhood of Marilyn Monroe cannot be called dull or careless. Because of the unstable mental health and financial instability of her mother, Norma spent the most of her childhood in orphanages and foster families.

When Norma Jean was seven years old, her mother, Gladys Baker Mortenson, was hospitalized after being diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, a severe mental condition. So, since her father was absent and her mother was mentally unstable, Norma Jean was left in a series of foster homes and the Los Angeles Orphans’ Home Society. The constant move from one foster home to another resulted in Norma’s “sketchy” educational background. Marilyn had to lose her innocence and deal with the hardships of life.

She spent her childhood years being away from her real family and living with poor foster parents. Despite the fact that foster parents had treated in a decent way, these people had their own children too and this fact had an impact on the living conditions of the family, especially on the economic aspect of them.

When she was only seven years old, Marilyn, being a child placed in the care of a family, a foster child, she had to work as a cleaner and, later on, as a worker in a parachute factory in order to help her foster parents. The fact that she was rejected by her real parents was a big shock in her childhood; she never recovered from the damage of this rejection that had a negative impact on her life in the future.

“You know, most people really don’t know me.”

Marilyn Monroe – A child who has never been loved

Love! One word, thousands of feelings, thoughts, names, moments…! Every person has the right to love and be loved; it’s a feeling that is unquestionably priceless, especially for a child. Unfortunately, the fate of some children deals them a bad hand. There are children who grow up feeling that they are not the leading figures, the stars, in their own lives, but they end up playing the role of supporting figures, the role of background actors.  There are mothers who never stood by their children and fathers who treat their own children with hostility.

Marilyn was one of these children: neglected, abandoned, stranded, feeling as she was the bottom of the barrel, wilted, without maternal love, care and protection. Besides, what does a child ask for? A child needs someone who could be supportive and helpful. A child needs someone who could say “I love you”.

The lack of maternal love arose a wave of feelings of emptiness, had a negative impact on the healthy growth and it was the deciding factor for the choices she made in her life which are determined by the unstable love affairs and friendly relationships, her low self-esteem and her vulnerable mental condition.

Children, who grow up without love and care, also learn neither to appreciate and nor to respect themselves. They consider themselves as worthless people and they believe that they do not deserve being appreciated and loved by their immediate family and their inner circle.  So did Marilyn. Looking carefully her life and her behavior, we realize that her whole stance in life was due to the lack of parental love during her childhood.

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”

Marilyn Monroe, being a defenseless child

Marilyn grew up without really knowing who her biological father was.  She had no father to help raise her, to protect her, or to love her. Though her birth certificate identifies her father as “Edward Mortenson,” who was Gladys’s second husband, most biographers agree that Norma Jeane’s father was actually C. Stanley Gifford who also worked at Consolidated Film Industries, but he abandoned Gladys after being told of her pregnancy.

When Marilyn was a teenager, she tried to speak with him by telephone but he hung up. Later on, Marilyn supposedly attempted tried to contact him again, this time in person. More than once, she tried to meet him but he refused to see her. A few years later, he was killed in a car accident.

So, Marilyn was completely rejected by her parents, without any psychological support and mental calm, showing signs of wrong upbringing and doing permanent and irreparable damage to her soul.

“I was never used to being happy, so that wasn’t something I ever took for granted. You see, I was brought up differently from the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy.”

A photo: her only hope…

The only thing Marilyn had from her father was a photo of him. However, for Marilyn, it was something more than a simple photo; it was a part of herself, a piece of her identity. She used to look at this photo, dreaming of how this man would be, if she took after him and what would happen if he had met her; would he change his mind about her? Would he love her? What was her fault? Why she did not deserve his love?

Marilyn Monroe was just a girl that all she wanted in life was love. She used to say: “That was my first happy time, finding my father’s picture. And every time I remembered how he smiled and how his hat was tipped I felt warm and not alone.” She was dreaming that this man in the photo would be waiting for her at home every time she was coming back from school, he would give her a big hug and he would kiss her. That was something that could make her happy. She loved something soulless and imaginary.

“Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves. But, it is something I must do.”

Mothers who do not want to love their children or mothers who cannot love their children?

On the other hand, her mother was paying money in order to be away from her… or this  was what Marilyn thought her mother was doing. It probably happened for the best since her mother was promiscuous as she was always switching between sexual partners who were not always a good example for a little girl or a teenager. She was an extremely attractive woman who lost control. Due to serious mental health issues, she lost her job and spent almost her entire life being in and out of psychiatric hospitals.

Marilyn was a girl who was rejected in every way. She ended up being in and out of orphanages, changing – nine times – the “family” environment she was placed in. Ending up in as foster family was the best thing she could get.

“We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.”

Marilyn Monroe and her relations with other people of her age

Being scruffy and untidy, dressed in plain clothes, made Marilyn look different from the other children of her age, especially during the school years when she was attached by her classmates.

She has never beaten someone up. She has neither insulted other people. As a matter of fact, she could not get away with it…  She was by herself and … they were too many of them!  She was bearing with them. She could not respond to their attacks; she could not backlash. She had to live with the fact that she would be beset by these people as she did not want to let other people down, especially the ones in her life, like her foster parents.

Without her parents, without any friends, she was trapped in a vicious circle and she could not put everything behind her and get on in life.

“I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that’s not easy.”

Marilyn’s good looks being considered as a curse and a blessing as well

She was fully grown, in appearance, compared with the girls of her age; she was more feminine. When she was nine years old, she was sexually abused by her foster father. This tragic event left her insecure about herself making her hate her own body.

During adolescence, Marilyn realized that boys and girls were looking at her differently. She  was flattered being noticed by the opposite sex. However, certain obscene words, such as “slut” or “lush” could be heard against her in the schoolyard. She used to say that there were “girls frightened of losing her boyfriends because I was more attractive!”

Despite the obscene words against her by girls of her age, something changed inside her, lending her an air of self-confidence and self-respect. She felt as if there were two people trapped inside a body. “I was felt fool full of a strange feeling, as if I were two people. One of them was Norma Jean from the orphanage who belonged to nobody. The other was someone whose name I didn’t know. But she belonged to the ocean and the sky and the whole world.”

Suddenly, the humble little girl of next door, who was invisible and unobtrusive, was in the eye of things being admired by everyone. Suddenly, the little orphan with a mole on the right cheek had a name and an identity. Is it really what she wanted? At that moment she believed so, even though deep inside she was still a child…

“It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.”

Marilyn Monroe and her relationship with God

Marilyn hung in; she was not discouraged. She was always trying to find encouragement, to be given a hand. Besides the photo of her father which was hidden in her room, taking precious care of it and cherishing it like treasure, God had a significant role in her life. Everyone in her backyard was talking about God:

“Nearly everybody I knew talked about God. My best friend and Aunt Grace touched my cheek and said that HE loved me and watched over me. Remembering what Grace had said I lay in bed at night crying to myself. The only One who loved me and watched over me was Someone I couldn’t see or hear or touch. So I used to draw picture of God.”

Nevertheless, she believed in someone she could neither touch nor see. She was drawing pictures where God, as she was visualizing him, was the leading character and she was feeling close to someone loved her as she was, despite her feelings, her thoughts…  She was feeling close to someone who could embrace her and protect her. That was what she was told about God.

“Someday I want to have children and give them all the love I never had.”

The consequences of rejection

Could a photo and some drawings suffice to relieve her pain and sorrow? Definitely, not! Since Marilyn was a child, she felt that she was different from other girls; she was never been loved and she started to love hope that there is love.

She tried to fill the emotional void she experienced during the first years of her life with wrong relationships, with drinking or substances, or even with different lovers. She was always looking for reassurance by others being based on her beauty, her abilities and on success.

The lack of the reassurance that Marilyn was trying to get from her parents, without any response, in order to be strong enough and build a healthy personality, made her feel insecure and she was feeling overwhelmed by grief to a point where her everyday life was affected.

On that issue, she pointed out that: “it was a while I lay on this ocean bottom, figuring never to see daylight again, that I fell in love for the first time. I’d not only ever been in love, but I hadn’t ever dreamed of it. It was something that existed for other people – people who had families and home. But when I lay on this ocean bottom it hit me, hoisted me into the air, and stood me on my feet looking at the world as if I’d just been born.”

Besides that, her desire to be taken care of and the lack of being taken care of made her have bad feelings. She had thought to hurt herself, thinking that she did not deserve being a child, she did not deserve being happy, she did not deserve being alive or living… She believed or other people made her believe that this was the case… She had suicidal thoughts which were more and more intense over the time. However, something stopped her from committing suicide. Was it the mystery man in the photo or God that prevented her from committing suicide?

“We should all start to live before we get too old.”

Marilyn Monroe – a girl with big dreams…

There were, however, moments of joy and happiness in her life … However sad it sounded, there were moments of joy and happiness TOO, while every child, every human being, should only be surrounded and overwhelmed by this feeling.

Marilyn was a smart child. Her IQ was reaching to 168; we would say that she was a genius. She liked music, dancing and acting. She was dreaming to be a great actress who could grow into being recognized and admired by everyone. She was right and that was what happened, one way or another. The years were passing by and Marilyn was growing into being a beautiful young woman who was learning to live through life’s difficulties. Nevertheless, rejection and lack of love were forever stamped on her soul.

Early on in her life, she seemed to be very assertive and tough young woman. She could not take pity on any other person and she did not let anyone approach her. Even a light touching, a tickling, of her best friend was something strange to her. In the same way she wore her clothes in the morning, she put this fake smile on her lips starting her day.

“Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.”

What is love?

As we pointed out above, when Norma Jeane Baker was 8 years old, she saw a picture of her father for the first time. This photo became a totem for her — a symbol of the fatherly love she would spend her life desperately, but fruitlessly, seeking, even after she became the world’s most glamorous movie star, Marilyn Monroe.

  At age 8, for the first time, Marilyn felt a strange and beautiful feeling that grown-ups called love. Was she in love for the first time or just a joy due to the fact that someone was caring about her? Neither did she know exactly what she felt. Whatever it was, it seemed that something aroused her feelings.

Later, at age 15, she was forced to marry, for a first time, to an eligible 20-year-old man named Jimmy Daugherty. She wasn’t in love with him when they first maried and truthfully, the same can be said about him. They may have grown to care for each other but sexual chemistry (certainly for Marilyn) and romantic love were absent in this marriage.

They did not talk to each other.  They did not have many things in common. He used to play cards and she used to go outside to play with the neighborhood children. However, marriage to Dougherty was preferable to returning to the orphanage and that determined her status as a married woman instead of an orphan. After a while, she filed for divorce. Later on, she got married to the baseball player Joe DiMaggio for a nine-month period and, after their divorce, she got married to the famous playwright Arthur Miller.

Was she in love? She believed so, when she met a tall man who was wearing glasses. He was not one of her showbiz’s acquaintances or one of those who wanted others see him at her side.  He was just a musician who, being unsophisticated, unpretentious and optimistic, managed to change her way of thinking.

For the first time in her life, Marilyn felt she found the remedy, the cure, to heal the trauma she experienced over the years and reclaim her life. When she met him, she realized why she was so unhappy, so miserable in her life: she imagined herself as someone who did not deserve to be loved, as if she had an unloving heart. She had never loved herself; how could she ask from others to love her??

“I like to feel blonde all over.”

The need to rebuild her life

Marilyn had pledged to provide her own child anything she was deprived of when she would have her own child. She would protect her child, support it, stand by it and solve any problems that were never been solved for her.

She would do all that without lying. She would do all that without lying for Santa, or for the kindness of other people helping one another. She would teach her child to stand on its own feet, to rise to the occasion, to wisely deal with any difficulties of life, always with the help and love of its mother.

“I am alone; I am always alone no matter what.”

The rising and the fall of a shining star

At age 19, Marilyn Monroe finally took a step forward in order to fulfill her dream. After having moved to Hollywood, she started her modeling career. As a model, she posed for the most eminent photographers. Although her finances were not so good, her smile was real. She did not care about money. The only thing worth working for was being a successful actor who could attract more and more attention, especially for her talent.

Soon, working for companies such as the magazine Photoplay και the Twentieth Century Fox was the next professional step in her career.

In 1954, she got married to a baseball player, Joe Di Maggio, who was different than other men. He wasn’t handsome.  He was lanky and spindly. He didn’t walk, he lumbered. He did not try to impress others. He didn’t like her career as he thought women should be at home as he wanted his wife to raise their children, to cook and clean, and it had always been that way in the DiMaggio family.  Nevertheless, he wanted his wife be modest and elegant. He wanted her be a traditional, stay-at-home housewife. He was against publicity and Maril

 

yn tried to change her style for his sake in order to please him, wearing long dresses and high neck clothes. Despite her efforts, Joe was getting insanely jealous of every man that Monroe met and began to beat her. Even then, she could not settle in this way of life. Marilyn lost her patience after nine months of their marriage, and in the same year, the couple divorced.

“It’s often just enough to be with someone. I don’t need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You ‘re not alone.”

Since her divorce from Joe, her life was dominated by the curse of loneliness. She was alone, even in a colourful city of millions of people.

Marilyn Monroe featured in B movies and later on she starred in movies such as All about Eve (1950), Niagara (1953) and Gentlemen prefer blondes (1953) launching her as a sex symbol superstar. In 1955, she starred in The seven year itch and after this film she wanted serious acting to replace the sexpot image and she decided to go to New York’s Actors Studio for acting seminars.  Then, she created her own studio, Marilyn Monroe Productions, and she worked one more time with Twentieth Century Fox.

Marilyn Monroe got married for a third time with the famous playwright Arthur Miller. They made together films such as The Prince and the Showgirl, Some Like It Hot and The Misfits which proved to be the final film for the legendary Clark Gable, who died later that year of a heart attack. The film was popular with critics and the public alike.

 In 1961, Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller were separated, soon after less than around 5 years of relationship.

“Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting then being one.”

The dirty life of Hollywood

Being a young, blond, charming and feminine woman, she got in touch with companies looking for such ladies, either as models or for posing for naked photos in calendars, or for short roles in movies.  Marilyn Monroe did not miss any opportunity, moving slowly to the top in showbiz.

However, there were strange and smutty rendezvous with photographers, screenwriters, and directors of companies who tried to seduce her and tempt her in exchange for her body or even marriage with her. The smutty approaches and sexual advances had little to do with what Marilyn thought Hollywood was. Values and talent had no significance, only the appearance had some significance.

“A sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing.”

Marilyn Monroe – A woman under pressure and criticism

She did not care about money; she did not care about sex either. She wanted to get as much money as she needed to live. What was essential for Monroe was to become an even better actress, to learn things, to change, to improve her talent and acting. By reading books and by attending acting, dancing and singings courses and seminars, she thought she would one day get at the top because of her talent and not because of her appearance.  Did she deserve to be among such great personalities? What did her personality look like? Who was she?  She thought that no matter what she did, she was hot satisfied with her work; on the contrary, she was hard and critical to herself.

Any dismissal could make her doubt about herself and her unsuccessful attempts and failures as an actress were a serious blow to her already damaged personality.

“The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.”

Marilyn Monroe – a woman in scandals

To some, Marilyn Monroe was a goddess. To others, she was little more than a bimbo. But deep down, Marilyn was a desperate woman trying to escape the tragedy of her childhood. She built a career like no actress before her, thriving on scandals… until they would eventually overwhelm and destroy her.

Τhe fight against alcohol

At nights, before going to bed, she used to take a bottle of whiskey with her.  She was taking comfort in it and it was helping her to forget everything she had gone through: pain, distress, grief, sorrow and whinge. Drinking was just the beginning as after that there were other harmful substances that were helping her come out of the vicious circle she was trapped in but they were creating more and more mental and physical problems. The substance abuse could not be hidden for a long time.

“It is wonderful to have someone praise you, to be desired.”

Love affair stories

Marilyn Monroe, without a doubt, had a long history of terrible relationships. Many blame the men she happened to choose, while others blame Marilyn herself, but in the end, she took a hard hit by love. She definitely was a troubled individual, so a lifetime of depression and unwanted emotions was inevitable.

Marilyn became the most known sex symbol in the country and even the president of the United States couldn’t resist her. In 1962, dressed in a sheer, flesh-coloured, rhinestone dress and having a playful look, Marilyn appeared before President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden singing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President”. Her look, her body position and her breathy, sensuous voice made other people think that these two people had an affair. She also had an affair with JFK’s brother, Robert Kennedy.

There were rumors that Robert Kennedy was brought in to deflect Marilyn’s attention away from his brother – also rumors that shortly before her death she was pregnant with his child.  It was presumed that Marilyn was too much of a risk to the Kennedy name and so was phased out of the president’s life.  Yet is there any truth to these rumors? She neither confirmed nor denied these rumors…

“If I’m a star, then the people made me a star.”

Mr. Perfect for Marilyn Monroe…

Like all the girls of her age, Marilyn imagined the prince of her dreams and the man who could make her happy. Even in choosing the perfect mate for her, Marilyn made the difference.

She never liked men in good teeth. Does it seem strange to you? While most of people concentrate on a beautiful smile and good teeth, she thought that a shiny smile would be repulsive for her…

There was an explanation for her stance on this issue. She had a firm belief that a man with perfect teeth would not have a perfect character. She believed that these men who focus on physical appearance and perfection, giving emphasis to something that is noticed at a glance, so that they can hide their inner imperfections. Marilyn was so confident that this was a case that she consciously rejected this type of men.

She had even noticed that people wearing glamorous clothes and having a stylized smile could automatically turn into great people. How important they really were, she’d often noticed it at the party they were invited to. Then, she could realize that that the stars she had worshiped as a child were not always so perfect with exceptional personalities, but they were colorless, or even frightened, timorous and daunted.

“I learned to walk as a baby, and I haven’t had a lesson since.”

Moreover, she preferred dealing with men who were ‘hunters’. These men know what they want; they focus their eyes on women and they do all they can, sparing no effort in order to keep the woman who have at their side. Was this attitude selfish? Was it just a way of dealing with her, something that no one did in the past?

Moreover, Marilyn used to give preference to reserved, close-mouthed, modest and low-profile men. She believed they were more polite and gentlemen, they were almost never angry, and they did not criticize their wives. In the past, she used to hang about with people who were talking about themselves, their cleverness and money and sex were on their minds. When she was asked once “Which would you rather marry – a poor boy you loved or a rich man you liked?” she answered that money did not matter. Real happiness lies in love.  And love is everywhere; love is rare and unique.

She had said once: “The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead or smiling into your eyes or just staring into space.”

“I have always had a talent for irritating women since I was fourteen.”

Marilyn Monroe and other women

Marilyn had an unconventional connection with the female sex. It was a story of love and hate.  She believed in women’s power and in the crafty mind of a woman, but she did not believe in friendship among women. Friendship among women is based on lies and “superficial” words and women try to beat or undermine one another.

Anyway, as regards Marilyn, there were women who worshiped her and women who hated her. These women hated her, not for her bad or mean character but because she was really standing out. She was dressed in a different manner; she was talking in a distinctive, accented and characteristic way and that was something that was perceived by all, women and men. As far as the women were concerned, Marilyn was a moving threat.

On the other hand, there were women who worshiped her. She admired women too besides the fact that there were certain women who were biased against her.

She loved women and, while she was reading certain books on acting, she run into the word “lesbian” and she asked herself if she had anything to do with it.

Over the years, she realized that besides the “sex symbol” title that was granted to her by millions of men worldwide, she was not comfortable with men and she was not sexually satisfied by men.

“Respect is one of life’s greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don’t have that?”

She started to experiment sexually with individuals of the same sex. There were scandals as Marilyn admitted to sexual encounters with big showbiz name such as the actresses Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich and Elizabeth Taylor, as well as with both her acting coaches, Natasha Lytess and Paula Strasberg.

The trauma of being rejected and not being loved throughout her childhood is reflected in Marilyn’s sexual orientation. Not knowing who she really is and what she really wants in life, she felt a desire to discover her real identity.  In Marilyn Monroe’s case, the need to discover her real identity and a craving for affection which was probably developed early on in life as she was moved around from foster parent to foster parent has brought her to a pass that made her not to enjoy her sex life with men and have relationships and sexual encounters with older individuals of the same sex in order to feel the affection she never had from her own mother.

“A career is born in public – talent in privacy.”

Marilyn Monroe: a two-faced woman

Despite the fact that she had a life in luxury and wealth, Marilyn was looking back on all the times she shared with her aunt queuing up for free food for hours and thinking about all these poor people who accommodated her from time to time.

She could remember the sounds and smells of poverty, the struggle and the difficult times and the willingness to fight for themselves in the look of the people she lived with.

 She could look back on a little girl whose name was Norma Jeane Mortenson and was wearing once the orphanage uniform; she could look back on this little girl who as walking for miles, in the rain or in the snow just because she did not have any money to buy a bus ticket.

Now, she had a lot of money and “friends” and she lost count and she lost control…

She was a two-faced woman, a woman living two lives into one soul as by changing her name she changed her life as well. No one remembers a little reserved, introverted girl whose name was Norma. Everyone admires Marilyn, who is seemingly dynamic, who attends the parties where all celebrities go in, who falls in love and flirts with other people. She was now known as an “offbeat” personality.

“I’ve been on a calendar, but I’ve never been on time.”

Shaping “Marilyn’s” personality

Over the years, something had changed inside her… She was admiring what other people used to admire on her: her nice body, her beautiful eyes, her blond hair, the mole on her cheek. Nevertheless, she had an intangible feeling that something was wrong.  Money meant nothing to her; friendships were insincere, fake, superficial… But the most important thing was that she could not express herself as she wanted, she could not do everything she could; she could not do her utmost to achieve her goals…

Her life was not complete; something was missing… She was very well aware of what was missing but she did not know how she could get it… Instead of being happy, she was depressed and desperate…

“Fame is like caviar, you know – it’s good to have caviar but not when you have it at every meal.”

She used to be a little girl deprived of love and her parents were emotionally unavailable. She was growing up with emotionally detached parents and she turned into a woman lacking self-confidence, trust, unable to set limits, unable to find her own identity and highly sensitive.

She was afraid. She was afraid to talk about her past, she was afraid to show what she really was. However, it was really jumping out at her that she was different from any other woman and she is unforgettable to this day. What were the strong features in her personality?

• Her innocence
• her honesty
• her capricious or fanciful quality
• her kindness
• her mistakes
• her tough childhood have never failed to catch people’s attention.

These elements made her perfectly imperfect personality that was not reaching superficial glamour and perfection.  As she pointed out in the book entitled «A Life of the Actress», in 1993: “When you’re famous you kind of run into human nature in a raw kind of way. It stirs up envy, fame does. People you run into feel that, well, who does she think she is, Marilyn Monroe? They feel fame gives them some kind of privilege to walk up to you and say anything to you, of any kind of nature — and it won’t hurt your feelings — like it’s happening to your clothes not you.”

Marilyn was a very generous and loving girl; she was spending many hours in health care institutions, group homes and charities giving money for the people in need and offering her affection and love to the kids with mental problems. She offered her love even though she was deprived of that…

“Hollywood is a place where they‘ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.”

What were the weak features in her personality?

Marilyn had bad social habits. She was always late and she used to stand other people up, even for one or two hours. The reason was not that she was spending more time in order to get ready for her meeting but she was doing that on purpose.

Absurdly, she was tickled to let other people waiting for her as she thought that it was great that people were waiting for her in order to meet her. It was exciting for her that people could spend hours somewhere in order to be with her for a few minutes… That was not the case when she was Norma. Not even her mother was willing to see her, to spend some time with her… Marilyn seemed to give vent to her frustrations of her childhood throughout her adult life…

However, that was not unnoticed by other people. They used to misunderstand her behavior as they thought that she wanted to make a grand entrance in a way that could make people notice her. It could be right but Norma wanted to feel that and Marilyn owed that to her…

“Fame doesn’t fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.”

What were the most peculiar things about Marilyn Monroe

• She used to refer to “Marilyn Monroe” in the third person mode. She used to add at the end of a phrase “Marilyn would say that.” She did that because she could never identify herself entirely with the personality of Marilyn. She probably did not want to…
• She could never learn her lines by heart and she used to improvise…
• She probably is the only person who changed so many names throughout her life. She was baptized Norma Jeane Baker, but the name on her birth certificate was Norma Jeane Mortenson. Later, when she married James Dougherty, she became Norma Jeane Dougherty. She used to sign papers as Jean Norman or Mona Monroe, she used to stay at hotels as Zelda Zonk and she was hospitalized as Faye Miller. The star didn’t change her name legally to Marilyn Monroe until 1956. When she married playwright Arthur Miller she liked to be called Marilyn Monroe Miller.
• Marilyn married her second husband, baseball star Joe DiMaggio, in January 1954. She asked Joe to promise to leave flowers on her grave every week if she died before him. He later kept his promise. DiMaggio had roses delivered to her grave three times a week for 20 years.
• She chose “Marilyn” by herself as she thought that she resembled an actress, Marilyn Miller, who died at the age of 37, before her time; Marilyn died at the age of 36. Was it something that happened by chance?
• Marilyn did not have any children; her attempts to have a baby ended up in many miscarriages.
• I’m sure you have heard of the song by Marilyn Monroe, “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” and by hearing this song you would think that Marilyn Monroe owned a lot of expensive diamond jewelry; actually that was not the case at all. She owned very little valuable jewelry. She did not like jewelry, especially diamonds. She avoided wearing jewelry and this was the reason she was buried without any jewelry…

“An actress is not a machine, but they treat you like a machine. A money machine.”

The unfair death of a tragic woman

“I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.”- Marilyn Monroe

That was one of the most loved and true quotes of Marilyn.

In the early 1960s, her health began to deteriorate. She had alcohol abuse and drug addiction problems and she suffered from depression. Her substance abuse problems were the cause of her death at the age of 36.

On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood home of a barbiturate overdose. At least, that was the official statement of the police. However, there are several conspiracy theories about why and how she died.  Her rumored close ties to the Kennedy family play a large role in these theories, along with Monroe’s history of mental illness and drug abuse. Anyway, there were several men connected with her one way or another: Robert F. Kennedy, John F Kennedy, labor union leader Jimmy Hoffa, Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, the FBI, the CIA, or her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson. Her death was put down to “probable suicide” caused by a “self-administered overdose of sedative drugs”. That was all…

“What good am I? I can’t have kids. I can’t cook. I’ve been divorced three times. Who would want me?”

The movie scene and the publicity could never replace the love she was looking for. The filmgoers and the fans could not fill the gaps from her childhood. She spent a lifetime in superficial relationships, being alone, idolizing money… She spent a lifetime in a consumer society where people were viewed as expendable.

“The Most Advertised Girl in the World” died whinging for not having been loved, hugged and kissed by people who had real feelings for her. That was the most typical figure of a person in despair. She was a woman athirst for life. She was a girl who lived the American dream; being born into a lower class, she attained a happy way of living, reaching the top, as she was always dreaming. The substance of this dream was full of grief and she did not bring any peace, quiet and happiness in her soul…

“Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world.” Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson, spent her childhood in various foster homes subject to abuse and neglect. From foster kid, to factory worker, to model, then to Hollywood sex symbol and actress Marilyn was the epitome of the American Dream. She displayed the perfect Cinderella story reinstating that the American dream was ultimately to go from poverty and have a fresh start as someone more successful with a generally better life. However, she ended up dead under strange conditions and the American dream turned out into a nightmare for her…

Quotes of Marilyn Monroe

See the best collection of Marilyn Monroe’s quotes by clicking on this link:

Marilyn Monroe Quotes Collection

This was an analysis of Marilyn Monroe’s personality and life. If you want to find out which personality you belong to or what kind of Motto suits you, click on the link below:

Motto Personality Test by Motto Cosmos

Get inspired from Marilyn Monroe’s most important quotes:

I am good, but not n angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.

I’m selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I’m out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as well don’t deserve me at my best.

Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn’t that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.

I restore myself when I’m alone.

We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.

The real lover is the man who can thrill you just by touching your head or smiling into your eyes – or just by staring into space.

Sex is a part of nature. I go along with nature.

If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything.

Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union, they insist, there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which, in my book, is a good definition for friendship.

Fear is stupid. So are regrets.

I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that’s not easy.

It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.

Someday I want to have children and give them all the love I never had.

A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself.

A smart girl leaves before she is left.

Beauty and femininity are ageless and can’t be contrived, and glamour, although the manufacturers won’t like this, cannot be manufactured. Not real glamour; it’s based on femininity.

I don’t mind living in a man’s world as long as I can be a woman in it.

We should all start to live before we get too old.

Fame is like caviar, you know – it’s good to have caviar but not when you have it at every meal.

I think that sexuality is only attractive when it’s natural and spontaneous.

Hollywood is a place where they ‘ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.

Fame doesn’t fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.

Dogs never bite me – just humans.

One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I’m a woman, That is the way all females should feel.

A strong man doesn’t have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn’t match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.

Sometimes I feel my whoe life has been one big rejection.

I know I will never be happy, but I know I can be gay!

I defy gravity.

I have always had a talent for irritating women since I was fourteen.

Friends accept you the way you are.

Sometimes I’ve been to a party where no one spoke to me for a whole evening. The men, frightened by ther wives or sweeties, would give me a wide berth. And the ladies would gang up in a corner to discuss my dangerous character.

Respect is one of life’s greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don’t have that?

I remember when I was in high school I didn’t have a new dress for each special occasion. The girls would bring the fact to my attention, not always too delicately. The boys, however, never bothered with the subject. They were my friends, not because of the size of my wardrobe but because they liked me.

Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves. But it is something I must do.

I don’t know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot.

Sometimes, wearing a scarf and a polo coat and no makeup and with a certain attitude of walking, I go shopping or just look at people living. But then, you know, there will be a few teenagers who are kind of sharp, and they’ll say, ‘hey just a minute. You know who I think that is?’. And they’ll start tailing me. And I don’t mind.

What do I wear in bed? Why, chanel No. 5, of course.

Naturally, there are times when every woman likes to be flattered.. to feel she is the most important thing in someone’s world. Only a man can paint this picture.

You know, most people really don’t know me.

The truth is, I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let men sometimes fool themselves.

Designers want me to dress like spring, in billowing things. I don’t feel like spring. I feel like a warm red autumn.

If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.

I was honoured when they asked me to appear at the president’s birthday rally in Madison Square Garden. There was like a hush over the whole place when I came on to sing ‘happy birthday’, ‘like if I had been wearing a slip, I would have thought it was showing or something. I thought, ‘oh, my Gosh, what if no sound comes out!’

A career is born in public – talent in privacy.

If you spend your life competing with business men, what do you have? A bank account and ulcers!

I don’t know if high society is different in other cities, but in hollywood, important people can’t stand to be invited someplace that isn’t full of other important people. They don’t mind a few unfamous people being present because they make good listeners.

When clark gable died, I cried for 2 days straight. I couldn’t eat or sleep.

Marriage destroyed my relationship with two wonderful men.

I’ve been on a calendar, but I’ve never been on time.

It’s all make believe, isn’t it?

Nothing’s ever easy as long as you go on living.

I have too many fantasies to be a housewife. I guess I am a fantasy.

I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one.

If there is only one thing in my life that I am proud of, it’s that I’ve never been a kept woman.

What good is it being Marilyn Monroe? Why can’t I just be an ordinary woman?

I used to think as I looked out on the hollywood night, ‘there must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me dreaming of being a movie star. ‘But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.

I don’t want everybody to see exaclty where I live, what my sofa or my fireplace looks like.

What’s the good of drawing in the next breath if all you do is let it out and draw in another?

There are many times when a woman will ask another girl friend how she likes her new hat. She will reply ‘fine’, but slap her hand to her forehead the minute the girl leaves to yipe, ‘what a horror’.

A man makes you feel important – makes you glad you are a woman.

I  want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.

There was my name up in lights. I said, ‘God, somebody’s made a mistake.’ But there it was, in lights. And I sat there and said, ‘remember, you ‘re not a star. ‘Yet there it was up in lights.

I never wanted to be Marilyn – it just happened. Marilyn’s like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane.

Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I’d sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it. I loves anything that moved up there and I didn’t miss anything that happened and there was no popcorn either.

Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you ‘d never complete your life, would you? You’d never wholly know you.

I always have a full – length mirror next to the camera when I’m doing publicity stills. That way, I know how I look.

To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation. But I’m working on the foundeation.

I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent.

What I really want to say: That what the world really needs is a real feeling of kinship. Everybody: stars, laborers, negroes, jews, arabs. We are all brothers.

I like actors very much, but to marry one would be like marrying your brother. You look too much alike in the mirror.

I think one of the basic reasons men make good friends is that they can make up their minds quickly.

I was brought up differently than the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy.

I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.

There isn’t anybody that looks like me without clothes on.

Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered.

I don’t consider myself an intellectual. And this is not one of my aims. But I admire intellectual people.

I ‘ve never dropped anyone I believed in.

A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.

My dinners at home are startingly simple. Every night, I stop at the market near my hotel and pick up a steak, lamp chops or some liver, which I broil in the electric oven in my room. I usually eat four or five raw carrots with my meat, and that is all. I must be part rabbit; I never get bored with raw carrots.

It’s not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.

I like to feel blonde all over.

I want to be an artist, not…a celluloid aphrodisiac.

I’m very definitely a woman and I enjoy it.

The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.

It is wonderful to have someone praise you, to be desired.

I am alone; I am always alone no matter what.

Fame is fickle, and I know it. It has its compensations but it also has its drawbacks, and I’ve experienced them both.

At twelve I looked like a girl of seventeen. My body was developed and shapely. I still wore the blue dress and the blouse the orphanage provided. They made me look like an overgrown lummox.

Next to my husband, and along with Marlon Brando, I think that Yves Montand is the most attractive man I’ve ever met.

Depending upon my activities, I sleep between five and ten hours every night. I sleep in an extra – wide single bed, and I use only one heavy down comforter over me, summer or winter. I have never been able to wear pajamas or creepy nightgowns; they disturb my sleep.

The trouble with censors is that they worry if a girl has cleavage. They ought to worry if she hasn’t any.

It’s often just enough to be with someone. I don’t need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You ‘re not alone.

Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting then being one.

A sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing.

There is a need for aloneness, which I don’t think most people realise for an actor. It’s almost having certain kinds of secrets for yourself that you ‘ll let the whole world in on only for a moment, when you ‘re acting. But everybody is always tugging at you. They ‘d all like sort of a chunk of you.

It’s not too much fun to know yourself too well or think you do – everyone needs a little conceit to carry then through & past the falls.

Men who think that a woman’s past love affairs lessen her love for them are usually stupid and weak.

All my stepchildren carried the burden of my fame. Sometimes they would read terrible things about me, and I’d worry about whether it would hurt them. I would tell them: ‘Don’t hide these things from me. I’d rather you ask me these things straight out, and I’ll answer all your questions.’

If I’m a star, then the people made me a star.

I learned to walk as a baby, and I haven’t had a lesson since.

The nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream.

I am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human.

I wish I knew why I am so anguished.

Confidentally, the type of male I find most enjoyable for a friend is one who has enough fire and assurance to speak up for his convictions.

I am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human.

Before marriage, a girl hat to make love to a man to hold him. After marriage, she has to hold him to make love to him.

I don’t want to make money, I just want to be wonderful.

I used to get the feeling, and sometimes I still get it, that sometimes I was fooling somebody; I don’t know who or what, maybe myself.

I love a natural look in pictures.

When I was 11, the whole world was closed to me. I just felt I was on the outside of the world.

I think that when you are famous every weakness is exaggerated.

I’ve always wanted a baby.

I don’t look at myself as a commodity, but I’m sure a lot of people have.

A man has a tendency to accept you the way you are, while most women immediately start to pick flaws and want to change you.

The ‘public’ scares me, but people I trust.

Husbands are chiefly good as lovers when they are betraying their wives.

I’ve always felt toward the slightest scene, even if all I had to do in a scene was just to come in and say, ‘hi’, that the people ought to get their money’s worth and that this is an obligation of mine, to give them the best you can get from me.

A man is more Frank and sincere with the emotions than a woman. We girls, I’m afraid, have a tendency to hide our feelings.

In hollywood a girl’s virtue is much less important than her hairdo.

When I was a youngster I lived with different families. I nearly always felt closer to the man of the house. Maybe because I always dreamed of having a father of my own.

An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument. Isaac Stern takes good care of his violin. What if everybody jumped on his violin?

Girdles and wire stays should have never been invented. No man wants to hug a padded bird cage.

I don’t digest things with my mind.

Why is it you always meet people when you look your worst?

I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded was our right to twinkle.

If your man is a sports enthusiast, you may have to resign yourself to his spouting off in a monotone on a prize fight, football game or pennant race.

I have been told my eating habits are absolutely bizarre. But I don’t think so.

An actress is not a machine, but they treat you like a machine. A money machine.

What good am I? I can’t have kids. I can’t cook. I’ve been divorced three times. Who would want me?

For a long time I was scared I’d find out I was like my mother.

The thing I want more than anything else? I want to have children. I used to feel for every child I had, I would adopt another.

A woman can bring a new love to each man she loves, providing there are not too many.

I’ve often stood silent at a party for hours listening to my movie idols turn into dull and little people.

I read poetry to save time.

When I was five I think, that’s when I started wanting to be an actress.

When it comes to gossip, I have to readily admit men are as guilty as women.

Having a child, that’s always been my biggest fear. I want a child and I fear a child.

I often wake up in the night, and I like to have something to think about.

I’m one of the world’s most self-conscious people. I really have to struggle.

The public doesn’t mind people living together without being married, providing they don’t overdo it.

First, I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll convince myself that I’m an actress.

Fame may go by and – so long, I’ve had you.

The fact is that I find more most men are more open, more generous, and much more stimulating than the majority of females I know.

I enjoy acting when you really hit it right.

I want the world to see my body.

My public is growing up just as I am. After all, I’m not 19 anymore and if I stick with the sex bit, who will be paying to see me when I’m 50?

We human beings are strange creatures and still reserve the right to think for ourselves.

I’ll think I have a few wonderful friends and all of a sudden, ooh, here it comes. They do a lot of things. They talk about you to the press, to their friends, tell stories, and you know, it’s disappointing.

Men are so willing to respect anything that bores them.

I am invariably late for appointments – sometimes as much as two hours. I’ve tried to change my ways but the things that make me late are too strong, and too pleasing.

I guess I have always been deeply terrified to really be someone’s wife since I know from life one cannot love another, ever, really.

My work is the only ground I’ve ever had to stand on. To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation, but I’m working on the foundation.

I myself would like to become more disciplined within my work.

An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument.

In fact, my popularity seems almost entirely a masculine phenomenon.

Black men don’t like to be called ‘boys’, but women accept being called ‘girls’.

Arthur Miller wouldn’t have married me if I had been nothing but a dumb blonde.

I have noticed… that men usually leave married women alone and are inclined to treat all wives with respect. This is no great credit to married women.

Girls shouldn’t worry about being the equal of men in the business world.

I want to be an artist. An actress with integrity, and that includes all kinds of parts.

A woman can’t be alone. She needs a man. A man and a woman support and strenghten each other. She just can’t do it by herself.

I once wanted to prove myself by being a great actress. Now I want to prove that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll be a great actress.

If I close my eyes and think of hollywood, all I see is one big varicose vein.

All the darkness in the world cannot extiguish the light of a single candle.

If a star or studio chief or any other great movie personages find themselves sitting among a lot of nobodies, they get frightened – as if somebody was trying to demote them.

When I was five, I think, that’s when I started wanting to be an actress. I loved to play. I didn’t like the world around me because it was kind of grim, but I loved to play house. It was like you could make your own boundaries.

 

Filmography of Marilyn Monroe

Year	Film	Role	Director
1947	Dangerous Years	Evie	Arthur Pierson
1948	Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!	Betty (uncredited)	Hugh Herbert
1948	Ladies of the Chorus	Peggy Martin	Phil Karlson
1949	Love Happy	Grunion’s Client (uncredited)	David Miller
1950	A Ticket to Tomahawk	Clara (uncredited)	Richard Sale
1950	Right Cross	Dusky Ledoux (uncredited)	John Sturges
1950	The Fireball	Polly	Tay Garnett
1950	The Asphalt Jungle	Angela Phinlay	John Huston
1950	All About Eve	Miss Claudia Caswell	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1951	Love Nest	Roberta Stevens	Joseph M. Newman
1951	Let’s Make It Legal	Joyce Mannering	Richard Sale
1951	Home Town Story	Iris Martin	Arthur Pierson
1951	As Young as You Feel	Harriet	Harman Jones
1952	O. Henry’s Full House	Streetwalker	Henry Koster
1952	Monkey Business	Lois Laurel	Howard Hawks
1952	Clash by Night	Peggy	Fritz Lang
1952	We’re Not Married!	Anabel Norris	Edmund Goulding
1952	Don’t Bother to Knock	Nell Forbes	Roy Baker
1953	Niagara	Rose Loomis	Henry Hathaway
1953	Gentlemen Prefer Blondes	Lorelei Lee	Howard Hawks
1953	How to Marry a Millionaire	Pola Debevoise	Jean Negulesco
1954	River of No Return	Kay Weston	Otto Preminger
1954	There’s No Business Like Show Business	Vicky	Walter Lang
1955	The Seven Year Itch	The Girl	Billy Wilder
1956	Bus Stop	Chérie	Joshua Logan
1957	The Prince and the Showgirl	Elsie Marina	Laurence Olivier
1959	Some Like It Hot	Sugar Kane Kowalczyk	Billy Wilder
1960	Let’s Make Love	Amanda Dell	George Cukor
1961	The Misfits	Roslyn Taber	John Huston
1962	Something’s Got to Give (unfinished)	Ellen Wagstaff Arden	George Cukor

 

Awards and nominations of Marilyn Monroe

• 1951 Henrietta Awards: The Best Young Box Office Personality
• 1952 Photoplay Award: Fastest Rising Star of 1952
• 1952 Photoplay Award: Special Award
• 1952 Look American Magazine Achievement Award: Most Promising Female Newcomer of 1952
• 1953 Golden Globe Henrietta Award: World Film Favorite Female.
• 1953 Sweetheart of The Month (Playboy)
• 1953 Photoplay Award: Most Popular Female Star
• 1954 Photoplay Award for Best Actress: for Gentlemen Prefer Blondesand How to Marry a Millionaire
• 1956 BAFTAFilm Award nomination: Best Foreign Actress for The Seven Year Itch
• 1956 Golden Globe nomination: Best Motion Picture Actress in Comedy or Musical for Bus Stop
• 1958 BAFTA Film Award nomination: Best Foreign Actress for The Prince and the Showgirl
• 1958 David di Donatello Award (Italian): Best Foreign Actress for The Prince and the Showgirl
• 1959 Crystal Star Award (French): Best Foreign Actress for The Prince and the Showgirl
• 1960 Golden Globe, Best Motion Picture Actress in Comedy or Musical for Some Like It Hot
• 1962 Golden Globe, World Film Favorite: Female
• Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 6104 Hollywood Blvd.
• 1999 she was ranked as the sixth greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute in their list AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Stars.

 

Awards and Achievements of Marilyn Monroe

 

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Rosalind Russell for Auntie Mame	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Some Like It Hot 1960	Succeeded by Shirley MacLaine for The Apartment