64. Her Third Marriage Ended
Shocker: By November 11, 1960, Miller and Monroe finally threw in the towel and announced that they had divorced. The split should have marked a new beginning for Marilyn, but unfortunately, things just devolved even more. A few months later, in February of 1961, Monroe told a friend that she had thought about ending her own life by jumping off her apartment balcony.
65. She Had Dark Thoughts
Shortly after Monroe began to experience suicidal thoughts, she hit yet another low. Her psychoanalyst had her committed to a psychiatric ward against her will. Monroe thought she was headed to a place where she could rest and recuperate. Instead, she was forced into a padded cell and threatened with a straightjacket. Instead of helping Monroe, her experience at the institution was one of the darkest moments in her life.
66. She Was Locked Up
In recently uncovered letters, Monroe wrote about the "inhumanity" she discovered in the psychiatric ward. According to Monroe, she was treated like she was sub-human. In a desperate attempt to escape, she had to break a glass pane and threaten to harm herself unless the staff released her. While her gesture didn't work, Monroe thankfully did get out. Her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio rescued her in her time of need.
67. She Had Scandalous Romances
Marilyn Monroe seems to have led two completely different lives. In one, she's a struggling addict with a dark history. In another, she's a glamorous movie star with an endless list of lovers. Case in point: while Monroe plunged into a deep depression, she also found time to go on dates with Frank Sinatra (who was, awkwardly, the best friend of her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio) and even to pursue the most famous man in America: the President himself.
68. She Seduced The President
In May of 1962, the blonde bombshell serenaded President John F. Kennedy with a famously breathy version of "Happy Birthday", immediately launching rumors that the two were more than friends. Nowadays, most historians believe that the gossip got it right. According to multiple sources, Kennedy and Monroe really did have a passionate affair—and soon it culminated in a dramatic face-off between JFK's wife and mistress.
69. She Was The Other Woman
A recent book on Jackie Kennedy claims that Monroe called the First Lady and told her that JFK had promised to marry her. Jackie played it cool, saying, “Marilyn, that’s great . . . you’ll move into the White House and you’ll assume the responsibilities of first lady, and you’ll have all the problems.” Well, that didn't end up happening—but not for the reason you might expect.
70. She Fell For Another
Monroe and Kennedy's affair didn't result in a long-term relationship for many reasons—but the juiciest of all just has to be this: Marilyn was keeping a secret. She wasn't just romancing John F. Kennedy; she was also seeing his younger, more sensitive brother Bobby Kennedy at the same time. Remember the Chaplin boys back in the 1940s? It looks like Marilyn has a thing for brothers.
71. She Had Strange Habits
Despite her breakdowns, Marilyn Monroe never fully let her sultry persona slip. Among female studio employees–wardrobe mistresses, hairdressers, make-up artists–Monroe often preferred to walk around in the nude. She also gave interviews without any clothing on and often went out wearing nothing under the black mink coat that Joe DiMaggio had given her during their marriage.
72. She Was Numb
Despite the brief uptick in Monroe's love life, in the early 1960s, her mental health issues were as bad as ever. Her makeup artist revealed that when Monroe felt especially bad, she couldn't bear to even sit up. He would apply Marilyn's makeup as she lay, listless, in her bed. Even in this state, though, Monroe forced herself to work: She signed on for Something's Got To Give.
Monroe had no idea that it would be her very last film.
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73. She Got Fired From A Movie
In 1962, Twentieth Century-Fox fired Marilyn Monroe from the production of Something’s Got to Give. Her chronic lateness and frequent absences (she didn’t actually show up for the first two weeks of filming) had already cost the movie thousands of dollars. As a sign of her continuing star power, Monroe signed another contract with Fox immediately after getting booted from the set—but sadly, she'd never make another movie.
74. She Had A Final Romantic Night
Warren Beatty was one of the last people to see Marilyn Monroe alive. A 25-year-old Beatty met her at a producer’s home during a party. According to a 2016 interview with Beatty, the two of them spent the evening together, which involved Beatty playing piano for Monroe and the pair taking moonlit walk along the shore. The very next day, Monroe was gone.
75. Her Body Was Discovered
On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe's lifeless body was discovered at her home in Brentwood, California. She was lying in her bed with a phone in one of her hands. At the time of her demise, Monroe was just 36 years old. While the coroner believed that Monroe had "probably" took her own life by overdosing on barbiturates, some details have made people wonder if the star suffered a darker fate.
76. The Autopsy Was Suspicious
Technicians only tested the toxicology of Monroe's liver. When the deputy coroner tried to obtain her other organs for testing, he was told they’d been destroyed. Strange details like this have become part of the many conspiracy theories surrounding the star's untimely death. Some sources (including her old friend Marlon Brando) believe that she was murdered.
77. People Wonder If Foul Play Was Involved
The most well-known theories are that Bobby Kennedy or the CIA ended Monroe's life. Kennedy's motivation would have been to keep Marilyn quiet about her affairs with him and his brother. The CIA's motivation would have been to punish Bobby Kennedy over how he handled the Bay of Pigs disaster. However, as of 2020, these remain conspiracies, not proven statements.
78. Her Funeral Was Tragic
There was an open casket at Monroe's 1962 funeral. In her coffin, Monroe wore an apple green dress made of nylon jersey and carried pink roses. Sadly, because her head had been partially shaved during the autopsy, Monroe's signature platinum blonde hair could not be displayed. Instead, the star wore a wig. Only around 30 people saw Monroe in this state, as she requested that her funeral be limited to her close friends and family.
79. Her One True Love Was Distraught
Remember when DiMaggio stalked Monroe and accidentally kicked in the door of an innocent secretary? Well, to DiMaggio's credit, this dark episode scared him straight. He began to confront his personal demons and eventually, he and Monroe became close friends. When she passed in 1962, he was completely devastated. He'd always thought that they'd eventually reconcile and be together again. Instead, he was the one who arranged her funeral.
80. He Gave Her A Heartbreaking Gift
For twenty long years after Marilyn’s death, Joe DiMaggio sent roses to her crypt three times a week. He outlived her by 36 years but in all that time, he never married again. His last words were apparently, “I’ll finally get to see Marilyn.” As if this story needed to get even sadder, there's a heartbreaking reason for DiMaggio's lifelong inability to get over Marilyn. Apparently, at the time of her demise, they had gotten back together and even planned to remarry.
81. Her Legacy Lives On
In the years after Monroe's demise, many artists have paid tribute to the star. Some are sweet, like Elton John's song "Candle In The Wind" and the many homages to Marilyn's hot pink dress in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Some are a little creepy, like Hugh Hefner buying the crypt next to Monroe's grave. But one "homage" was just plain mean.
82. Her Ex Dissed Her
Arthur Miller’s 1964 play After the Fall is thought to be a thinly veiled portrayal of his marriage to Marilyn. Suffice it to say that Miller's portrayal of his ex-wife wasn't exactly generous. In fact, the writer James Baldwin walked out of the show because he thought that “Maggie,” the character that was clearly based on Monroe, was written so cruelly.
83. Her Home Contained A Dark Secret
The bombshell revelations about Monroe's tragic final years didn't end with her demise. In 1972, an actress named Veronica Hamel bought Marilyn’s old house. She claimed that when she was renovating the home, she made a shocking discovery. She uncovered an extensive system of wire-taps. For years, people had wondered if the FBI, CIA, and/or the Mafia had bugged Monroe's home. With this discovery, it looked like at least one of them had.
84. Everyone Wants A Piece Of Her
The beaded gown Marilyn wore when she sang Happy Birthday to President Kennedy sold in 1999 for £820,000. At the time, it was the record price for a single item of clothing. Over a decade later, though, Monroe broke her own record when her billowing white Seven Year Itch dress sold for £2.8 million. Later on, Mariah Carey bought her white baby grand piano for $662,500.
85. She Had A Twisted Desire
Many, many, many books have been written about Marilyn Monroe. But only one penned by Charles Casillo, who interviewed her friends, contains this claim. It's common knowledge that Monroe was obsessed with meeting her biological father—but few people realize just how twisted her fixation really was. Once, at a party, Monroe said that she wanted to put on a black wig, pick up her father in a bar, and make love to him.
After the deed was done, she planned to ask him, “How do you feel now that you have a daughter that you’ve made love to?”
Sources: 1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34
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