more she has to reveal. In fact, debates about the circumstances surrounding that evening may never end, and whether or not they choose to admit it, that’s just how many people want it.
Are there suspicious circumstances around Marilyn’s death? Absolutely. For instance, the doctors and Murray waited almost two hours to contact the authorities. Why? No one has ever sufficiently answered that question. More intriguingly, Eunice would later say that there was no lock on Marilyn’s door. If that’s the case, then the entire story of how she was found seems to fall apart. There was very little drug residue found in Marilyn’s stomach—and what was found wasn’t properly analyzed. Also, there was some discoloration in her lower intestine. Do these facts support the theory that maybe she was given a lethal enema by… someone? Not really. Marilyn was a drug addict. It is a medical fact that an addict’s stomach becomes accustomed to the drugs of choice and that they easily pass into the intestines. Many addicts die without a trace of pills in their stomachs. Also, an empty stomach does not preclude the possibility that pills were ingested over a number of hours, and the high levels of barbiturates found in Marilyn’s liver testify to this. Perhaps if the autopsy had been more thorough, though, who knows what might have been concluded? Certainly, if she died today, with current science, there would be no mystery.
So, as always… the question remains: Suicide or murder?
All the byzantine theories of Marilyn’s death share one common denominator: They involve an often frightened, vulnerable, unstable woman who had been spiraling deeper and deeper into her own mental illness. She was in a state of confusion, panic, and despair, and had been off and on for most of her life. If she had been a stable woman who had never overdosed in her lifetime, then, yes, one might legitimately question the circumstances of her death. However, this was a woman who over the years had overdosed more times than people in her circle could even recall—sometimes, it seemed, intentionally, sometimes maybe not. She could have died on any number of those occasions were it not for people like Natasha Lytess, Arthur Miller, Susan Strasberg, and the others who found and revived her. In fact, she overdosed twice just in the month before her death—at Cal-Neva and then at her home—and was saved both times. However, that night of August 4, tragically enough, no one came to her aid. Perhaps the only real question about her death is whether or not it was intentional. *
It’s been argued that Marilyn’s upcoming prospects were so promising, she couldn’t possibly have taken her own life. She supposedly had too much to live for. However, what was probably going on inside her mind had little correlation to those factors. When we consider her last moments on earth we need to focus on an unwell brain, not simply the enticing rewards of a movie star’s existence. Marilyn’s day-to-day happiness was not affected by a desire for more fame, more wealth, more success. To believe that her will to live could have been reclaimed by finishing
This is the story of a girl named Norma Jeane Mortensen. She thrived despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles and almost impossible odds. She created and became a woman more fascinating than even she believed possible. And in the face of her own failing mind, she battled to keep that creation alive—not for her, but for us. Indeed, Marilyn Monroe
On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe gave the world all she had left to give—the knowledge that she was, and always would be… ours.
Norma Jeane Mortensen was born on June 1, 1926. This beautiful baby would, of course, grow up to one day become the great film star Marilyn Monroe.
A sad but beautiful photo of Marilyn the woman. This picture says it all about her: Vulnerable. Tragic. Gorgeous.
The way Gladys Baker is holding Norma Jeane—almost as if she were a baby doll— suggests that maybe she wasn’t prepared to be a mother. Less than two weeks after giving birth, Gladys turned the infant over to foster parents, Ida and Wayne Bolender, to raise.
A very rare photo of Ida and Wayne Bolender with their foster children. Ida is holding the infant Norma Jeane in her arms.
A never-before-published photograph of the man Gladys Baker said was Norma Jeane’s father, Charles Stanley Gifford Sr. His son, Charles Stanley Jr.— interviewed for this book— maintains that he and Marilyn Monroe are not related.
Gladys would sometimes visit her daughter at the Bolenders’ and take her for the occasional outing, such as this one to the beach when the girl was about three. Still, because of her mental illness, it was difficult for her to ever forge a relationship with her child.
Norma Jeane at about four years of age.
Norma Jeane at age six.
Norma Jeane married her first husband, Jim Dougherty, in June 1942—but only so that she would not have to go into another orphanage.
Norma Jeane was a highly successful model long before she ever became Marilyn Monroe. Here she is in 1944, “wearing” some of her many covers.
The postcard Norma Jeane wrote to her half sister, Berniece, after meeting her for the first time in October 1944.
A very rare family photo taken at the Pacific Seas restaurant in September 1946, right after Norma Jeane was divorced from her first husband, James Dougherty. From left to right: Berniece Baker (Marilyn’s half sister) and her daughter, Mona Rae; Grace Goddard (Norma Jeane’s beloved guardian) and her sister, Enid Knebelkamp; Norma Jeane, Norma Jeane’s “Aunt” Ana and her mother, Gladys Baker.
