Decades have passed since her death, and this blond bombshell is still considered the epitome of timeless beauty and glamour. Not only did she capture the hearts of many in the mid-20th century, but she became an immortal icon of sensuality, femininity, and style, inspiring people to this day. But despite skyrocketing to fame, Marilyn Monroe’s story is a sad one, starting with a troubled childhood and leading to multiple divorces and poor mental health. She put on a happy face for many, but did anyone actually know her? Despite her death being ruled as a suicide, there are many dark secrets shrouding the life (and death) of Marilyn Monroe.
She was a very lonely person
This loneliness started when she was raised by a mentally ill mother who once tried to kill Marilyn. She was then sent to a series of foster homes, which she lived in before getting married at the young age of 16 and dropping out of high school. She never knew her father, and those in her circles advised her to tell people her mother was dead. She got several divorces and never found true love, despite wanting to become a mother. She became pregnant multiple times but tragically miscarried every baby.
She was very politically active and held liberal views
Some might look at this star and think she was just a ditzy bimbo without an interest in politics, but the opposite was true. Her politics swung to the far left, and while the characters she played didn’t reflect that, she was a supporter of the civil rights movement and very aware of both her own privilege and the injustice that surrounded her. She played a major role in helping Ella Fitzgerald break into the music scene when segregation laws were still in place, and was vehemently against FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and McCarthyism while admiring China.
The FBI monitored her for years
Due to her increasingly liberal views, the FBI monitored Marilyn Monroe for years. She was also under fire for being married to playwright Arthur Miller, who was also left-leaning and took a strong stance against anti-Communist Senator Joseph McCarthy. The FBI never could prove her ties to communism. They wrote, “Subject’s views are very positively and concisely leftist; however, if she is being actively used by the Communist Party, it is not general knowledge among those working with the movement in Los Angeles.”
She may have been involved with JFK and his brother
There’s a persistent rumor that Monroe had a torrid affair with both President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert Kennedy, but there is no official evidence. However, in 2016, The Telegraph reported about a letter that confirmed the link between Monroe and Kennedy, written by the younger Kennedy sister Jean Kennedy Smith, who wrote, “Understand that you and Bobby are the new item! We all think you should come with him when he comes back East!”
Evidence surrounding her death was destroyed, and the coroner had doubts that it was suicide
Important forensic evidence went missing after Marilyn Monroe died, according to The Independent, and many “key witnesses” gave contradicting stories. Additionally, the coroner assigned to examine Monroe’s body had doubts about her taking her own life, though the official autopsy report called it suicide. The doctor found a fresh bruise on her hip and no traces of the dye from the pills that supposedly took her life. Later, he admitted he should have tested her internal organs and not just her blood and liver. He later called for the case to be reopened after telling a reporter in 1985 he suspected murder.
FBI reports link the Kennedy family to Marilyn Monroe’s death
According to FBI reports, there’s a link between the Kennedys’ and Marilyn Monroe’s death. Peter Lawford, who married into the Kennedy family, said he believed Monroe had a history of pretending to take her own life for attention. He set her up with a psychiatrist who had prescribed the celebrity barbiturates, and on her last visit to him, he prescribed her an unusually high amount of pills. It was then reported that the night she died, the housekeeper put the pills on her night table, and that she was cooperating along with Marilyn’s personal secretary and press agent in the conspiracy to get her to commit suicide.
Many people still don’t think she killed herself
The circumstances around Marilyn Monroe’s death are clearly suspicious, and as a result, many have demanded that her case be reopened. There’s a Change.org petition asking to have the case reopened, and there is no shortage of conspiracy theories that say Monroe was murdered. Some of the stranger claims say that she was abducted by aliens, while others speculate that she was part of a government cover-up to hide her affair with Bobby Kennedy.
