There are many questions about Marilyn Monroe. How she lived, so she died - under mysterious circumstances. Has she taken her own life? Or maybe someone helped her with this?
He is one of the most controversial characters in pop culture, both delightful and outrageous. Sweet, innocent, and at the same time sinful and dissolute. Beautiful or average? Talented or overvalued? Questions about the biography of Marilyn Monroe can be multiplied and each time the famous sex bomb eludes unambiguous interpretations. How she lived, so she died - to this day it is not really known for what reason. Did she take her own life? Or maybe someone "helped" her? The mysterious death of the Hollywood star provoked the emergence of conspiracy theories. To this day, it is the subject of investigations and analyzes.
Officially, Marilyn passed away from this world as a result of an overdose of barbiturates . The coroner's report stated that the cause of death was "probable suicide." This is because the concentration of poisonous substances in Monroe's body was so high that it exceeded the lethal dose many times over. She couldn't accidentally overdo the number of pills. She must have taken around 60-70 of them.
Vodka, drugs and a broken heart
Marilyn died at the age of 36. So she was still a young person, and yet professionally and mentally burned out . She lived alone in a house on the outskirts of Los Angeles. She was in constant contact with doctors - Ralph Greenson and Hyman Engelberger. They gave her prescriptions for strong sleeping pills from the barbiturate group. As the artist's hostess said, there were times when Monroe forgot that she had already taken a dose and reached for the next one. She also mixed psychotropics with alcohol. According to journalist James Bacon of the Los Angeles Times, who met the actress before her death, she often took such cocktails . He was supposed to warn her:" Marilyn, the combination of drugs and alcohol will kill you, and she replied" it hasn't killed me yet. " Then she took another drink and took another pill. "
36-year-old Marilyn was at a sharp turn in her professional life. Label 20 th Century Fox was impatient with her constant absences. Suffering from chronic sinusitis, the star kept moving pictures . After falling ill again, the label broke her contract, demanding massive compensation . A settlement was reached, but the situation between the actress and her principals was tense.
Marilyn, 36, was at a sharp turn in her professional life.
Monroe did not do well in her personal life as well, though she did not complain about the lack of attention. The list of her lovers was long (including leading politicians). There was also a long list of her husbands. She got married for the first time at the age of 16 - in 1942 she married James Dougherty. The marriage ended quickly. The second husband of the actress was baseball star Joe DiMaggio . And this relationship did not stand the test of time. DiMaggio was beating his wife and abusing alcohol. They broke up after 9 months. The third husband of the artist was the playwright Arthur Miller , but this love also turned out to be fleeting.
Marilyn's private life was therefore an emotional swing. Unsuccessful relationships and motherhood (she had miscarried twice) resulted in four suicide attempts although experts believe the star only wanted attention.
Childhood hell
The actress gave the impression of an unbalanced person. She had a tendency to modulate her voice like a child, would burst out laughing outright . She suffered from bipolar disorder . She suffered from low self-esteem, the genesis of which should be sought in her childhood. Monroe never met her father, and her mother fell ill with paranoid psychosis and ended up in a closed ward. At the age of 8, Marilyn began wandering around foster homes until finally ended up in an orphanage . Years later, she confessed: “The parents of all the children in the home (orphanage) died. I had at least one parent - a mother. But she didn't want me. I was too ashamed to try to explain it to other children. I was only happy when we were taken to the movies. ”
The official cause of death thus seems completely plausible, especially since Marilyn has already attempted suicide. And yet, not everything in this puzzle fits together. The first doubts stem from the fact that before her death, Monroe seemed to be full of energy. She was in the mania phase of bipolar disorder and reportedly made plans for the future. Joanna Jarecka writes:
"She was able to renew her contract with the FOX film company, her pay for the film increased two and a half times, was preparing for another wedding with Joe DiMaggio . According to her friends, in the last days of her life was very happy . Bob Slatzer claimed that in a conversation with him the day before her death, Marilyn Monroe made plans for the next days and months, which is not typical of people who want to kill themselves. Suicides don't usually make plans for the future ” .
So what happened on the unlucky night?
Tragic night
The last person to talk to Marilyn before she died was her screenwriter. At around 10 p.m. their telephone conversation was interrupted by an unknown noise. Marilyn said she would check what it was and call back. She didn't. Earlier, also contacted her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio . He didn't notice anything disturbing.
At around 3 am, maid Eunice Murray was to see the light in the employer's bedroom. She tried to contact her, but no one answered and the door was locked. It worried her, so she called Dr. Greenson. This one arrived shortly after. He broke the window and they entered the actress's room. Marilyn was lying naked with her face towards the pillow . She was holding the telephone receiver in her hand, which suggested she was trying to call for help.
Marilyn Monroe died on August 5, 1962
At around 4:30 AM, Sergeant Jack Clemonds and the rest of the local police showed up. Today it is known that in the first hours after the star's death the policemen working in her house made many mistakes . First of all, they made the assumption that Monroe's death was not the result of a crime. Meanwhile, in the stories of the maid and the doctor, many things did not add up. Jarecka describes:
"The sergeant, Mrs. Murray, was presented with the version that the whole incident did not take place at 3:00 am, but at 1:00 am. When the policeman asked what Dr. Greenson and the housekeeper had been doing for the last few hours, they were unable to answer. According to the testimony of the policeman, they were irritated by this question. Officers who arrived later had already presented a different version of events - three hours postponed. ”
Later, the maid changed her testimony many times. Sometimes she said she woke up around 3 am, other times it was around midnight. Why did she call a doctor only after 3 o'clock? In one interview in 1980, she confessed with disarming frankness that ... she didn't know.
Bugs and omissions
The condition of the deceased's room also raised doubts. There were tons of medicine packets around Marilyn's bed, but nowhere was a glass or water to wash it down . Jarecka relates:" The room also did not look like a room in which someone committed suicide by poisoning himself with barbiturates in the form of tablets. There was no vomit there and in the event of taking such a large dose of barbiturates, the body should defend itself by expelling the poisonous substance in the form of vomiting. But that didn't happen. ”
Marilyn had several suicide attempts but seemed happy in the last weeks of her life.
The presumption that nothing wrong had happened at Monroe's house resulted in negligence in examining the footprints on site. "It was a serious mistake that no fingerprints were collected at Marilyn Monroe's house . The sheet the actress was lying on looked, according to Jack Clamonds's testimony, freshly changed. Officers arrived at the scene between 4:00 am and 5:00 am and noticed that Eunice Murray was doing the laundry. This circumstance has never been investigated. Ms Murray was not even asked why she was doing the laundry at this time of day on the day her employer died "- adds the author of the study. Equally puzzling things happened in connection with the autopsy of the star, performed by Dr. Thomas Nagouchi. Tissues taken from Marilyn's body… lost! Joanna Jarecka writes:
(...) only liver samples survived, others were damaged or lost . This is all the more surprising as the people dealing with this autopsy knew it was about a famous actress. They were aware that this would attract media attention .
Suicide or murder?
The doctor who performed the autopsy admitted that the death was a result of poisoning with drugs from the barbiturate group, but did not explain how they got into the body. There was no sign of a yellow dye in Marilyn's stomach, although they should have been there if the actress had poisoned herself with nembutal. There were plenty of empty vials of this drug in the bedroom. Dr. Nagouchi also found no needle marks, so this method of poisoning was out of the question either. On the other hand, the doctor found a bluish-pink color of the colon, which might suggest that the actress had been given an enema before her death . Is this how the poison was introduced into the body?
The then deputy state attorney Jonh Miner was convinced that the actress's death was caused by murder . To make this credible, he even found transcriptions of the tapes recorded with Marilyn by Dr. Grierson during therapy sessions shortly before his death. The star talked about her emotional and sexual life, incl. about the enemas she had done. She also had plans for the future - professional and one for remarrying with DiMaggio. She didn't sound like someone who was going to leave this world. After many years, Miner, freed from secrecy by the wife of the late Grierson, revealed the content of these conversations.
So who could care about Marilyn's death? Shortly before her death, the star sang in public to John Kennedy "Happy Birthday Mr. President ” . She did it as evocatively as if she was just singing to tell the public about their affair.
Dangerous Liaisons
However, Marilyn had an affair not only with John, but also with his brother - Robert "Bobby" Kennedy, the attorney general at the time. Apparently, the star kept a special diary in which she noted the meetings with the brothers and the content of their conversations. In 2010 it was revealed that the brothers shared the charms of a sexy actress. FBI files came to light, which shows that Marilyn participated in orgies involving both brothers, as well as the third Kennedy - Edward . The meetings were to take place in the apartment of the Carlyle Hotel in New York. They were organized by ... Frank Sinatra. The artist was closely associated with the criminal world. He had extensive contacts with the mafia, attended meetings of mafia bosses and even worked as a mafia courier.
photo:Liberty Publications / public domain At the request of the mafia, Sinatra arranged orgies in which not only Marilyn but also other girls took part.
It is said that at the request of the mafia, Sinatra arranged orgies in which not only Marilyn, but also other girls took part. It was about collecting compromising material on the Kennedys - most of all Robert, who turned out to be a fierce hunter of organized crime. Besides, Monroe herself had contacts with gangsters. She romanced, among others with Sam Giancana, the boss of the Chicago Mafia, who knows the Kennedy clan very well. Already such a cursory review of the actress's sexual and emotional dossier indicates that there were plenty of potential people willing to "silence" her. It is also known that the star's house was tapped. Joanna Jarecka writes:
At the end of her life, Monroe was afraid that someone would overhear her, she even carried a bag of coins with her to make phone calls. There are many witnesses who confirm that the artist was tapped, incl. President Mickey Song's hairdresser, to whom the Attorney General shared an excerpt from Song's conversation with Marilyn Monroe at her home .
Reportedly, before her death, Marilyn, scorned by the Kennedy brothers, was to threaten to reveal at a press conference not only the spicy details of their triangle , but also state secrets with which they shared with her. Such a turn of events would ruin the public careers of both Democrats.
Evidence of the crime
Norman Jefferise, employed at Monroe's house as a "handyman", confessed to the media years later (the police did not interrogate him) that on the last day of his life the star was visited twice by Robert Kennedy in the company of some men.
Bobby first showed up around 3:30 PM. After this meeting, Marilyn was shaken. She alleged that the Attorney General had threatened her . The second visit was to take place the same day after 10 pm He was ordered to leave the apartment. When he returned he found Marilyn turned blue on the bed. She couldn't breathe. "An ambulance was called, the actress was moved from the couch to the floor, and Dr. Greenson tried to give the patient an adrenaline injection into the heart . It all happened at 10.45 pm according to Norman Jeffries reported by the journalist "- writes Jarecka.
Scorned by the Kennedy brothers, Marilyn was supposed to threaten to reveal the spicy details of their triangle
Was it when Marilyn died and not after midnight or around 3 am? Apparently there is evidence of this. “One of them is the testimony of Nathalie Jacobs, Arthur Jacobs' wife. She said that on the evening of the actress's death she was with her husband and friends at a concert. Between 21.30 and 22.00 they were informed by phone that the artist was dead or dying ". Is it the US Attorney General that "silenced" the beautiful actress?
Robert Kennedy claimed to have been in San Francisco at the unlucky moment. However, there were witnesses who saw him in the City of Angels, incl. the policeman who stopped his car for inspection. Prosecutors' offices John Miner, who had been investigating on his own for years after closing the case, believed that Marilyn's death was the result of a conspiracy. and the housekeeper played an active role in it. She was the one to perform the killer enema.
The drink of eternity and the red diary
Years later, another bomb was "fired" by Mike Rothmiller, who in the past served in the Organized Crime Intelligence Division of the Los Angeles Police (LAPD). He was only 27 years old at the time. He was working in the archives and that's where he got a file on Robert Kennedy. But he learned about what happened to Marilyn from a certain Peter Lawford - Kennedy's actor and brother-in-law. He was told to tell a policeman that he had picked up Bobby from the airport on a fateful day and drove him to Marilyn's house. According to Lawford, there was a quarrel and a struggle between the lovers. Finally, Robert poured something "to calm down" the star's drink. The woman immediately fell down on the couch unconscious, her skin "as if made of wax" .
This is not the end of the revelation. Rothmiller claimed that after poisoning Marilyn Kennedy left the city, and services appeared on the scene that faked suicide . The secret police department was also supposed to know the contents of the famous red diary, in which the actress wrote down spicy details from her life. The sex bomb was to describe subsequent contacts with the Kennedys and create their love characteristics . When she realized they wanted to sideline her, she decided to reveal the truth. So was the Kennedy clan behind the crime and the LAPD covering it up? In 1982, an investigation was reopened, but nothing was found and it was quickly completed.
To this day, the death of Marilyn Monroe has grown to gigantic proportions. There were a lot of publications and private investigations. Even a medium was involved in one of them. The woman who performed a séance at the star's grave stated that Marilyn had been murdered by injection into the heart . Two men - Kennedy included.
Long list of killers
However, there are more theories about the actress's death. A popular hypothesis is that she may have been murdered by the FBI. During the Cuban Crisis, the office was fixated on tracking down communist agents, and Monroe had leftist-oriented friends . Her last husband - Arthur Miller - was accused of having ties with communists . Another version attributes the murder of a mafia star who also may have wanted to silence an indiscreet beauty. Another hypothesis is that Marilyn was murdered by her personal doctor, Greenson, who was also supposed to have an affair with her. He wanted to protect himself from the consequences should the case come to light.
Her last husband, Arthur Miller, was accused of having ties with communists.
Will we ever know the truth about the death of one of history's most famous women? The growing policing capacity of the X-Archives gives hope for this. Probably, however, even the proven version of the events will be questioned by authors of competing - more or less credible - hypotheses. One thing is for sure, although Marilyn Monroe rose to the rank of a sex symbol, she was just human. Allan Abboth, the funeral director who took the actress's body, described her posthumous appearance as follows:
"She resembled the most ordinary woman who, in addition, does not care for herself . She had suckers, her hair was short, sparse and matted . For several weeks now, had to not shave her legs , she had very neglected fingernails and toenails. Among the actress's belongings were found inserts, which she put into the bra, because her natural breasts have lost their firmness. "
Marilyn Monroe was buried on August 8, 1962 at Westwood Memorial Cemetery. The ceremony was private. In the hands of the deceased there was a bouquet of pink roses from Joe DiMaggio, with whom she was to start a new life.
Bibliography:
- Lois Banner, Marilyn. The passion and the paradox, New York:Bloomsbury 2012.
- Joanna Jarecka, Forensic analysis of the causes of Marilyn Monroe's death , ACTA UNIVERSITATIS LODZIENSIS FOLIA IURIDICA 83, 2018.
- Michelle Morgan, Marilyn Monroe behind the scenes , Wrocław:Dolnośląskie Publishing House 2014.