Latest / Strange Stuff Podcast / Episode 243: Norma Jean
Transcript
- Andy: Live one, I'm Andy. Mark: Good afternoon, I'm Mark. Andy: I don't know what you're complaining about. You've had the whole day in the garden. Mark: Yeah, the whole day in the garden, relaxing. That's right, that's me. I've built a garage today, what have you done? Andy: ⁓ you'd be amazed at what I've done. I haven't sat down. Except for when I was recording with Richard earlier. Mark: and sitting down. Andy: And sitting down, yeah. We've got a few things to mention before we start. We have a new Patreon. Mark: ⁓ excellent, well done. Andy: My job coach. Mark: ⁓ no, really? Andy: Yeah, showing the best kind of support that I could possibly want at this time of my life. So thank you, Lena. Mark: Really? I hope that doesn't count as a stream of income and suddenly any assistance is drawn. ⁓ dear. ⁓ well done. Good on her. I can't believe she our podcast entertaining handy. Andy: Suddenly I got the tax man knocking on the door. And I'll- She actually sent me an email today saying she'd just listened to the ballooning one and found it highly entertaining. Mark: All right, good. Very good. Well, we need to step up the game, as it were, because I listened to Bletchley or something the other day on a car journey. Talk about a story about nothing. Some kid falls asleep in the back of the car and the next thing you've got bloody monuments that we spent 20 minutes talking about planning permission for. Seriously. Andy: But That was some heavy duty stuff. We need to go deep in our investigations. Mark: Yes! ⁓ dear. Andy: Also, friend and fellow Patreon, Luke. Mark: Yes, has come up with good idea. Andy: No, he completed his first marathon three days ago. Mark: ⁓ So where is Luke? Is he allowed to say? Andy: He's on the Isle of Waa... Isle of Wight? ⁓ god, here we go. I'm gonna... No, because three days ago was not the London Marathon. No, that was on Sunday. Mark: ⁓ the London Marathon then. Was it? Oh. Alright. Oh anyway, well done. What was his time? 3 hours and 10 minutes. Andy: But. I tell you what, you're not a million miles away, three hours and 20, which is amazing for a first. Mark: Okay, so I was going to say Luke is a super fit individual in that case anything Andy: Yeah, there was a picture. There was a picture of him on Facebook. is quite fit looking. Mark: anything that starts with a three. Talking about the marathon, I think we might have touched on it before. All right, so the fellow ran under two hours, 1.5930. What about the poor guy who came second, who also ran under two hours? So the second man in history to run under a two-hour marathon and no one knows who the hell he was, he was second. Andy: Yeah. ⁓ fucking hell, what a disappointment. But mean, unless he was using the first guy as a pacer, he probably wouldn't have made that speed anyway. Mark: Well, you're a bit of an expert on running marathons. I think just for Luke, in honour of Luke, we should do an episode about running marathons. Andy: you Well, fair play to Luke. Well done. I can't remember the last time I ran 26 feet, let alone 26 fucking miles. I mean, if there's a bus at the bus stop, I'm just going to wait the hour. I ain't running for nothing. Unless you're holding something truly valuable that doesn't belong to you, what is the point of running? Mark: Yes, you're right. That's from the kitchen to your living room is as far as you've run in the last five years. ⁓ Well, I can tell you I got caught out yesterday with rowing training. The coach that was there yesterday, he was dealing with something. said, I'll tell you what, the best way to warm up is to go for a jog. he said, he said, go to everybody jog to the furthest birch tree. We think, what the hell is he talking about? It was all the way to the bloody camping place, which is, you know, two, two kilometres or something and back. Just to warm up, I was knackered Andy: That's not, mean, jogging is an impact sport. It's not good for you. Mark: It's not good for my knees, which is why I don't do any running. Anyway, I was... We did this training on this church boat yesterday evening. It's third time I've been out. So everybody sort of knows how to do it and it's just a matter of how much effort you can put into each stroke. I was absolutely knackered. We go out for... The class is about an hour and a half, so we're on the water for about an hour. I was absolutely knackered and my body today, because I've been working as you know, building, my body is absolutely shattered at the moment. You can't imagine rowing is so exhausting, but the thing is you've got to keep up. You can't be at a different pace. You've got to go with the stroke. Andy: Yeah, because your oars will collide, your... Everyone's going to call you fuck off. Mark: Exactly. So you can't stop. You just have to keep going. My legs were burning and got ⁓ god anyway. So yeah, church boat rowing. I would recommend anybody to try it is good fun. And we were certainly going I don't know how fast we were actually rowing. No, I think it was about I would hazard a guess something like 10k. Andy: One, no. Mark: ⁓ that's the cat. So he's going to screw up everything now. Andy: What did you do? The cat's muted you somehow. Mark: Exactly. He did it last week. He did it last week. Andy: right now. fucking wanker it's all fake news it's phony stuff it didn't happen there we go how's that yeah he also used my soundboard I just heard the end of Trump there Mark: Are you sure now? Yes, that was him, was it? I was wondering what was going on. Andy: He just jumped up on the desk, pressed all the buttons and fucked off again. Mark: Exactly. Well, if I was a cat, I'd do the same. If you were my owner, I'd certainly be bouncing around on your keyboard. Of course. Andy: They've been hassling me all day. They've been hassling me all day. Mark: Well thing is he knows it's spring. Is it a he or a she? But have they had the old boys removed? Andy: both boys. You know they have. Mark: All right. But maybe in the spring the vestiges of their testicles come to play. Andy: Only unlikely. Mark: I don't know, it depends how thorough a job do they do. Andy: Well, hopefully they took them all off. If they used their orchidometer correctly, they would have got the right measurements. Mark: What is an orchidometer? That's a new word for me. Andy: That's a medical tool for measuring the size of testicles. Mark: No. Andy: It basically looks like a string of anal beads but all the beads are different sizes so that you can see which size is the closest relation to your. Mark: So you're comparing the testicle to what's the bead on this string. Andy: Yeah. Mark: Bloody hell, Andy, the things you've lived through. Andy: I had no idea how I know that. Mark: And what was it called again? Andy: o-kilometer. Mark: I mean the amount of useless information that's stored in your brain and when it comes to actually important useful information you're a complete blank it's a complete void in there Andy: There's no room for it. There's no room for it. Now in the news, or sorry, on this day, ⁓ bit of an impasse because on this day, apart from Beethoven releasing his final record, Mark: Yes. when he was deaf. Andy: He was 10 years deaf at this stage. He debuted his final symphony, number nine, possibly his most famous, in Vienna. And he'd begun, this was in 1824, and he began going deaf in 1814. So he was properly deaf by this stage. Mark: Er, how old was he? He actually, Beethoven lived quite an old age, didn't he? Andy: You know what? I've given you two of the possible dates that you could possibly be interested in and you go for the fucking third one. Mark: No, the date he was born and the date he died is pretty fundamental to historical figures. Andy: No, the date he started going deaf and the date he released his final fucking album. Mark: That's incremental. Is that not incremental? Incidental. Andy: Well, very important dates here because it was on this day. That's what we're talking about, not when he was born or when he died. Mark: You can't raise subject matter and expect the intelligent other half of this production team to not ask intelligent related questions. Andy: The whole point of this on this day is it's incidental. It's not an in-depth deep dive into the life and times of fucking Johann Sebastian Bollocks. Mark: Alright, move on from Beethoven. can't, what's frustrating me is I can't think of what Beethoven's 9th whatever it is sounds like. Andy: Do do do do do do do. Mark: No, that's the 1896 overture. 1812 overture. 1896. He was dead. Andy: That's the 1812 Overture. 1896, Symphony No. 1. Anyway, he was so deaf that he stood on stage and he was pretending to conduct, right? But he didn't have a clue. So they actually had a real conductor, a chap called Michael Umlauf, which is probably Michel. Mark: Vincenzo. Of course. Yeah. Andy: and he didn't realize that they'd finished until one of the singers turned him around to see the standing ovation at the end. But anyway, ⁓ lauf! Mark: What is his name? Umlauf? Isn't that an exclamation mark in German? Andy: I don't know, but this is in Vienna, in Austria, so... This big Viennese... Mark: Yeah, but they speak... God, do they speak German in... German in Austria? Andy: They do speak German. But apart from that, not much happened on this day. So I thought more auspicious day would be actually tomorrow. Because on this day tomorrow, May the 8th, is VE Day in 1945, Victory in Europe. Mark: Nothing. Victory in Europe day. So that was the the big the big assault Andy: That was the main surrender of the Nazis, it, in Europe, basically. Mark: No, isn't that... that's armistice day. In November. Andy: No, Germany surrendered to the Allies, bringing an end to World War One in Europe. Mark: ⁓ I see World War One. Well, that was well before my time. Andy: ⁓ no, World War II, that was 1945. Well, you're confusing me now, just don't. Just let me do my shit. The surrender marked the end of the six year war in Europe, although the conflict in the Pacific didn't finish and it was the Japanese that continued until November, which was VJ Day. Mark: For God's sake ⁓ right. Yeah. Alright. Now don't want to criticise the production methods here, but normally speaking, when you do this day in history, it's not this or roughly this day in history, it's this day in history, and if nothing happened, there's nothing happened. Andy: ⁓ You can't because they're faultless. Yes, but this is important. This is important because of my next one, which is tomorrow, May the 8th, is David Attenborough's 100th birthday. Mark: ⁓ now that is interesting. Andy: 100 years old. And it was him or it was his birthday coming up that got me thinking about other people from our youth who were hitting 100. And that's one of the, that's basically the subject we're going to talk about today is one of those people. Possibly the most famous person who didn't make it to 100, but she would have been 100 this year in a couple of weeks, in fact. Mark: made it to a hundred. Queen. Andy: No more famous than the Queen. Mark: more famous than the Queen in our lifetime? Was she alive in our lifetime? Andy: She definitely was. I didn't realise, but she actually died the year before I was born in 1962. And we're talking about Norma Jean Baker. Mark: Alright. Andy: Marilyn Monroe. Mark: Well that was a bit of a tragic one, wasn't it? Andy: It was a tragic one, but it struck me, fuck me, she would have been a hundred years old this year. And she was such a big part of our youth. mean, everybody in the world knew her name. Mark: What? Yeah, but that simply reflects the fact that poor girl, died when she was 40, obviously something. Andy: Well, we'll get into the dates when I start the actual podcast. Don't start picking me up on details now, mister. Can you get off my desk? You're really going to piss me off if you carry on. Mark: All right, so have you got anything? Have you got anything else interesting to talk about? People have been waiting a whole week for this. You've got a day in history that wasn't today. Andy: That was my segue. That was my segue and this is going to be quite a long episode. Mark: What, because you fancy Marilyn Monroe? So the ancient Incas and their incredible masonry skills took 30 minutes and no conclusion at all. But Marilyn Monroe, who you obviously had posters of on your bedroom. Andy: didn't, I had one of Andy Warhol's original lithographs. Mark: Whoa. you had a picture of one of Andy Warhol's original lithographs. You didn't have one of his original lithographs. Andy: signed by Andy to Andy from Andy. And underneath it said, and Marilyn kissed. Mark: Yes. Andy: It wasn't, it wasn't fake. Mark: Have you ever in your life had something that turned out to be really valuable but you didn't know it at the time and you just threw it away or something? Andy: I found a grammar code in my pocket once. Mark: No, but you didn't buy an LP or something that suddenly became a collector's item. Andy: ⁓ no, I have lost all my vinyl records and I had quite a collection including the Ballad of John and Yoko on the original green vinyl. I had lots of signed albums. I just had ⁓ really good, lots of 12 inch disco records that were, a lot of them signed by the artists. Many of them one hit wonders, but... Definitely worth a few bob now, but I gave them, I didn't get rid of them as such. I foolishly gave them to a girlfriend. And of course, when we split up, the records were gone forever. No, she's probably sold them long ago for a dime bag of skag. Mark: Why did you get rid of them? She probably smashed them. What is a dime? Is that heroin? This poor girl was a heroin addict after she met you. Andy: She ⁓ was in all sorts of serious trouble before she met Mina. I didn't know about... Mark: And what was the attraction for her to you, Andy? Andy: Ha Look at the records on him! Mark: ⁓ he looks like a nice bloke. No, but I mean there must be people that you know have owned Masterpieces and just didn't realize it and just chucking in the skip Andy: Yeah, you see them turn up on the Antiques Roadshow once in a while, don't you? When someone goes, ⁓ do you know what you've got here? Mark: ⁓ indeed. Yeah. The only thing I've got claim to fame on is a car that I sold for relatively little money, 23,000 pounds. And now they are worth about, well, one of them sold for half a million pounds. Andy: What? Mark: and the normal going price is about 300,000, 400,000 pounds. You will never guess in a million years. Andy: Jesus, what car was this? Erm... A Volkswagen Beetle. Mark: No it wasn't, it was a Subaru. Andy: And you sold it for 23 grand and it's worth about 300. That's just… that's Bitcoin money. That's ridiculous. Mark: Yes. Yeah, no I sold it to to move here actually in 2004 I sold it to an Irishman for cash for £23,000 I bought it for 40 so it was quite an expensive car but not very expensive I had it for four years Andy: But did you not get it valued or check the value before you sold it on? Mark: Oh no, no, no, that was the value in those days. No, I mean, was a... that was what they were going for in those days. There was no demand for them. And admittedly, it was 21 years ago. But in that 21 years, it went from 23,000 to... Colin McRae's sold for 500,000 and it was probably because of him. Yeah, but the normal market is about 300,000 because the Japanese went crazy for them. Andy: That was the Glass Book value was it? craziness. Well, that's Colin McCray. Mark: There was only 400 ever made of these cars, actually 416. Anyway, that's my claim to Well, not fame. Andy: Anyway, let's get on with today's subject. Because as I say, it's going to be quite a long one. So there are very few people in modern history whose image became larger than their actual life. Marilyn Monroe is one of those people. More than 60 years after her death, she remains instantly recognizable across the world. Platinum blonde hair, red lipstick, white dress billowing upwards over a subway grate. She's become a symbol of glamour, beauty, desire, tragedy, celebrity and American culture itself. But symbols are often prisons. Mark: No, no, no, no, I think you're reflecting the idea of your impression of Marilyn Monroe. I wonder how many 25 year olds you'd ask who's Marilyn Monroe. They wouldn't have a clue. Andy: Well, this goes back to our discussion on Gen Z'ers last time, about what they know as compared to what we know and what's taught today and what's accepted and what's just written out of history. Mark: Anyway, carry on. Marilyn Monroe, yes. Andy: So behind the photographs and film reels was a woman named Norma Jean Mortenson. She was later baptised Norma Jean Baker, a child who grew up in instability, loneliness and emotional uncertainty. Mark: Was she Danish? Mortenson? Andy: It was just with one S, Mortenson. Before she became Marilyn Monroe, she was a girl who was passed between foster homes, orphanages and temporary families. And before she became one of the most photographed women on the planet, she was someone desperate to be seen not as an object, but as a person worthy of love. So this is the story of Marilyn from her earliest years. Mark: Mm. Andy: Through her rise to fame, her marriages, affairs, heartbreaks, struggles with addiction and mental health, and finally her mysterious death in 1962. A death that continues to generate theories, accusations and conspiracies decades later. Mark: Kennedy. Andy: Indeed, more than one. But behind the mythology, this is also the story of what fame can do to a woman, especially a woman in the middle of 20th century Hollywood. A woman expected to be beautiful, but not complicated, sexy, but innocent, available to the public while privately falling apart. For many people, Marilyn Monroe exists only as an image, frozen in time. So we're going to look at the person. Norma Jean entered the world on June 1st 1926 in Los Angeles, California. Her birth certificate listed her as Norma Jean Mortenson, though the identity of her biological father has always remained uncertain. Her mother, Gladys Baker, struggled with severe mental illness and financial instability throughout Norma Jean's childhood. Gladys worked as a film cutter at RKO Studios, which meant that even before Marilyn became famous, Hollywood existed somewhere on the edge of her life. But glamour was nowhere to be found in her early years. Her early childhood was chaotic. Gladys was often unable to care for her and the young girl spent much of her upbringing in foster homes and orphanages. Stability was very rare. Biographers and historians have spent decades trying to understand how much these early experiences shaped Marilyn's adult life, and the answer seems to be profoundly. Children who grew up without secure attachment often spend adulthood searching for a reassurance, validation and permanence, and Marilyn's life repeatedly reflected that pattern. She wanted love desperately, but she also feared abandonment constantly. When Norma Jean was still very young, her mother suffered a severe psychological breakdown and was institutionalized. And from that point, the child moved through a revolving door of caretakers. Some homes were kind, others were not. Marilyn later hinted at experiences of sexual abuse during childhood, although details varied over time. What remained consistent was her sense that childhood had never truly been safe. The future star developed coping mechanisms early on. She learned to charm people and she learned to smile. She learned to create versions of herself that others might accept. And perhaps most importantly, she learned that attention could function as protection. At 16 years old, To avoid returning to an orphanage after her foster family planned to move away, Norma Jean married James Doherty in 1942. It wasn't a passionate romance, it was survival. James Doherty was older, dependable and he represented stability. For Norma Jean, marriage offered a legal and social escape from institutional care. The young couple settled into ordinary married life while the Second World War transformed American society. Mark: How old was he? Andy: older. Dockersy joined the merchant marines and Norma Jean eventually took work at a munitions factory. That job changed everything. A military photographer visited the factory to capture images of women contributing to the war effort. Norma Jean stood out. She had something difficult to define but impossible to ignore and the camera loved her. Soon she began modelling. At first it was pin-up photography, magazine shoots and advertisements. But photographers quickly noticed that she possessed unusual charisma in front of the lens. She wasn't simply beautiful. She understood instinctively how to project vulnerability and sensuality simultaneously. Her marriage to Doherty began to deteriorate as her ambitions expanded. traditional domestic life no longer fit. So by 1946, they divorced. And that very same year, Norma Jean signed her first studio contract with 20th Century Fox, and the transformation had begun. Becoming Marilyn in Hollywood in the 1940s, which was an industrial machine, studios controlled actors almost completely. Names were changed, teeth changed, hair changed, personal histories were rewritten and public identities were manufactured. So Norma Jean became Marilyn Monroe. The first name was inspired by a Broadway star, Marilyn Miller. and the surname Monroe came from her mother's maiden name. With the new name came a new image. Her hair was lightened to an almost impossible blonde. Her appearance became increasingly stylised. The studio coached her speech, posture, expressions and public persona. Yet Marilyn was not simply a passive creation. One of the great misconceptions about her is that she was unintelligent or naive. But in reality, she was actually ambitious, observant, emotionally perceptive and deeply aware of exactly how Hollywood worked. She read constantly. She studied literature, poetry, psychology and acting theory. She admired serious artists and she wanted desperately to be taken seriously herself. But Hollywood in the 50s had other plans. Early in her career, She appeared in small roles, often playing secretaries, girlfriends, showgirls or decorative women with very limited dialogue. Men desired her, women studied her, cameras adored her. By the early 50s Marilyn Monroe was becoming a phenomenon. Films like Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire transformed her into one of the most famous women in America. Her screen persona was carefully shaped. The dumb blonde, sexy, playful, childlike, available. The performance was brilliant, but also deeply limiting. Marilyn understood the contradiction better than anyone. Audiences laughed at her characters while simultaneously obsessing over them. Men fantasised about her body while dismissing her intelligence. She once famously observed that being a sex symbol was a burden. People projected fantasies onto her constantly and projection can erase. your personhood. The more famous she became, the more isolated she often felt. Her rise coincided with increasing scrutiny of her private life. Hollywood publicity culture thrived on gossip, scandal and carefully orchestrated narratives. And Marilyn learned quickly that her romantic relationships would become public property. Every man she dated became part of the mythology and there were many. Some relationships were brief, some transactional and some were deeply emotional. But throughout her life, Marilyn repeatedly searched for emotional security in men who often couldn't or wouldn't provide it. Mark: Is she still unmarried at this stage? Andy: Yes, she's single. To understand Marilyn Monroe's love life, it's important to understand the environment she lived in. Hollywood in the 40s and 50s was profoundly unequal. Male studio execs controlled careers, male directors shaped reputations, male columnists determined public narratives, and male audiences generated profits. Women were expected to stay desirable while remaining compliant. For actresses especially, aging itself could become career destruction. And Marilyn existed at the centre of this system. And from early on in her career, rumours circulated about powerful men pursuing her. Some relationships appear consensual, others involved obvious power imbalances. She was linked romantically or sexually to agents, actors, athletes, executives and politicians. One recurring pattern in Marilyn's relationships was the collision between vulnerability and performance. People often wanted Marilyn Monroe to fantasy. Very few were equipped to love Norma Jean the person. Mark: I've got a film that's just come to mind. Didn't she? There is a film about Marilyn Monroe visiting the UK and falling for one of the assistant producers on the movie and it's set in Buckinghamshire as I recall. It's a very nice movie. Andy: I'm not aware of it. Well, friends later described her as emotionally needy, insecure, affectionate, funny, generous and deeply sensitive to rejection. Because she feared being abandoned, she feared being used and ironically her fame guaranteed both of those. One of her early significant relationships involved talent agent, Johnny Hyde. Hyde was older, influential, and instrumental in advancing her career. He arranged better contracts, promoted her aggressively and believed strongly in her potential. Accounts differ regarding the romantic nature of their relationship, but Marilyn appeared to be genuinely attached to him. When Hyde died in 1950, she was devastated. His death reinforced something she already believed. People that she depended on disappeared. As her fame grew, so did the intensity of male attention around her. Mark: She's only 28 at this stage then. Born in 62, this fellow dies in 50, so she's still only 28. Andy: No she died in 62, she was born in 26. Mark: So she's 24. Andy: Some men viewed her as a conquest, others saw her as a fantasy made flesh, and still others wanted to rescue her. Marilyn often encouraged emotional intimacy quickly, perhaps because she craved reassurance so intensely. But intimacy built rapidly can also collapse rapidly, and her emotional world became increasingly turbulent. Of all her relationships, one of the most famous was her marriage to baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. On paper, they seemed like American royalty. He was one of the greatest athletes in the country. She was Hollywood's most glamorous star. And together, they represented celebrity at its most iconic. But beneath the public fascination, the relationship was complicated almost from the beginning. DiMaggio was famously private, very disciplined, traditional and reserved, whereas Marilyn was emotionally expressive, ambitious, unpredictable and trapped inside escalating global fame. They met in the early 50s after DiMaggio reportedly became interested in her through photographs. At first, Marilyn appreciated his seriousness. Unlike many Hollywood men, didn't seem dazzled by celebrity culture. He appeared protective, stable and grounded. And for someone with Marilyn's history, those qualities mattered enormously. But DiMaggio struggled with the realities of her career. Specifically, he struggled with her sexuality being publicly consumed. The defining symbol of their marriage came during the filming of the seven-year itch in 1954. The famous... Mark: against who was she acting with in that one? Andy: Uhhhh Mark: I'll look it up because it's someone we know. Seven year-age. Andy: The famous... What? Mark: What was it called? Andy: The 7 year itch. The famous subway great scene. Marilyn standing over the vent while her dress billowed upwards. It was probably someone like Bing Crosby. Bob Hope. Mark: That's what I No, no, was Gregory Peck or something like that. Andy: Anyway, became one of the most recognisable images in cinematic history. Crowds gathered even during filming and photographers snapped relentlessly. Men cheered. Joe DiMaggio hated it. To him, the scene represented humiliation. To Hollywood, it represented publicity gold. Accounts suggest that the couple fought bitterly about it afterwards. Some reports describe emotional abuse and controlling behaviour within the marriage. Others argue that DiMaggio genuinely loved Marilyn, but he didn't have the emotional tools to navigate her fame. And both of those can be true. The marriage lasted less than a year. They divorced in October 1954. Yet despite the failure of their marriage, DiMaggio remained emotionally connected to Marilyn for the rest of her life. And after his death, after her death, sorry. His grief would become one of the enduring emotional footnotes of the story. For years, he reportedly sent roses to her crypt several times a week. He never remarried. Some people believe that Joe DiMaggio loved Marilyn Monroe more sincerely than anyone else ever did. But sincerity alone wasn't enough to save the relationship. After divorcing DiMaggio, entered a new phase. She wanted artistic legitimacy. She was tired of being treated as a joke and tired of being underestimated and of executives deciding who she was. So she fought back. In a bold move for the era, Marilyn left Hollywood temporarily and moved to New York. There, she studied acting at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg. Method acting fascinated her because it emphasised emotional truth, for perhaps the first time in her professional life, Marilyn felt she was being encouraged to explore her interior self rather than merely display her exterior image. And it was during this time that she grew close to the playwright Arthur Miller. He represented something entirely different from the athletes and the executives surrounding her previous life. He was an intellectual. He was respected and politically engaged. He was a Pulitzer Prize winning writer. And to many observers, the relationship seemed unlikely. The glamorous blonde bombshell and the serious playwright. But Marilyn desperately wanted to be valued for her mind. And Miller... appeared to see dimensions of her that others ignored. Their relationship developed gradually and controversially, because at the time Miller was still married, and when he eventually divorced and married Marilyn in 1956, the press exploded with fascination. Many people mocked the pairing, others romanticised it, but Marilyn herself seemed genuinely hopeful. She converted to Judaism before the wedding and embraced Miller's world enthusiastically. For a time, she appeared happier, but underlying problems persisted. Marilyn struggled with anxiety, insomnia, depression, and increasing dependence on prescription medication. Mark: I was gonna say, when does the addiction kick in? Andy: now. She also experienced repeated miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. Motherhood mattered deeply to her. She wanted children. Again and again that dream collapsed. The emotional pain intensified her instability. Meanwhile her professional life remained turbulent. She would often arrive late to sets, forget lines and panic during filming. executives complained and directors became frustrated. But many colleagues also described her as extraordinarily gifted once cameras rolled. There was something almost magical about her screen presence. Even critics acknowledged it. Marilyn Monroe could command attention in ways few actors ever have. But fame was consuming her psychologically. The more people idolized Marilyn, the more Norma Jean seemed to disappear. Arthur Miller eventually became disillusioned. One particularly painful moment came when Marilyn reportedly discovered notes suggesting Miller viewed their marriage as disappointing. For someone already terrified of abandonment and inadequacy, this was devastating. Their relationship deteriorated slowly. By the time they collaborated on the 1961 film The Misfits, which was written by Miller and starred Marilyn alongside Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift, the marriage was collapsing. The production itself became infamous. Everyone involved seemed haunted. Clark Gable was physically exhausted. Montgomery Clift battled addiction and emotional distress. And Marilyn struggled heavily with pills and emotional instability. Milowitz drew emotionally and the atmosphere was bleak. After filming ended, Marilyn and Arthur divorced. She was now 34 years old, twice divorced, emotionally fragile and increasingly isolated. Mark: So that was five years. No, three times divorced. Andy: twice divorced. Mark: No, the original bloke, ⁓ DiMaggio, and now this fellow Arthur Miller. Andy: then Joe DiMaggio. ⁓ yeah, sorry. My script is wrong. Not my bad. The cost of fame by the early 60s had become both globally adored and privately unwell. And this contradiction defined the final years of her life. On the surface, she remained one of the most famous women in the world. Photographers chased her relentlessly. Studios still wanted her and audiences remained fascinated. But internally, she was deteriorating. Her dependence on barbiturates and sleeping pills intensified. Doctors prescribed medications very freely during that era, often with limited understanding of long-term consequences. Hollywood culture normalized chemical coping. Many performers relied on stimulants to work and sedatives to sleep. Marilyn became trapped in that cycle. Insomnia plagued her constantly and so did anxiety. So did loneliness. Friends described her making desperate late night phone calls. She feared being alone. But fame itself isolated her from ordinary human connection. It became very difficult to know who genuinely cared about her and who cared about proximity to celebrity. So there's another important dimension to Marilyn's story that modern audiences often recognise more clearly than people did during her lifetime. She was relentlessly sexualised. Her body became public property. Interviewers asked invasive questions. and reporters scrutinised her relationships. Studios, for their part, marketed her sexuality aggressively. And at the same time, she was criticised for embodying that sexuality. And this double standard remains familiar even today. Women in public life are often rewarded for attractiveness and then punished for the consequences of being attractive. Marilyn experienced this contradiction at extreme intensity. Many men desired her, very few respected her. And because she projected vulnerability so powerfully, people often underestimated how emotionally dangerous fame had become for her. She longed for seriousness, for intimacy and for artistic respect. She longed for family, for stability. But her public identity increasingly overwhelmed all of those desires. One of the saddest aspects of Marilyn Monroe's story is that she often seemed aware of the trap. She understood that Marilyn Monroe was a constructed character, but the world preferred the character. And eventually maintaining that character became exhausting. No discussion of Marilyn Monroe's later life is complete without addressing her connections to the Kennedy family. This is where history begins bending into mythology. Mark: Conspiracy, conspiracy even. Andy: I said conspiracy. Well, no, I didn't. Yeah, but mythology conspiracy. Two words spelt the same. By the early 1960s, John F. Kennedy had become president of the United States. Young, charismatic, photogenic, not as much as Trump, of course, if you ask Trump. He's the best photogenic president ever. Mark: No, you said mythology. No. No. Andy: His administration cultivated an image of glamour and sophistication, often referred to later as Camelot. Marilyn moved within elite social circles where politicians, entertainers, intellectuals and wealthy figures overlapped. Rumours eventually emerged linking her romantically to President Kennedy and some accounts also connected her to his brother Robert. Separating fact from exaggeration is difficult and it's likely that she was seeing both brothers. What seems likely is that Marilyn and John Kennedy did have some form of intimate relationship. How serious it was remains debated. Some historians believe it was brief and casual and others think that Marilyn developed stronger emotional attachment than Kennedy did. There's far less certainty regarding Robert Kennedy, but speculation exploded after Marilyn's death and has never been fully dissipated. The most iconic public moment involving Marilyn and President Kennedy occurred on May 19th 1962 at Madison Square Garden, where Marilyn appeared at a celebration for Kennedy's birthday. And whilst wearing a sparkling, skin-tight dress that seemed almost impossibly revealing for the era, she sang Happy Birthday Mr. President in a breathy, intimate voice. I don't know about you, but I found that whole thing very cringe. Mark: I mean, I can't even remember it. Andy: Happy birthday Mr President. I thought it was awful but there you go. Mark: ⁓ that's it, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's right. It was only because she was singing to him and not you, Andy. Andy: No, if she was singing that to me, would have said, here's your cab fare, go get yourself an Uber. Mark: You obviously have a deep emotional attachment to Marilyn, that's for sure. It's obvious. Andy: Anyway, this performance instantly entered cultural history. It was seductive. It was awkward. It was playful and politically explosive. I'm just going to mute you. There you go. The audience reaction reflected both fascination and discomfort. And I would have been on the discomfort side. Many people interpreted this performance as evidence of a genuine affair. Mark: I think you're a bit jealous. Jealous. Jealous. Andy: while others viewed it as theatrical publicity. But whatever the truth... Mark: Which was the, hang on, I've got a question. Which was the Kennedy brother that was renowned for being a womanizer? Andy: Robert. Mark: That was Robert. Andy: Or was it Teddy? Mark: where they literally, I mean the rumours are that, you know, his bodyguards used to have to stop on the way home for him to have some sexual encounter with some person almost every day. Andy: I mean it's all of them isn't it though, in America, it's all of them. I mean Bill Clinton couldn't keep it in his pants. Mark: You think Obama? Andy: Donald Trump, he just rapes at will. Mark: I don't think he does that anymore, thank god. Andy: He probably tries. Anyway, whatever the truth, the appearance intensified scrutiny around Marilyn's private life. And at this stage, she was already, as we know, emotionally vulnerable. And the atmosphere surrounding her became increasingly chaotic. Stories circulated about emotional instability, drug use, professional unreliability. Political connections, private phone calls, sensitive information, whether these stories were accurate, exaggerated, or entirely fabricated, varied widely. But after her death, they became fertile ground for conspiracy theories. The final year of Marilyn's life was marked by instability. Professionally she attempted comebacks. Personally she oscillated between hope and despair. She purchased a home in LA, perhaps seeking permanence at last, and friends reported periods where she seemed optimistic and focused. At other times she appeared deeply depressed. Her health deteriorated and so did her reliability. During production of the film Something's Got To Give, Marilyn frequently missed filming days due to illness and emotional struggles. The studio grew furious, insurance concerns mounted, and eventually she was fired from the production, although negotiations later suggested possible reconciliation. At the same time, she remained intensely famous. Photographers still documented every movement. Journalists still speculated endlessly. And beneath all of it was a woman increasingly dependent on medication. The combination of insomnia, anxiety, depression, fame, emotional trauma and prescription drug use created a dangerous situation. People around Marilyn often failed to coordinate this effectively. Doctors prescribed medications, friends worried, and studios pressured her. Public fascination continued unabated. No one seemed fully capable of protecting her. And there's a tragic pattern that appears repeatedly in celebrity history. When someone becomes iconic, people sometimes stop recognising how fragile they actually are. And we see this even today. with so many people. We saw it with Amy Winehouse. We saw it with Kurt Cobain. We see it with just so many people. Mark: But in fact, isn't that an obvious outcome of the type of individuals who do seek fame? I mean, you know, as you say, she had a troubled upbringing bouncing around between foster families and such like. So there was a degree of insecurity. And it is through the aesthetic arts that people try and find some sort of escape as it were so they're always I mean you can the list goes on I was just thinking when you were talking about prescription drugs think of the number of famous successful celebrity artists actors musicians or whatever who have died as a result of prescription drugs Michael Jackson Prince the Friends actor I mean, and I'm not even in this world. I mean, there must be an endless number of people whose lives ended as a result of medication. Andy: Yeah, well Marilyn Monroe was very fragile. By 1962 the cracks were widening. In August of 62, August the 4th, Marilyn Monroe died. She was 36 years old. Officially, her death was ruled a probable suicide caused by acute barbiturate poisoning. She was found in a bedroom at her Brentwood home. A telephone was reportedly in her hand. The circumstances surrounding the discovery of her body quickly generated confusion. Timelines were inconsistent and witness statements varied. Questions emerged about who arrived when, which medications were present, and what communications had occurred beforehand. So almost immediately speculation exploded, partly because Marilyn was globally famous, and partly because she had known connections to very powerful men, but also partly because the details surrounding her death were genuinely messy. The official conclusion emphasized overdose and mental distress. And there is substantial evidence supporting the possibility of suicide because Marilyn had struggled for years with depression, emotional instability, addiction to prescription medication, insomnia and profound loneliness. She'd also experienced previous overdoses, whether accidental or intentional. And friends described her as emotionally exhausted. But many people found aspects of the case suspicious. Why were there conflicting reports? Why were the timelines unclear? And why were certain records allegedly missing or altered? And what role, if any, did the Kennedy connections play? So these questions transformed Marilyn Monroe's death from tragedy into legend. So the conspiracies surrounding Marilyn's death emerged almost immediately. Over the decades, they multiplied into countless versions. Some theories are relatively modest, suggesting cover-ups designed to protect reputations. Others involve organised murder plots connected to government agencies, the Mafia or political elites. And the most persistent of those theories usually involved the Kennedys. One version claims Marilyn threatened to expose her affairs with John and Robert Kennedy. Another alleges she possessed politically sensitive information. Some theorists suggest that she kept a diary documenting confidential conversations. And even others claim that she became emotionally unstable and inconvenient to powerful men who feared scandal. So from there, theories branch off in multiple directions. Some accuse Robert Kennedy directly, others involve the CIA, others implicate organised crime. Some suggest that Marilyn was deliberately administered a lethal dose of drugs. Others argue evidence at the scene was manipulated afterwards. There's also claims involving missing wiretaps, suspicious phone records and inconsistencies in autopsy procedures. The problem is that decades of retellings have mixed verified facts with speculation so thoroughly that disentangling them becomes extremely difficult. What can be said with confidence is this. Marilyn Monroe's life intersected with powerful people and her death scene involved ambiguities. And the American public already distrusted elite institutions enough. conspiracy theories to flourish. It's also important to recognise something psychological about conspiracy theories themselves. People often resist simple explanations for enormous cultural events. The idea that someone as famous and beautiful as Marilyn Monroe could die alone from an overdose and despair feels emotionally unsatisfying. Many people want a larger explanation, a hidden plot, a villain, a secret. But tragic human vulnerability is often less dramatic and more common than conspiracy. But that doesn't mean every question surrounding Marilyn's death has been answered. Historians continue debating details and researchers continue revisiting evidence. New books and documentaries appear regularly. But after decades of investigation, no definitive proof has emerged establishing homicide. The official ruling remains probable suicide. Still, the mystery endures because Marilyn herself became mythic and myths rarely die quietly. One reason Marilyn Monroe continues to fascinate people is that she embodied contradictions. She projected confidence while she was privately insecure. She symbolized sexuality while she craved emotional safety. She was treated as an unintelligent despite being intellectually curious and she was constantly seen but rarely understood. Even today, discussions about Marilyn often reveal more about society than they do about Marilyn herself. Different generations reinvent her repeatedly. To some people she represents glamour, to others exploitation, and to others feminism or victimhood, and to even more others resilience. Perhaps the reason her story remains emotionally powerful is because it touches on universal fears. The fear of abandonment and not being truly loved. The fear of being trapped inside an identity created by other people. Marilyn Monroe experienced these fears publicly and at an enormous scale. She became one of the first modern celebrities consumed by mass media 24 hours a day. And unlike many stars before her, her vulnerability itself became part of the attraction. Audiences didn't simply admire Marilyn, they worried about her. They desired her, they projected onto her and they mourned her. And that emotional intensity helped transform her from actress into cultural myth. And myths tend to flatten human complexity. The real Marilyn Monroe was likely far more complicated than either her admirers or her critics wanted to believe. She could be charming, manipulative, generous, insecure, ambitious, self-destructive, intelligent, playful, needy, funny and deeply wounded, sometimes all within the same day. Like many people shaped by traumatic childhoods, she oscillated between craving closeness and fearing rejection. Fame amplified everything, including her pain. Women looking back now, Marilyn Monroe's life also reveals uncomfortable truths about how society treats famous women. Many of the pressures she faced still exist. Women in entertainment are often expected to maintain impossible standards of beauty, expected to remain youthful, expected to appear sexually attractive but morally acceptable. expected to endure public scrutiny while seeming grateful for the attention, expected to tolerate invasion of privacy, and when they struggle psychologically, their suffering itself can become spectacle. Marilyn experienced all of this before social media even existed. Today, celebrities face constant digital surveillance, but Marilyn endured a 20th century version of the same phenomenon. Photographers followed her everywhere. Gossip columnists dissected her relationships and studios profited from her image. Audiences consumed intimate details of her life as entertainment. And at times, it seemed like the world wanted Marilyn Monroe available emotionally to millions of strangers, while simultaneously denying her ordinary humanity. And that contradiction Mark: I think it's different, I think it was different in those days because I suspect that someone like Marilyn Monroe, all of the attention she got from the media was an invasion. As compared to modern celebrities who actively go out and seek social media attention. Andy: ⁓ yeah, she didn't invite it. Um, yeah, I don't think they'd seek it 24 seven. Mark: I wonder if they're more in control of it because of social media. They can decide. I mean, such a thing as a paripapsy or whatever they're called, those photographers, do they still exist? Andy: paparazzi, very much still do exist. But you're right in so far as if you are one of these celebrities that the paps would be interested in, if you release enough of your own personal information, there's no point in following you. Mark: Yeah exactly that's exactly yeah Andy: but is finding that balance. So anyway, that contradiction destroys many people. In many ways, She anticipated later generations of actresses demanding greater autonomy. Yet because her public image became so overwhelming, these efforts are often forgotten. People remember the dress, the smile, the photographs, the scandal and the rumours, but never the determination or the loneliness and the intelligence. One of the most haunting details after Marilyn Monroe's death concerns Joe DiMaggio. Despite their foul marriage and years apart, he reportedly remained deeply affected by her loss. It was him who organised her funeral and he kept many Hollywood figures away, allegedly furious at the people who he believed had exploited her. So the funeral itself was relatively small and private. It wasn't a grand Hollywood spectacle, no massive public ceremony, just grief. And ⁓ whether every of the story is perfectly accurate matters less than what it symbolizes. To people, Joe DiMaggio became the figure who loved Norma Jean even when the world worshipped Marilyn. Marilyn's death changed Hollywood in subtle but important ways. It forced conversations about mental health, addiction, studio pressure and celebrity exploitation, not immediately, but gradually. Her death also cemented the idea of the doomed celebrity. In later decades, comparisons emerged whenever famous women struggled publicly. Anna Nicole Smith, Princess Diana, Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse. The details differ enormously, but the pattern of public fascination mixed with emotional collapse often invites comparison back to Marilyn. There is a tendency within celebrity culture to consume people emotionally while pretending concern for them. Audiences become invested in personal breakdowns, media organisations profit from vulnerability, and afterwards society collectively mourns. Marilyn Monroe became one of the earliest and most enduring examples of this cycle. Her image remains commercially viable and valuable even now. T-shirts, posters, coffee mugs, prints, luxury branding, fashion references, people continue reproducing the icon. Sometimes with zero awareness of the suffering that lies beneath it. And perhaps that is one of the strangest aspects of celebrity culture. The more someone suffers publicly, the more immortal they sometimes become. So was she happy? This is one of the hardest questions to answer. Was she ever truly happy? There were certainly moments. Friends described periods where she laughed easily, loved deeply, and she radiated warmth. She enjoyed reading, she loved animals, and she appreciated thoughtful conversation. And she could be playful and affectionate. Some collaborators found her extraordinarily sweet. Others found her exhausting. So likely both experiences were true. So now more than six decades after her death, Marilyn Monroe remains culturally alive. New documentaries continue appearing and books continue being written. Fashion continues referencing her. Actors continue imitating her voice and mannerisms. Collectors spend enormous sums on her belongings. People still debate her relationships, they debate her intelligence and they debate her death. And in some ways, Marilyn herself predicted this. She understood the power of image. She once said that Hollywood was a place where they would pay a thousand dollars for a kiss and 50 cents for your soul. Whether or not those exact numbers mattered, the emotional truth behind the statements certainly did. Marilyn Monroe became one of the clearest examples of what happens when a human being becomes a commodity. the world consumed her and then mourned her. Yet reducing her entirely to a tragedy would also be unfair because she was talented. She was funny, emotionally perceptive and determined. She fought repeatedly for artistic respect. She challenged studio systems and she built one of the most recognizable public personas in modern history. And despite the suffering in her life, She left behind performances that still feel alive decades later. Whether her death resulted solely from despair and overdose or whether unanswered questions remain, The emotional tragedy remains the same. A woman who spent her life trying to be loved, died feeling profoundly alone. But her legacy endures, because people still recognise pieces of themselves inside her. Marilyn Monroe became immortal partly because she represented dreams, but she also became immortal because she represented pain. And perhaps the most important thing to remember is this, behind the legend was a person, not a symbol, not a fantasy, and not just the woman in the white dress, but a human being, complicated, brilliant, and wounded. Although Marilyn's public image revolved almost entirely around male desire, her emotional world was shaped profoundly by women as well. And throughout her life, she formed intense friendships with female acting coaches, assistants, confidants, housekeepers and fellow performers. Some relationships were nurturing, others became emotionally dependent. And because Marilyn's life was constantly scrutinised, rumours often blurred together with reality. One of the most important women in her later life was Paula Strasberg, acting coach and wife of Lee Strasberg. Paula became deeply involved with Marilyn's career and emotional stability, at times almost excessively so. She would accompany Marilyn to film sets, advise her constantly and became part mentor and part emotional caretaker. Many directors and studio execs resented Paula's influence. They believed she intensified Marilyn's insecurities rather than calming them. But Marilyn trusted her and that trust was what mattered. Marilyn often attached intensely to people who made her feel emotionally safe. Another significant relationship involved photographer Milton Green and his wife Amy. For a period, Marilyn practically became part of their family. The Greens offered her a sense of domestic warmth that she rarely experienced elsewhere. And again, this complicates the simplistic stereotype of her as helpless or unintelligent. She understood business more than people often assumed. She understood branding, negotiation and power. And she recognized that studios profited enormously from her image, while often dismissing her as replaceable. There were also long running rumors about Marilyn's sexuality, of course. Some books and documentaries have speculated that she had relationships with women, but the evidence is inconclusive. Hollywood in that era generated endless gossip and bisexuality among entertainers was frequently sensationalised. What seems more certain is that Marilyn craved emotional intimacy regardless of where it came from. She was drawn towards people who listened to her and protected her, who validated her. And because she lived inside such a male-dominated environment, some of her most emotionally stabilising relationships may indeed have been with women. One of the enduring frustrations in her life was the gap between how she viewed herself artistically and how Hollywood viewed her commercially. She desperately wanted to be respected as an actress, not simply photographed and admired, but respected. And this desire shaped many of her professional decisions. She studied intensely, read Stanislavski, immersed herself in method acting, analysed emotional realism, some critics dismiss these efforts as pretentious, while others believe that she genuinely possessed dramatic talent. Looking back now, many modern film historians argue that Marilyn's performances were more sophisticated than audiences appreciated at the time, particularly because comedy itself is often underestimated. In films like Some Like It Hot, Marilyn displayed impeccable comedic timing. She understood rhythm, pause and expression. She could generate humour while simultaneously projecting vulnerability. And that combination is extraordinarily difficult. But even while proceeding professionally, she remained deeply insecure. Directors described her requiring endless reassurance. She feared failure constantly. Sometimes she would become so anxious before scenes that filming would slow down dramatically. Studio executives interpreted this as irresponsibility. But anxiety disorders can produce exactly that kind of paralysis. Marilyn often seemed trapped between perfectionism and terror. She wanted to be extraordinary, but feared that she never would be. And this emotional conflict became one of the defining patterns of her life. The tragedy is that audiences often saw only the polished result, not the panic underneath, not the hours of emotional strain or sleepless nights or the medication dependency. Fame tends to erase process. People see performance and assume ease. For Marilyn Monroe, very little came easily. Modern celebrity culture is frequently criticised for being invasive, but Marilyn Monroe endured forms of public cruelty that were remarkably intense, even by today's Tabloid journalism in the 50s and early 60s thrived on humiliation. Columnists weaponised gossip, female stars especially faced relentless judgement. Marilyn's body was analysed constantly. Her intelligence mocked, her relationships dissected. Her emotional instability was always sensationalised. The press alternated between worshipping and ridiculing her. One day she was presented as America's fantasy. The next day she was portrayed as unreliable, unstable, spoiled or promiscuous. Very little empathy existed within entertainment journalism at the time. Mental health discussions were primitive and addictions carried enormous stigma. Women who expressed emotional distress were often dismissed as hysterical. Marilyn experienced all of this while under extraordinary visibility. Even her lateness to film sets became mythologised. Some stories were undoubtedly true. She could be difficult professionally. But the media also exaggerated many narratives because chaos sold newspapers. There's also another uncomfortable reality here. People often become resentful to women who are born both beautiful and vulnerable. Beauty attracts attention and vulnerability attracts judgment. And Marilyn represented both at once. Audiences would project fantasies onto her while simultaneously punishing her. failing to embody perfection consistently. My camera's turned off for some reason. Mark: You've gone blank. Andy: Yeah, my camera has just turned itself off. Let's just bring that back up. I don't know what happened there. Mark: Who knows? Andy: Maybe the cameras had enough. So, yeah, audiences projected fantasies onto her while simultaneously punishing her for failing to embody perfection. Now, this emotional contradiction helped consume her. She was expected to remain endlessly luminous, regardless of what was happening internally. And that expectation is impossible for any human being. The last interviews in the final months of Marilyn's life. Some of these interviews revealed a woman increasingly reflective about fame and identity, she spoke thoughtfully about loneliness and being misunderstood. Also about wanting meaningful work. And there are moments in these interviews where she seems almost detached from her own image. As though she understands that Marilyn Monroe has become a cultural object moving independently from the person herself. One striking quality in her later conversations is exhaustion. Not only physical, but existential exhaustion. She had spent years performing not only on film sets, but socially, smiling, charming, projecting sensuality, calming other people's expectations, managing public fascination, all while privately struggling. And that kind of emotional labor can hollow you out. especially when you're already carrying unresolved trauma. Friends later recalled that Marilyn could shift rapidly between optimism and despair. At times she planned future projects enthusiastically and at other times she sounded hopeless. This emotional instability contributed heavily to the uncertainty surrounding her death. People searching for clues afterwards interpreted different moods differently. Optimistic moments become evidence. She couldn't have intended suicide. Depressive episodes became evidence. She absolutely could have. The reality is that suicidal thinking is often inconsistent and fluctuating. Human beings are emotionally complicated. Marilyn Monroe perhaps more than most. So the conspiracy theories surrounding Marilyn's death endure for several reasons. First, she died young and beautiful, and society often mythologises young deaths more intensely than ordinary ageing. Second, she was connected, socially at least, to extraordinary political power. The Kennedy administration already attracted fascination, idealisation and suspicion. And when later political assassinations occurred, especially JFK's assassination in 1963, public distrust deepened dramatically. People began viewing the 60s through the lens of hidden plots and institutional secrecy. So Marilyn Monroe's death became absorbed into that atmosphere. And thirdly, Ambiguity fuels conspiracy. If every detail surrounding Marilyn's death had been perfectly documented and communicated clearly, many theories would likely never have survived, but the inconsistencies existed. Records were incomplete, witnesses' memories changed over time, and journalists' sensationalised details. Hollywood itself encouraged mythology because mythology remains profitable. And finally, There is more emotional explanation. People do not want their icons to die ordinary deaths. ⁓ The idea that of the world's most glamorous women could die alone in emotional pain just feels unbearably sad. Conspiracy theories transform sadness into intrigue and they replace helplessness with narrative. Instead of confronting addiction, trauma, loneliness and mental illness, people can focus on secret meetings, hidden enemies and coded cover-ups. That doesn't mean, automatically, that every theory is false. History certainly contains genuine conspiracies. Powerful people sometimes do conceal the truth. But the emotional appeal of conspiracy thinking should also be understood. especially in stories as culturally loaded as Marilyn Monroe's. Norma Jean never fully disappeared. Perhaps the most revealing thing about Marilyn is that despite becoming one of the most recognizable women in history, Norma Jean never fully disappeared. The frightened child remained present underneath the glamour. Friends often described Marilyn as emotionally younger than her actual age. She sought reassurance constantly and needed affection, the fear of rejection. Sometimes she acted impulsively, sometimes she would cling to people, and other times she would withdraw completely. Trauma has a way of freezing parts of emotional development, and Marilyn's early years left deep scars. What makes her story especially heartbreaking is the qualities audiences found most enchanting. Vulnerability, softness, emotional openness. They may have originated partly from these wounds. she could project longing with extraordinary authenticity because she genuinely understood longing. She understood loneliness and the ache of wanting to be chosen and kept safe. And audiences could sense this instinctively. And that is why her screen presence still feels emotionally alive decades later. There is something real underneath the performance. Even when she was acting. And perhaps that is why Marilyn Monroe remains unforgettable while many technically successful stars fade from memory. People didn't merely look at her, they felt something, even if they couldn't fully understand what it was they were feeling. When people think of Marilyn Monroe today, they often picture fragments, the white dress, the breathy voice, the blonde hair, diamonds, the scandal and the tragedy. But a life is never only fragments. Marilyn's life contained extraordinary contradictions. She was one of the most famous women in the world and most profoundly lonely. One of the most desired women in history and desperately uncertain about love. An actress dismissed as superficial who spent years trying to prove her depth. A symbol of confidence who battled fear. A global icon who remained in many ways the abandoned little girl named Norma Jean. Her story still matters because modern culture continues producing versions of the same pressures that she endured. The commodification of beauty. the public dissection of women and the confusion between image and identity. And perhaps the deepest tragedy of all, Marilyn spent much of her life trying to convince the world that she was more than a fantasy. But the fantasy often drowned out the person speaking. And maybe that is why people continue to return to her story generation after generation. Because somewhere beneath the photographs and mythology, People still sense the humanity, the sadness and the hope, the damage and the longing. Not simply for fame, but for love. And that is the end of this episode of Strange Stuff Podcast about Marilyn Monroe. Mark: I think you've got a bit of a thing for Marilyn, Andy. Andy: Why? Everybody in the world had a thing for Marilyn Monroe. If you didn't have a thing for Marilyn Monroe, why not? Mark: Hehehehehe I suppose so. Yep, yep. Well done. Andy: That was a hard read, mostly because my vocal cords are just about to die. Mark: Yep, yep, yep. No, it's an interesting story. There's no doubt about it. Andy: I mean, technically I- Mark: ⁓ I've got that film by the way. That film is quite a pleasant movie. It's called My Week with Marilyn. And the male actor is Red Main. For the ladies out there. Andy: Okay. Steve Redmayne. Mark: No, ⁓ Andy: Ricky Redmayne John John Redmayne Mark: No, idiot, I can't remember his first name. He's well known. Anyway, yep, my week with Marilyn. Andy: I mean, she was, everyone knew her name. It's just... Mark: Yep. Yep. Andy: of those things. Anyway, she would have been 100 years old. This, well, in two weeks time, basically. Three weeks time. Mark: Yes, well done. Yep. Yep. Indeed, a hundred. Andy: Which just reminds us, or serves to remind us, how much closer we are to death. Mark: Well, how much closer you are to death, I'm trying to delay it as long as possible. Andy: Well... Well, unfortunately, if you're going to go out there digging holes in the garden for 18 hours a day and then go and row in church boats, for fuck's sake, you're looking to work yourself into an early one. Mark: No, you're right. Yeah, yeah, that's a rest of the day for disaster. yeah yeah yeah all right it's dinner time for god's sake Andy: god, I've got a whole evening of editing now because I've got Richard's episode as well to do. Mark: ⁓ dear, ⁓ dear, alright. Andy: ⁓ well, that was our late recording for today. Thanks for listening everybody. I hope you appreciate the story of Marilyn Monroe, icon and legend. And join us again next week, same time, same place for another story. Or if you are one of our beloved patrons, you can join us on Wednesday for another story. Today I was actually going to do an alien one, but I think I'll save that for Monday now, obviously. Mark: Very good. Yep. Yep. Yes, indeed. ⁓ All right. Yeah. Andy: So that will be next Wednesday's episode. I'll give you a clue. The word Venus is involved. nothing fake about this story. Don't forget, follow us on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook and have yourselves a strange week. Don't become a Hollywood icon without having a damn good agent and a wall of protection in front of you. In the meantime, see you next week. Mark: No, indeed. Bye for now.