For years, Marilyn Monroe's love life has been as shrouded in mystery and legend as the circumstances of her death on August 4, 1962.
Despite the constant whispers about the blonde bombshell's alleged lovers, even Monroe understood her power to refuse to kiss or confess. Moreover, Marilyn's close friend, photographer Sam Shaw (who was himself rumored to be her lover), once said, “If Marilyn had slept with every man who claimed to be dating her, she wouldn't have had time to make movies.”
That being said, let's take a look back at some of the most famous men (and women) who were lucky enough to be tied to Hollywood's biggest sex symbols.
jim doherty
Monroe was just 16 years old and known as Norma Jean Baker when she married Jim Dougherty, a classmate of hers at Van Nuys High School, in 1942.
After Doherty joined the Merchant Navy and began modeling, their relationship began to deteriorate and they divorced in 1946.
“If I hadn't joined the Merchant Marines during World War II, she would still be Mrs. Dougherty,” he told PEOPLE in 1976.
charlie chaplin jr.
Rumor has it that Monroe had an affair with Charlie Jr., son of the legendary Charlie Chaplin, in 1947. The relationship allegedly ended when Charlie caught Marilyn in his brother Sidney's bed.
Charlie mentioned the affair in his autobiography, and Anthony Summers also mentioned the relationship in his book. Goddess: The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe.
Regarding this alleged love affair, blonde (2022) stars Ana de Armas in the Oscar-nominated role of Monroe and is based on Joyce Carol Oates' 2000 novel of the same name. Although unconfirmed, the film depicts Monroe as part of a love triangle with Charlie and Edward “Eddie” G. Robinson Jr.
Milton Berle
Milton Berle and Monroe Women in the choir 1948. At the time, the comedian was officially dating movie star Adele Jergens, but Barr claimed to have had a brief relationship with the young actress.
The first superstar of the television era (and, according to Truman Capote and showbiz legend, famous for her voluptuous figure), Baer co-starred with Monroe and starred in several films to her name. Let's Make Love In 1960.
“Marilyn had risen through the ranks in Hollywood, but there was nothing cheesy about her,” he wrote in his 1975 autobiography. “She wasn't one of those star-crossed town types who could throw a meal in a sack. Maybe she didn't know exactly who she was, but she knew she had value. She respected herself. Marilyn was that kind of woman.”
Natasha Wrights
Monroe met her beloved acting coach, Natasha Lytess, while on a short-term contract with Columbia Pictures in 1948. For the next seven years, the pair were inseparable on and off set, sparking dating rumors.
The actress' dependence on Lytes became so strong that she began to refuse to film scenes without a coach nearby. Speculation continued when Monroe moved into her home in Wrightes to prepare for her role in the film. No need to knock (1952).
Although the nature of their relationship remained a mystery, Wrights was openly hostile to Monroe's male suitors, particularly Joe DiMaggio.
“She was a wonderful teacher, but she was so jealous of the man I saw. She thought he was my husband!” Monroe once said of her mentor, from whom she eventually separated in 1956.
As for rumors of lesbian relationships with Barbara Stanwyck and Marlene Dietrich, Monroe appears to have put an end to the issue in her autobiography. My Story“A man who kissed me once told me that it was likely that I was a lesbian because I was unresponsive to men,” she wrote. “I didn't argue with him because I didn't know who I was. … Now that I was in love, I knew who I was, and it wasn't a lesbian.”
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan, one of the greatest directors in Hollywood history, admitted to having a brief affair with a young Monroe while he was married to playwright Molly Thatcher.
Par The Hollywood ReporterIn unearthed private letters to Thatcher, Kazan confessed to sleeping with the actress and wrote that he had “no regrets about it.”
He added: “I'm not at all, in the least ashamed, that I'm attracted to her. She's so different and looks so much different than she is now. When I knew her, She was a little stray cat.”
Kazan, a close friend of Monroe's future husband Arthur Miller, also mentioned DiMaggio in her letter to Thatcher, saying DiMaggio had beaten her “several times”.
kennedy brothers
Monroe's most notorious and rumored affair was with former President John F. Kennedy and later his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Some have even suggested that her relationships with the two men may have contributed to her untimely death.
Rumors of an affair began on May 19, 1962, several months before her death, when she made a sensual kiss for the commander-in-chief at the president's 45th birthday celebrations at Madison Square Garden. His performance of “Happy Birthday'' contributed to this.
Monroe biographer James Spada told PEOPLE in 2012 that he didn't believe there was any evidence that the Kennedys were responsible for Monroe's death, but “it's clear that Marilyn had sexual relationships with both Bobby and Jack.”
In the 2023 biography, Jackie: Public, Private, SecretRandy Taraborrelli uncovered a surprising connection between Monroe and former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: After all, the two were seeing the same therapist, Dr. Marianne Kris, who Jackie had seen for PTSD after her husband's assassination.
“When Jackie confronted her,” Taraborrelli writes.[Dr.] Chris said he didn't feel any responsibility to tell her about his former patients, just as he would never reveal that he had treated Jackie. Marianne asked, “What does that have to do with anything?”, to which Jackie replied, “What does that have to do with anything?” do not have Related?'”
Joe DiMaggio
After being introduced to Monroe on a blind date in 1952, baseball great DiMaggio told a friend that she “seemed like a good combination for a double play.”
Six months after her retirement, he saw the then 26-year-old actress as, in the words of the late prolific biographer Donald Spotow, “a beautiful blonde showgirl who might fulfill the roles of both a devoted mother and a housewife.”
Monroe, too, longed for a home and children, but was surprised by the famous baseball player. “I was expecting a flashy New York sports type, but what I met instead was this unassuming guy who didn't immediately ignore me,” she said of DiMaggio in Sport's 1993 biography of her. “He treated me like someone special.”
The two were married on January 14, 1954, in a quiet ceremony at City Hall in his hometown of San Francisco. But problems arose when DiMaggio, accustomed to being the biggest star in the room, became troubled by his wife's meteoric rise to fame.
The two divorced in October, nine months after their marriage. Monroe later said of the now-infamous puffy-skirt scene: The Seven Year Itch (1955) was the final sticking point: “He said…exposing my legs and thighs and even my groin was the last straw.”
However, the two remained close friends, and for 20 years after Monroe's death, DiMaggio laid roses on her grave three times each week.
Marlon Brando
Perhaps two of the most famous actors of their generation, Monroe and Marlon Brando were rumored to have had a brief relationship in 1955 after Monroe's divorce from DiMaggio and before she began dating Miller.
Brando escorted Monroe to the premiere. rose tattoo (Photo) And the two remained friendly until the end of her life.
Arthur Miller
Monroe later said that when she met the writer and playwright on a film set in 1950, it was love at first sight. Feeling Young (1951).
It wasn't until 1955, when she divorced DiMaggio and moved from Hollywood, California, to New York City, that the two reconnected. The two began dating secretly and married in 1956.
“We get on very well. This is the first time I've really fallen in love. Arthur is a serious man but has a great sense of humour. We laugh and joke a lot. I'm crazy about him,” she is quoted as saying about Miller in 1956 in Jane Russell's 1989 book. Marilyn Monroe and the camera.
At first, Monroe left Hollywood to lead a normal life, cooking, cleaning and taking care of Miller's children, all of whom loved spending time with her. However, when Monroe returned to work, Nonconformity (1961), their relationship began to fall apart.
Monroe's drug addiction caused problems on set and at home, and she and Miller divorced after five years of marriage just before the film's premiere, and Monroe died of a drug overdose just 19 months later.
Frank Sinatra
The Blonde Bombshell and Ol' Blue Eyes briefly dated after her divorce from Miller.
After parting ways with the playwright, Monroe returned to Los Angeles and lived for a time in Frank Sinatra's house. Their romance ended when Sinatra proposed to Juliet Prowse in 1961, but they remained friends until her death.
Jerry Lewis
The late comedian Jerry Lewis made candid claims in 2011 that he had been in a secret romantic relationship with Monroe. GQ interview.
Lewis first claimed that Monroe's affair with President Kennedy never happened, saying, “I'm telling you what I know. It never happened! And the only reason I know is because I did it. Got it?”
When the interviewer reacted in disbelief, Lewis said that Monroe used sex in the same way that she used humor, and asserted that the story was true, saying, “She used it to make sure it was real.'' I needed to contact you.”
So what was the incident like?
“That was… long,” he said. “I was crippled for a month.” After another pause, he joked, “And I thought Marlene Dietrich It was amazing! ”