How did Marilyn Monroe really die? Few know the facts about this idol of America. Marilyn Monroe’s name was not Marilyn Monroe. She was not an orphan her whole childhood (even though Marilyn claimed she was), and she never really knew who fathered her. These are just a few uncovered secrets in Taraborrelli’s New York Times Bestseller The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe.
Many high school students portray Marilyn Monroe as a whore or an angel. They think they know all there is to know about the guarded young woman. Her stereotype as a dumb blonde who knew how to use her body to get far in show business is not even the surface of her deep life. From her childhood to the last day of Marilyn’s life, J. Randy Taraborrelli uncovers the real truths of Miss. Monroe’s rollercoaster life.
Taraborrelli takes the reader through parts of Marilyn’s life in nine parts. The first two parts, the first 120 pages or so, portray the real childhood of Marilyn. The rest of the seven parts are broken down into marriages, her stardom, the difficult times she faced with her hereditary mental health, and, of course, the Kennedys.
This isn’t just another Marilyn Monroe biography. Taraborrelli uses not only his own broad knowledge of Marilyn, but he researches other Marilyn Monroe biographies about what they had to say about her and about the “facts” they found from her real quotes which came to be false. Taraborrelli also interviewed those who knew Marilyn and who lived with her in the past. Even people who may be associated with Marilyn, he has their input. He even interviewed Marilyn’s possible half-brother, quoting his opinion about being a half-brother to Marilyn Monroe, “My fathers DNA is on record at Riverside Hospital,” Charles Gifford Jr. concludes, “If Marilyn Monroe’s DNA is on record at one of the hospitals she was ever in, I challenge someone to do a test to compare them, and you’ll find that Charles Stanley Gifford is not her father, and I am not her half brother.”
Taraborrelli also knew who Marilyn was close with during all her times of trouble such as Natasha Lytess, her acting coach, and her attorney Jerry Geisler. Other facts Taraborrelli discovered was that Marilyn truly wanted things to stay the same in her life but others were the ones who wanted to escape. “The much-reported story is that she called her attorney, Jerry Geisler, and told him that she wanted a divorce. However, Marybeth Cooke worked for Geisler at the time and she tells a different story. She recalled, ‘We all knew that Marilyn Monroe was still crazy in love with Joe (DiMaggio), but that he was beating her up. Still she did not want to let him go.’”
The amount of digging Taraborrelli did to write this 500 page book must have taken some time, even with all of the previous knowledge he had about Marilyn. Even he could not uncover the truth of Marilyn’s death. “Perhaps if the autopsy had been more thorough, though, who knows what might have been concluded?” Everyone who enjoys watching Marilyn in her movies, who enjoy to make references of her, or who just look up to her as a role model needs to read this book.
By reading this, I learned so much more about Marilyn’s childhood and how much it affected her adult life and mental health. For the people who look down upon Marilyn, seeing her as a whore and as a dumb blonde also need to read this book. After reading, the critics of Marilyn will understand how mental health and a nurture less childhood can affect a person for the rest of their life.
Unfortunately, Marilyn was unable to make it past 36 years. Giving up on herself, she was found dead in her room. Her death is still mysteriously unresolved due to a not thorough enough autopsy. This book is also important especially for teenagers in high school, because it shows that even in the 50’s, women were having relationship and confidence issues. Majority of high school teenagers are constantly self-conscience and worried about everyone liking them.
Marilyn was just like everyone else, only she didn’t know her true beauty. Unlike Marilyn, all students should realize their beauty.