How many times was Marilyn Monroe married? And who were her husbands?
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
For over 50 years the world has been obsessed with Marilyn Monroe (me included) and there have been countless movies made about her life, with the latest, Blonde, starring Ana De Armas, dropping on Netflix earlier this week (28th September).
The film is a fictionalised version of Marilyn's life and whilst Ana's portrayal of Marilyn has been widely praised, the plot of the film has sparked backlash online. One person online said Blonde was full of "needless scenes of sexual assault and anti-abortion propaganda."
There has been debate online about how truthful to real life many of the scenes in the movie are, particularly her relationships with US President JFK, Edward “Eddy” G. Robinson Jr. and Charlie Chaplin's son Cass. Blonde does however feature two of Marilyn's husbands from real life, and refers to them as "The Ex-Athlete" and "The Playwright" in the movie.
But who actually were these men in real life? And was Marilyn Monroe married more than twice? This is everything you need to know about Marilyn Monroe's husbands:
Who was Marilyn Monroe's first husband?
A key part of Marilyn Monroe's life which Blonde missed out was Marilyn's first marriage to James Dougherty.
In 1942 Marilyn (then known as Norma Jean) was living with her mother's friends Grace and Doc Goddard whilst attending high school. However, Doc's company relocated him to West Virginia, but child protection laws prevented them from taking Marilyn with them as it was out of the state.
Marilyn faced being sent back to the orphanage she had previously spent time in and so a few days after her 16th birthday she married her neighbour's son 21-year-old factory worker James Doughtery.
Soon after their wedding, James enrolled in the Merchant Marines and was shipped out to the Pacific for two years. During this time Marilyn began modelling and signed onto agency Blue Book Model Agency in 1945. A year later in 1946 she began acting and signed a contract with 20th Century Fox.
Marilyn divorced James that same year with varying reports suggesting the reason for their divorce was James' dislike of Marilyn's career.
Who was Marilyn Monroe's second husband?
Marilyn's second husband was Joe DiMaggio. In Blonde he's referred to as "The Ex-Athelete" and played by Bobby Cannavale.
Joe DiMaggio was a New York Yankees baseball player who retired from the sport the year before he met Marilyn.
In 1952 the couple met and began a long distance relationship, less than two years later they were married in San Francisco.
The pair were said to be having trouble within their marriage from the start. One argument was caught on film when the pair attended the premier of Marilyn's movie The Seven Year Itch. After the now iconic skirt blowing over the grate scene came up, the pair began arguing furiously in the lobby of the hotel they were watching the premiere at.
After just nine months of marriage Marilyn filed for divorce, citing "mental cruelty" as her reason for wanting a divorce.
Who was Marilyn Monroe's third husband?
Marilyn's third and final husband was playwright Arthur Miller who is featured in Blonde as "The Playwright" and is portrayed by Adrien Brody.
The couple first met in 1955, whilst both married to other people (Marilyn to Joe and Arthur to Mary Slattery) and began an affair.
That same year Marilyn was divorced from Joe and Arthur was separated from his wife. In 1956 they got married in White Plains, New York. Marilyn converted to Judaism when marrying Arthur.
During their marriage Marilyn took 18 months off from working and suffered a number of miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy.
The couple worked together on two movies Let's Make Love and the last ever movie she starred in, The Misfits.
Near the end of their marriage both Marilyn and Arthur were said to be having affairs with other people. And in 1961 the pair got a divorce in Mexico as it was reportedly easier and quicker than getting one in the United States.
Marilyn died less than a year later and Arthur did not attend her funeral.
Arthur explained his reasoning for not attending in an essay published after the funeral.
He said, as per The Independent: "Instead of jetting to the funeral to get my picture taken I decided to stay home and let the public mourners finish the mockery… She was destroyed by many things and some of those things are you. And some of those things are destroying you. Destroying you now. Now as you stand there weeping and gawking, glad that it is not you going into the earth, glad that it is this lovely girl who you at last killed."
Blonde is available on Netflix now
You Might Also Like
