On January 14, 1954, Marilyn Monroe married secondly Joe DiMaggio. But, barely nine months later, the couple already signed the divorce papers…. A look back at the chaotic love life of a Hollywood star.
Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio are the epitome of the american dream. When they first meet in 1952, through mutual friend David March, whom Joe begs to set him up on a date with. hottest actress right now, the alchemy is instantaneous. Joe DiMaggio is a baseball star just retired and has long been described as the greatest player of all time. As for Marilyn, she is on her way to becoming one of the most “bankable” stars of the decade. Their destiny seems all mapped out.
Very in love, the couple divide their time between New York and Los Angeles. The former sportsman became a baseball game commentator and in 1953 the actress shot two of her most famous films “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “How to Marry a Millionaire”. Despite the failure of their respective first marriages: Joe and Marilyn decide to renew the experience. They say “yes” to each other during a civil ceremony on January 14, 1954 before offering a lavish honeymoon in Japan.
Their happiness will be short-lived. The notoriety of Marilyn Monroe explodes and very quickly jealousy eats away at the core of their relationship. Furious at the assumed sexualization of his wife, Joe DiMaggio becomes more and more reluctant to let her go on the set and the arguments multiply. When he attends the famous movie scene where the actress holds her dress above an air vent, themass hysteria of the crowd makes him drunk with anger. Marilyn sinks into depression and silence and after barely nine months, the couple caused general amazement by announcing their divorce.
PHOTOS – Marilyn Monroe in 13 cult photos
The origins of an icon
The whirlwind marriage may be over, but Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe’s relationship is far from over. The couple remain very close and the former baseball player even accompanies his ex-wife on a promotional tour for the release of the film “Seven Years of Reflection”. They understand each other better than anyone.
The difficulties experienced by Marilyn Monroe in establishing healthy and lasting relationships are explained by his chaotic childhood. When she was only eight years old, her mother Gladys was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and this was the start for little Norma Jean Barker (her baptismal name, Ed.) of a long series of stays in host families and in various orphanages. It is also said that Marilyn was the victim of sexual abuse during her childhood which triggered a late stutter in her.
A few days after her sixteenth birthday, Marilyn Monroe finds a solution that seems ideal to put an end to her tribulations: a young neighbor named James Dougherty. She married him on June 19, 1942 and the following year followed him to Santa Catalina Island where she was dying of boredom. When James Dougherty is sent to the Pacific during the Second World War, Marilyn Monroe, who at the time works in an armament factory, seizes his chance. Spotted by a passing photographer, the young woman tried her hand at modeling and soon after signed with the Blue Book agency. Determined to pursue this path, she just dyes her hair and quickly becomes the agency’s most requested model: Marilyn Monroe was born. In 1946, the blonde pin-up and James Dougherty divorced, the latter not having supported that his wife forged her own destiny.
Marilyn Monroe’s career was just taking off when Joe DiMaggio lands his life. Success having got the better of their love, for some time, Marilyn goes on love affairs without a future like the one lived with the actor Marlon Brando or with President JFK. Always in search of stability, she thinks to find it with Arthur Miller, the beloved Broadway writer and fervent critic of McCarthyism which was in full swing in the United States of the 1950s. under surveillance by the FBI.
The two lovers meet for the first time in 1951 and their reunion a few years later are passionate despite the fact that Arthur Miller is still married. The affair spread quickly and the press nicknamed them “thehas beautiful and brain“. After a hasty divorce, the author married his mistress on June 29, 1956 and the young couple flew to London where Marilyn Monroe was expected on a set with Laurence Olivier.
A tragic end
From the first months, their marriage looks stormy, the young woman discovers notes written by her husband who sometimes finds her embarrassing and in September she suffers the first of three miscarriages. Distraught, Marilyn Monroe takes refuge in alcohol and medicinal drugs and her marriage is falling apart. According to rumors, Arthur Miller did not even protest when she began an affair with singer Yves Montand. The couple divorced in 1961.
On the night of August 4, 1962, Marilyn Monroe dies of barbiturate overdose. Accident, suicide or even assassination: his death remains a mystery. On the day of his funeral in Los Angeles, Arthur Miller is absentt. His new wife being about to give birth. But, the unshakable Joe DiMaggio is present. Consumed by pain, the former sportsman leans over the coffin to kiss his ex-wife. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” he whispers to her, his eyes filling with tears. Words that will be on the cover of all the newspapers, the next day. During the twenty years that followed the death of the Hollywood star, Joe DiMaggio will make his grave bloom witha bouquet of red roses each week… A promise he made to her at their wedding in 1954 and which he never forgot to keep.
Photo credits: Getty Images
