Sinatra. Brando. JFK. Marilyn Monroe spent her life looking for love and
thought she had finally found it with baseball legend Joe DiMaggio.
But their marriage wasn't the fairy tale she was hoping for.
Born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, Marilyn Monroe's childhood was anything but
rosy. She never knew her father, and her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia. This left a
young Monroe at the mercy of foster homes — and at one point, an orphanage. Living without her
mother left Monroe feeling neglected, a pain she carried into adulthood. Another constant
in Monroes' childhood was poverty. One of her foster families was so poor they all bathed in
the same bath water — and Monroe was always last, a fact she recounted in her book, "My Story."
Like Monroe, Joe DiMaggio was also raised in a low-income family. Growing
up in San Francisco as one of nine children born to Italian immigrants,
his father was a fisherman who hoped his sons would take over the family business.
Marilyn Monroe first met Joe DiMaggio in 1952 after he asked to be introduced
to her. Monroe has said she expected to be met with an arrogant man, given that
he was freshly retired from a successful baseball career, writing in her memoir:
"I expected a flashy New York sports type, and instead, I met this reserved guy who
didn't make a pass at me right away. He treated me like something special."
"Ok miss, I reckon you can go on with your song now."
Monroe and DiMaggio immediately hit things off and soon started a long distance relationship,
with Monroe living on the West Coast, and DiMaggio on the East. This, however,
did not get in the way of their love. Yes, Monroe and DiMaggio had their differences,
yet they shared a lot in common, too. Monroe said in her memoir,
"The truth is that we were very much alike...my publicity, like Joe's greatness,
is something on the outside. It has nothing to do with what we actually are."
But the pair's indifference to fame was not the only thing that brought them together. As the
baseball star described in the book, "Dinner With DiMaggio: Memories of an American Hero:"
"When we got together in the bedroom, it was like the gods were fighting;
there were thunderclouds and lightning above us."
Given the intense chemistry they shared, it did not take long for Marilyn Monroe
and Joe DiMaggio to take things to the next level. As Monroe described it in her memoir:
"We knew it wouldn't be an easy marriage. On the other hand,
we couldn't keep on going forever as a pair of cross-country lovers."
On January 14, 1954, Monroe and DiMaggio married in a simple ceremony at City Hall in San
Francisco. Following their wedding, the couple flew to Japan for their honeymoon, and there,
it appears, their troubles started. While still honeymooning in Japan, Monroe was invited to
perform for U.S. troops in Korea. Agreeing to the invitation, Monroe traveled to Korea,
leaving her husband behind in Japan. In the book, "DiMaggio: The Hero's Life," it is speculated that
DiMaggio might have hit Monroe during this time, sadly, on their honeymoon in Japan.
Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe were Hollywood's "It" couple,
but behind closed doors, their marriage was rocky. Insecure about his wife's success and
the attention that came with it, the baseball star was uncomfortable with
Monroe's perception as a sex symbol. Monroe reportedly confirmed this to a friend of hers,
actor Brad Dexter. She told him that not only was DiMaggio uninterested in her work
as an actress but that he wanted to cut her off from the world of motion pictures altogether.
For DiMaggio, Monroe's fame seemed to bruise his ego, and he was constantly
trying to get her to quit acting — something his friend Norman Brokaw, a Hollywood agent,
warned him about. In an article in the Daily Mail, Brokaw is quoted telling DiMaggio:
"There's no actress in this business who is going to give up Clark Gable or Tyrone Power or Spencer
Tracy for any man. So you have to get used to it. Or, honest to God, you're going to lose her."
And lose her, he did.
The final straw in Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio's tumultuous relationship came in
1954 while she was filming "The Seven Year Itch." DiMaggio, alongside thousands of other onlookers,
was present on set when she shot the now famous flying skirt scene.
"Ooh, do you feel the breeze from the subway? Isn't it delicious?"
Director Billy Wilder described DiMaggio as having "the look of death" as he watched his wife relish
her skirt flying above her knees, sometimes going as high as her face. Upon getting home,
the couple got into a fight that seemingly ended with the baseball player hitting Monroe.
In October 1954, Monroe announced her divorce from DiMaggio,
citing mental cruelty. Standing before a judge, Monroe admitted that she had hoped
her marriage to DiMaggio would be filled with love, warmth, and affection. Instead,
she described the baseball player as cold and indifferent. "My husband would get into
moods when he wouldn't speak to me for periods of sometimes 10 days," she said.
"What makes you so sad? I think you're the saddest girl I ever met."
"You're the first man who ever said that."
But while this is one known reason for the divorce, the book, "Dinner with DiMaggio: Memories
of an American Hero," presents a different, tragic theory. Co-authors Rock and John Positano write:
"From Joe's point of view, they didn't stay
married because Marilyn was not able to have children."
Despite their tumultuous marriage and divorce, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio remained on
good terms. For example, when Monroe underwent surgery only a few weeks after their divorce,
DiMaggio was not only by her side at the hospital, but he remained with her as she recuperated at
home. DiMaggio was also Monroe's date to the premiere of "The Seven Year Itch," and, in 1961,
when she was forcefully admitted to a psychiatric home, DiMaggio secured her release. Though Monroe
never gave up searching for love, DiMaggio always held a special place in her heart.
"I'm going to fall in love with you, because I always always do."
After her death, a letter addressed to DiMaggio was found in Monroe's room, reading:
"If I can only succeed in making you happy — I will have succeeded in the [biggest]
and most difficult thing there is — that is to make one person completely happy."
You might be surprised to learn that Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were thinking of
giving their marriage a second chance. And even though Monroe was linked to several men
following her divorce from DiMaggio, he never gave up hope of winning her back. In the end,
he succeeded, with the pair rekindling their love shortly before Monroe's death. In the
PBS documentary "Joe DiMaggio, The Hero's Life," DiMaggio's former teammate Jerry
Coleman revealed he had seen them together in New York, recounting:
"And I saw this couple coming down, and Joe's got his head up in the air and his arm around
Marilyn…and they're just daydreaming along and never even saw me. I didn't
bother to stop and say 'hello.' I thought he was happy as he was, leave him alone."
In "DiMaggio: Setting the Record Straight," a 2003 biography, DiMaggio's lawyer Morris
Engelberg confirmed that the baseball star had been planning another wedding
with Monroe when she died. According to the book, their marriage was set for August 8,
1962 — the same day Monroe was laid to rest. As Engelberg wrote:
"That was the date Marilyn Monroe was buried. Joe leaned over her casket,
sobbed that he loved her, and kissed her cold forehead."
On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home. She was 36. The official
report is that Monroe died after accidentally overdosing on prescription sleeping pills. And
yet there have also been many conspiracy theories surrounding Monroe's death, including links to
President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert Kennedy, whom she was allegedly having affairs
with. Some believe the Kennedys were involved in her death due to the rumored affairs, others
think that the actress had too much incriminating information on them. Whether or not there is any
truth to these theories remains a mystery. But for those closest to Monroe — including
DiMaggio — Monroe's cause of death is not up for debate. As he wrote in his biography:
"I always knew who killed her, but I didn't want to start a revolution
in this country. She told me someone would do her in, but I kept quiet."
Her confidante until the very end, Joe DiMaggio spent his life bolstering Marilyn
Monroe's legacy. With Monroe having no closer friends to turn to at the time,
DiMaggio was the first person informed of her death. Proving his friendship,
the baseball star planned and executed Monroe's funeral, making sure to keep several Hollywood
stars from attending. DiMaggio is even quoted in a PBS documentary as saying:
"Tell them…if it wasn't for them, she'd still be here."
DiMaggio had roses delivered to Monroe's crypt three times a week for 20 years. The
flower shop that delivered them was quoted as saying they sent
19,000 roses to Marilyn's grave on DiMaggio's behalf. And although DiMaggio was no longer
sending flowers by the time he died in 1999, his love for Monroe never wavered. As writer
Morrie Engelberg stated in his 2003 biography of the baseball star, "Joe Dimaggio was in love
with Marilyn Monroe until the moment he died," adding this heartbreaking detail at the end:
"He took his last breath, fully expecting to meet her in that other world,
which he was certain existed. 'I'll finally get to see Marilyn' were his last words."