April 17, 2020 ▸ People

Episode 473: Marilyn Monroe: Bombshells and Barbiturates

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On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the ultimate sex symbols and icons of popular culture—Marilyn Monroe. She came from a horrible upbringing and through sheer force of will (and marketing savvy) rose to become of one of the greatest movie starts of all time. She married Joe DiMaggio and legendary playwright Arthur Miller, sometimes slept her way to the top, and allegedly had an affair with both John F Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. Love her or hate her, she was pure force of will in Hollywood and totally changed the way the town, and actresses, worked.

She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in a hospital in LA. She never knew who her father was, and her mother was in and out of mental institutions her entire childhood. This left young Normal Jean at the hands of the foster system. She was raped at age 11 and had a horrible upbringing with no stability or love. At the age of 16, she married a merchant marine just to be able to get out of the foster system. When he was off serving in WWII, she worked a munitions plant.

One day, a photographer came by to take pictures of women in factories making a difference for the war. Her career as a model began like a rocket. Within a few years, she was on dozens of magazine covers and was allegedly having an affair with an executive at 20^th Century Fox. She got a contract with them to make some movies, but she was off to a slow start. She was always late to the set, and she was too shy to really shine and impress any directors. But she had work (and divorced her husband) and kept manipulating the system PR in interesting ways to rise to the top.

And rise to the top she did. Her movies made hundreds of millions, and she slowly became the face of her generation. She married sports legends and intellectuals and had sexual affairs with people in the industry who could (and did) advance her career. But she was not without controversy. She had trouble when old nude photos appeared on the scene (trouble which she turned in her favor).

Eventually, she started getting more serious roles and winning awards for them. She started to shed the image of the ditzy blonde bombshell and become a legit actress. But by then, her depression had gotten bad, and she’d grown addicted to barbiturates and sleeping pills. She allegedly had affairs with one (or two) of the Kennedy brothers, and she was found dead in her room of an apparent overdose at the age of 36.

Or was she? Conspiracy theories abound. Did the mob kill her for some reason? Did the Kennedy’s have her killed to keep their affairs a secret? Did she die on the way to a hospital with Robert Kennedy, who then had her body placed back in her house until he could leave town? Is there any truth to the fact that she might have had sex with Albert Einstein? Listen, laugh, learn.

Visit Our Sources:

https://www.biography.com/actor/marilyn-monroe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/marilyn-monroe-is-found-dead

https://www.notablebiographies.com/Mo-Ni/Monroe-Marilyn.html

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/19268/14-breathless-facts-about-marilyn-monroe

https://medium.com/the-nonfiction-zone/18-fascinating-facts-about-marilyn-monroe-f074ccd76f2b

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Marilyn_Monroe

https://www.sbs.com.au/guide/article/2017/07/24/4-conspiracy-theories-about-death-marilyn-monroe