Marilyn Monroe by Anne Bourland

She may have been born Norma Jean Mortenson, but on August 5^th, 1962, Norma Jean died Marilyn Monroe. Discovered by her housekeeper, Monroe was found lying naked, face down on her bed with a phone receiver clutched in her hand and empty prescription bottles strewn about her room (Marilyn Monroe is found dead). Monroe’s death was and still is surrounded with conspiracy theories. Many conspiracy theorists have suggested that either Monroe was killed by the FBI or CIA in an attempt to prevent Marilyn from leaking government secrets she could have possibly learned from Bobby Kennedy or that it was a fake suicide attempt for publicity gone awry, once again, by the hands of Bobby Kennedy and Ralph Greenson (Tristan 1).

Because she knew that mental illness is genetic and that she had a high chance of being diagnosed with a mental disorder, Monroe became fascinated with psychology and psychoanalysis. Monroe took several courses at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) that revolved around psychology. Nowadays, modern doctors and psychologists believe that Marilyn Monroe may have suffered from bipolar-like symptoms and likely also suffered from depression. Unfortunately for Monroe, when she was alive, psychiatry was nowhere here as advanced or knowledgeable as it is today, and she therefore suffered greatly from a disease that is viewed as treatable now.

Because Monroe had mental health issues, she was given prescription painkillers along with more sedatives, which played a role in her demise when she was at her lowest point. At first her medication regiment seemed to work in relieving her disturbed mind, but they seemed to only make her symptoms worse once her body had adjusted. While Monroe was staying at a mental hospital, she received the diagnosis of having borderline paranoid schizophrenic, which is a term that is no longer used by medical professionals in diagnoses; instead, the term borderline personality disorder is used (Glitter and sawdust: the human madness of a mundane goddess). This disorder “impacts the way you think and feel about yourself and others” and it also “includes a pattern of unstable intense relationships, distorted self-image, extreme emotions and impulsiveness,” which are all characteristics that were evident in Marilyn Monroe’s life. With borderline personality disorder, you also have “an intense fear of abandonment” and you may have difficulty tolerating being alone” along with possibly pushing “others away, even though you want to have loving and lasting relationships” (Staff). Unfortunately, this mental illness had the highest stigma amongst the psychiatric community, even though now it is viewed as s treatable condition.

“’I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else’” (Glitter and sawdust: the human madness of a mundane goddess). This quote epitomizes Monroe’s loneliness and feeling of never belonging. Many hypothesize that she often felt this way and had many relationships because she had an unstable, possibly loveless childhood and was constantly switching families and households that she felt like she didn’t belong to anyone, so this feeling translated into Monroe constantly seeking for that love and affection she lacked throughout her childhood.

Not too dissimilar to her daughter’s diagnosis, Marilyn’s mom was diagnosed as schizophrenic, which is a “long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation” (Webster). Due to her condition, Monroe’s mom was put into a mental hospital when Monroe was only seven years old (Marilyn Monroe Biography). Monroe was justified in being concerned about becoming mentally ill when she got older because mental illness is genetic and can be passed down to offspring.

During her childhood, Marilyn Monroe lived with several foster parents, where she may have been subject to abuse and neglect. To avoid being admitted into an orphanage, Monroe got married at the young age of sixteen to James Dougherty, which would be the first of many relationships that Monroe would have in her brief lifetime (Kashner). When she would later delve into extensive psychoanalysis at the height of her fame, Monroe’s psychologists encouraged her to delve into her childhood to help with her mental problems in the present. However, Monroe felt that examining her childhood didn’t really help, and she would often become distraught and upset afterward (Kashner).

The first conspiracy theory we will discuss in detail is the possibility that Marilyn Monroe’s death was supposed to be a fake suicide attempt. This theory claims that Monroe was not satisfied with her lack of attention in the media, so she decided to stage a suicide attempt – except it went horribly wrong. There is not much evidence to support this theory besides the fact that Monroe did attempt to take her life and that she did die. To further investigate how plausible this theory is, I surveyed my fellow classmates, coworkers, and family of all different ages and genders about this topic. I asked: Which conspiracy theory about Marilyn Monroe’s death do you feel is most plausible? Eighty percent of the people I surveyed felt that the theory that it was fake suicide attempt for publicity was the most plausible while the other twenty percent felt that the next conspiracy theory is the most plausible. 

            The next conspiracy theory is that Marilyn Monroe was killed by a government organization – either the FBI of CIA. The theorist claims that since Monroe had very close relationships with Robert “Bobby” Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, that she might have learned some government secrets from them. In an attempt to keep Monroe from leaking them, the FBI/CIA decided to kill Monroe and stage her death to look like it was a fatal suicide attempt. The first evidence to support this theory is where the blood settled on Marilyn Monroe. After you die, the blood pools or moves to the side of the body that is closest to the ground. When Monroe’s body was found, where the blood was pooled on her body didn’t match with the position she was discovered in, implying that Monroe possibly died in a different position than the one she was found in. Furthermore, Monroe’s bedroom was never declared a crime scene, despite that was where her body was supposedly found, supporting the theory that she was killed or at least died somewhere else. There was also no formal investigation into her death, the autopsy declared that the cause of death was an overdose, but there were no traces of Nembutal in her stomach.

            Marilyn Monroe was born into a life that would leave her without a home. This lack of a home led Marilyn to constantly feel unwanted and feel a lack of belonging. She constantly sought to fill this void with the love of others: husbands, her latest love interest, the entire public. But their attention and adoration were never enough to fill the emptiness. After realizing this, Monroe discovered that only through mental healing she might end her pain, so she sought the help of a psychiatrist named Ralph Greenson and the help of medications. All of the events throughout Monroe’s life led her to August 5^th, 1962. Whether she was killed by the FBI or CIA, it was a fake suicide attempt gone wrong, or she actually decided to end her life, Monroe’s legacy still remains because of the conspiracy theories that surround her death. The constant chatter even sixty years after the star’s death keeps Marilyn alive despite death’s attempts to end her influence and impact on the modern world.

Works Cited

·         (S) “BIOGRAPHY: Marilyn MonroeLifetime.”BIOGRAPHY: Marilyn MonroeLifetime,http://www.lifetimetv.co.uk/biography/biography-marilyn-monroe.

·         (S)“Glitter and Sawdust: the Human Madness of a Mundane Goddess.” Lynn Cinnamon, 13 May 2015,lynncinnamon.com/2015/05/glitter-and-sawdust-the-human-madness-of-a-goddess/.

·          (S)Kashner, Sam. “Marilyn and Her Monsters.” Vanity Fair, 5 Oct. 2010,www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/11/marilyn-monroe-201011.

·         (S)“Marilyn Monroe Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography, www.notablebiographies.com/mo-ni/monroe-marilyn.html,

·          (S)“Marilyn Monroe Is Found Dead.” History.com, A&E TelevisionNetworks,http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/marilyn-monroe-is-found-dead.

·         (S)McLellan, Dennis. “James Dougherty, 84; Was Married to Marilyn Monroe Before SheBecamea Star.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug.2005,http://articles.latimes.com/2005/aug/18/local/me-dougherty18.

·         (P)“Schizophrenia.” Merriam-Webster,

·          (S)Staff, By Mayo Clinic. “Borderline Personality Disorder.” - Mayo Clinic, 30 July 2015, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/borderline-personality-disorder/basics/definition/con-20023204.

·         (S)Susman, Gary. “Marilyn Monroe Facts: 25 Things You Don't Know About the Hollywood Icon.”15May2015,https://www.moviefone.com/2015/05/29/marilyn-monroe-facts/.

·         (S)Szucs, Juliana. “All About Marilyn: A Look at Her Family Tree.” Bio.com, A&ENetworksTelevision, 31 May2016,http://www.biography.com/news/marilyn-monroe-family-genealogy#!

·         (S) Tristan, /. “5 Conspiracy Theories About the Death of Marilyn Monroe.” Bizarre and Grotesque,1 Feb.2016,https://bizarreandgrotesque.com/2015/08/04/5-conspiracy-theories-about-the-death-of-marilyn-monroe/.