Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in LA in 1926. Her mother was mentally unable to cope with raising Norma, so she spent much of her childhood in foster homes. One day, when Norma was 7, her mother stormed into the foster home and attempted to kidnap the child in a duffel bag. Her mother was then admitted into a mental institute and Norma was put into the care of her best friend, Grace McKee. It was Grace who put the ideas about acting into her head and encouraged her to pursue this career. When Norma was 9, Grace got married and sent the girl into an orphanage. 

She spent several years going from foster home to 

foster home, before finally going back to live with Grace and her family. However, the Norma was the victim of sexual abuse from her foster father and so she was sent to live with one of Grace's aunts in Compton, but even there, she suffered sexual abuse from one of the aunt's sons. She then went to live with another of Grace's aunts and this was, as she later described the most stable period in her live, where she truly felt secure, but unfortunately it was short-lead as the old lady had many health issues and became unable to care for her. So Norma moved back in with Grace and her husband and met James (Jim) Dougherty at middle school, whom she began a relationship with. When Grace and her family wanted to move away, to prevent Norma from going back into care, she pressured her boyfriend into marrying her, even though she was only sixteen. Dougherty was away a lot in the Merchant Marine, and during his absence, Norma worked in the local factory. It was in this factory that she was first noticed for her beauty. 

A photographer encouraged her to apply for a modelling agency and she was accepted. So began her successful modelling career, which then led her to get noticed by the Fox producer, Ben Lyon who then employed her as an actress, performing minor roles in films. It was his idea that she change her name to Marilyn, after Marilyn Miller, she chose the name Monroe, as it was her mother's maiden name. Little by little, Monroe gained more notoriety and the importance of her roles increased until she truly was an international movie star. Her breakthrough was a starring role in the 1949 film, Love Happy, this brought her to the attention of the talent agent, Johnny Hyde. From this point on, she was fully successful in her work. Her love life was very unstable, she was married 3 times and had numerous affairs, her most famous being with President John F Kennedy. It is thought that her traumatic childhood had a huge effect on her romantic life, resulting in excessive sexual activity and emotional insecurity. Like her mother, Monroe was psychologically unstable and suffered from chronic depression throughout her life.

Monroe's last film was entitled The Misfits. During this time, Marilyn suffered from insomnia and alcoholism and was frequently rushed to hospital after collapsing on film sets. On the 5^th of August 1962, she was found dead in her home in LA, the cause being 'acute barbiturate poisoning'. It is unknown how exactly she managed to ingest such large quantities of sleeping pills. The main theory is that she committed suicide, however there are many conspiracy theories involving people like John and Robert Kennedy.