Marilyn Monroe's wild love life – married at 16 and 'JFK affair covered up by FBI'

A true Hollywood icon, Marilyn Monroe is one of the most famous film stars of all time.

The blonde bombshell was the embodiment of the Hollywood sex symbol and her often turbulent life is widely talked about.

Now, streaming giant Netflix has released a tell-all documentary in her honour, The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes.

The film centres around the untimely death of the actress, using archival footage and unseen interviews with friends of Monroe.

The documentary also recounts Monroe’s life story, including her major romantic relationships.

Following the release of the new documentary, the Daily Star has taken a look at Monroe’s wild love life.

Marriage at 16

Long before she became Marilyn Monroe, the most iconic woman in the world, Norma Jeane Baker, was a teenager who had been in and out of foster homes.

Her father was never identified and her mother was committed to hospital due to paranoid schizophrenia.

In 1934, seven-year-old Baker was made a ward of the state and her mother’s friend, Grace Goddard, took her in.

A new job opportunity took the Goddards to West Virginia in 1942, however, California state laws meant they could not take their ward out of the state.

Baker was given an ultimatum – return to the orphanage or marry the son of a neighbour.

She married 21-year-old factory worker James Dougherty on June 19, 1942, just 18 days after her 16th birthday.

Dougherty joined the Merchant Marines and was stationed overseas whilst Baker took a job at a factory.

Here, she was spotted by a photographer and signed a modelling contract. Within six months, she had appeared on more than 30 magazine covers.

With a taste for stardom, Baker began to chase a film career. Little did she know this would be the end of her relationship with Dougherty.

She signed a contract with 20th Century Fox in 1946 and adopted the stage name Marilyn Monroe.

The studio insisted all its stars were unmarried, leaving her no choice but to file for divorce.

Jealous Joe DiMaggio

In 1952, Monroe was set up on a blind date with New York Yankees baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, who was 12 years her senior. The pair married on January 14, 1954.

From the very beginning, it was clear their relationship was challenged.

DiMaggio wanted a stay-at-home wife but Monroe wanted to expand her career and had hoped for a fun and spontaneous husband.

There have been plenty of claims of jealousy on DiMaggio’s part and he apparently wanted Monroe to stop acting altogether.

The marriage broke down after Monroe’s now-famous subway grate scene in The Seven Year Itch.

DiMaggio was disgusted by it and Monroe later said: “Exposing my legs and thighs, even my crotch — that was the last straw.”

On October 6, 1954, just nine months after they were married, a tearful Monroe announced to reporters that she intended to divorce DiMaggio on the grounds of mental cruelty.

Elia Kazan affair

In 1955, Elia Kazan, one of Hollywood’s greatest directors, admitted to having an affair with Monroe whilst married to playwright Molly Thatcher.

He wrote a letter to his wife which offered an intimate view of the affair.

In the letters, Kazan, who was 46 at the time, told his wife that he was not sorry for sleeping with the 29-year-old actress.

He said: “I’m not ashamed at all, not a damn bit, of having been attracted to her.

“She was a little stray cat when I knew her.

Joan Crawford fling

Monroe admitted to her therapist that she had sex with actress Joan Crawford.

The affair apparently did not last long and Monroe said: “I told her straight out I didn’t much enjoy doing it with a woman. After I turned her down she became spiteful.”

Monroe is also thought to have had affairs with other women, including Marlene Dietrich and Natasha Lytess.

However, her attraction to women was seemingly put to bed. In her autobiography she said: “A man who had kissed me once had said it was very possible that I was a lesbian because apparently, I had no response to males — meaning him.

“I didn’t contradict him because I didn’t know what I was … Now, having fallen in love, I knew what I was. It wasn’t a lesbian.”

Marriage to a playwright

Monroe’s longest marriage was to her third husband, playwright Arthur Miller.

The pair first met in Los Angeles in 1950 through a mutual friend.

Although Miller was married, he told Monroe about how unhappy he was before he returned to New York.

The two exchanged letters and in 1955, the pair began an affair.

However, Monroe had become a huge star since they’d first met and they couldn’t keep the press away, meaning their relationship was soon public knowledge.

In the spring of 1956, Miller divorced his wife and married Monroe in June of that year.

But the relationship wasn’t plain sailing.

Whilst filming The Prince and The Showgirl, Monroe found notes Miller had been making about her.

He admitted to being disappointed by their marriage and sometimes found her embarrassing.

Whilst this wasn’t enough to end their marriage, things didn’t improve.

Monroe and Miller’s relationship reached an end point when they worked together on The Misfits.

Miller was constantly making changes to the script which made it difficult for Monroe to learn her lines and her ongoing substance abuse made it hard to get work done.

They announced plans to divorce on November 11, 1960.

Used by the Kennedys

For decades, people have speculated about Monroe’s involvement with President John F. Kennedy and his brother Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Many of the rumours started after a fundraiser and birthday celebration for the President.

During the event, Monroe performed her famous rendition of Happy Birthday, dressed in a skin-tight, rhinestone gown.

Afterward, President Kennedy said he could “retire after having had ‘Happy Birthday’ sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way.”

Many biographers agree the pair spent the night together following a party at Bing Crosby’s home in March 1962.

Monroe’s masseuse received a phone call from the actress asking him for massage techniques for muscles of the back.

He said he heard a Boston accent in the background before Monroe handed the phone to the President.

A letter from Jean Kennedy Smith, the Kennedys’ younger sister, reveals that Monroe was also involved with Senator Kennedy.

The letter said she understood the two were a new item and that Monroe should come with him when he next visited.

Just before she died, Monroe told close friend Anne Karger that she was in love with the Senator and would marry him.

Her psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, also mentioned that she had sexual relationships with “extremely important men in government…at the highest level.”

Anthony Summers, who narrates the documentary, suggests the FBI covered up her relationships.

He said: “I did find evidence the circumstances of her death had been deliberately covered up. To what end, still remains a mystery.”

For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk