Marilyn Monroe became famous through her iconic "blonde bombshell" image as a major 1950s sex symbol and successful comedic actress, but her enduring fame comes from the contrast between this persona and her real-life struggles, including a difficult childhood and mental health battles, making her a tragic, complex, and timeless pop culture icon celebrated for her vulnerability, fashion, and influence on beauty standards.
Known for playing comic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million (equivalent to $2 billion in 2024) by her death in 1962.
On the screen she became known for her sex appeal and comedic and serious acting in such classic films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Bus Stop, Seven Year Itch, Some like it Hot and How to Marry a Millionaire.
Remembering Queen Elizabeth II and Marilyn Monroe, who would have turned 100 in 2026.
Marilyn Monroe likely suffered from complex mental health issues, with modern analysis pointing towards Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), alongside historical diagnoses of Bipolar Disorder (Manic-Depressive Illness), anxiety, depression, and addiction, stemming from severe childhood trauma and abandonment. Her struggles included emotional instability, identity issues, impulsivity, intense mood swings, emptiness, and substance abuse, all consistent with BPD and ASD traits, though she was treated with medications for mood disorders during her life.
Marilyn Monroe had an IQ of 168! Despite being typecast as the quintessential “dumb blonde,” she was highly intelligent and had a deep love for literature. She owned over 400 books, including works by Dostoevsky, Freud, and Hemingway, and even took literature courses at UCLA.
A woman who enjoyed her sleep, Monroe took between five and 10 hours of shut-eye a night in a wide single bed. On Sunday? “[It's] my one day of total leisure. I sometimes take two hours to wake up, luxuriating in every last moment of drowsiness,” she said in an interview with Pageant magazine.
1959 – Marilyn's Personal Cocktail Dress
At this point in her life, Marilyn was at her heaviest, with some speculating she weighed nearly 140lbs.
No, Marilyn Monroe never had any children, although she desperately wanted them and was pregnant at least three times, suffering miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, likely due to her endometriosis. Her struggles with fertility and pregnancies, particularly during her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller, were a significant source of personal pain and a contributing factor to her divorce.
In 1955, 14-year-old Peter Mangone, a teenager from the Bronx, skipped school in hopes of catching a glimpse of Marilyn Monroe, who was staying in Manhattan after her divorce from Joe DiMaggio. Armed with his 8mm Kodak camera, Mangone was fortunate enough to spot Monroe walking down the street with her entourage.
Marilyn once said, “Well, my very favorite person, and I love her as a person as well as a singer, I think she's the greatest, and that's Ella Fitzgerald.” The feeling seems to have been mutual.
"Marilyn Monroe's eyes were blue, not brown, green, or any other color. Some photos may appear to show different colors due to the cameras, lenses, lighting, or colorization techniques used. There's no evidence she wore colored contacts, despite rumors to the contrary."
When she died in 1962, she left no family and had a net worth of $800,000, which is equivalent to about $7 million today. Monroe spent her money freely, and gave some to relatives, employees and strangers. After her estate was settled, her fortune had declined to about $370,000.
About Marilyn's childhood and adolescence, some biographies report a probable dyslexia and slight stutter (Spoto, 1993) which occasionally re-emerged in adulthood. She was described as a shy, submissive girl, who seemed not to get on well with her peers, daydreaming about becoming a star.
A real down home girl, and had a personality people loved. And she was a sex symbol. She appealed to a wide variety of audiences for different reasons, and was killed died while she was still popular and loved.
Marilyn Monroe's purported last words, spoken to actor Peter Lawford hours before her death, were a poignant farewell: "Say goodbye to Pat, say goodbye to Jack (President Kennedy), and say goodbye to yourself, because you're a nice guy," before the line went silent. These words, reported by Lawford and documented in police investigations, conveyed her despondency and feelings of rejection, marking a tragic end to her final phone call before being found unresponsive the next morning.
Marilyn Monroe would be 99 years old today, June 1, 2025. She was born on June 1, 1926, and her death was on August 5, 1962.
That instrument left some small bequests for a number of individuals including Monroe's half-sister, her secretary, her mother, and several friends. But ultimately 75% of Monroe's remaining assets were to be distributed outright to Lee Strasberg, the famed acting coach.
Marilyn Monroe is said to have once made a bold and charming remark to Albert Einstein: "You and I should have a child together — imagine a baby with your brains and my looks." To which the father of relativity and the atomic bomb reportedly replied: "Yes, but what if it's born with my looks and your brains?" We still ...
Turns out Monroe might have made dying her pubic hair part of her regular beauty routine, too.
Marilyn Monroe was more than a glamorous icon—she was deeply intelligent and loved literature and philosophy. She reportedly had an IQ of 168, even higher than einstein's estimated 160.
Hyman Engelberg, one of her doctors, later told an interviewer, “We knew that she was manic-depressive, which is now called bipolar personality.” Notes biographer Lois Banner, Marilyn suffered from a severe stutter and dyslexia, too, and was addicted to barbiturates and amphetamines.
Marilyn Monroe's Plastic Surgery Secrets: What Procedures Did She Have?
However, Vaseline was her go-to beauty product. For example, she used petroleum jelly in two specific ways to keep her looking radiant and youthful. The New York Times reports that “Monroe reportedly slathered her skin with Vaseline before her daily baths.”
Other films which Marilyn refused to make for Fox were "Can Can", "Size 12", and "The Stripper". The latter was based on a play by William Inge, who wrote "Bus Stop" and tells the story of a small town girl who wins a beauty contest and leaves home for a Hollywood screen test.