5 Things You May Not Know About Marilyn Monroe’s Life And Death

CW: mentions of suicide

Pin-up model, singer, actress, socialite, and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe’s life was nothing short of iconic.

The 23 movies she starred in grossed $200 million, equivalent to $2 billion in 2021, according to the Show Biz Cheat Sheet, but her lucrative career would come to an abrupt stop when the How to Marry A Millionaire star was found dead in her Los Angeles home from an apparent suicide by drug overdose. She was 36.

Here are five things you may not know about Monroe’s death.

Robert Kennedy and Monroe were together on the night of her death

In a new Netflix special, The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, Monroe's biographer, Anthony Summers, presents new evidence, based on 650 taped interviews, that Robert Kennedy and Monroe were with each other on August 4, 1962.

Summers’ documentary confirms that Kennedy flew to an airport to catch a flight on the night she died.

It has been long rumored that Monroe had been romantically involved with both Robert Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy at the same time. Some people even speculate that the two are linked to her death.

In 2012, James Spada, a biographer of Marilyn Monroe, told PEOPLE, while there’s no proof the Kennedys were responsible for Monroe’s death, “it was pretty clear that Marilyn had had sexual relations with both Bobby and Jack.”

Monroe’s ex-husband Joe DiMaggio blames Frank Sinatra and The Kennedys for her death

Marilyn Monroe and baseball legend Joe DiMaggio were married in 1954 but divorced nine months later. Although tumultuous and rocky, the two became friends again after Monroe’s third failed marriage with playwright Arthur Miller.

According to Dr. Rock Positano, co-author of Dinner with DiMaggio: Memories of an American Hero, the former nine-time World Series champion, who played for the Yankees, said her “involvement with Mr. [Frank] Sinatra and the Kennedy clan” wasn’t good for her mental health, Country Living reported.

“The whole lot of Kennedys were lady-killers,” DiMaggio said to Positano. “They always got away with it. They'll be getting away with it a hundred years from now,” he continued. “I always knew who killed her, but I didn't want to start a revolution in this country," DiMaggio allegedly told Positano. “I'll go to the grave regretting and blaming myself for what happened to her.”

For 20 years after her death, DiMaggio arranged to have roses sent to Monroe’s crypt three times a week, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Monroe’s death may not have happened the way it was initially reported

From the same Netflix special, Summers’ reporting claims Monroe may have died in an ambulance. Days after her death, it was reported by the Los Angeles Times that Monroe was found dead, in her home, because of a sleeping pill overdose.

The documentary plays an interview with Walter Schaefer, who owned the ambulance company that transported Monroe to the nearest hospital on the night of her death. “No, she wasn’t [dead at home],” Schaefer said, as reported by Yahoo. Schaefer claimed Monroe arrived at the ER alive but in a comatose state.

John Sherlock, a writer, offered a slight contradiction to Schaefer’s claim. He said Monroe died on the way to the hospital and “they took her back to the house.”

Monroe was fired from her last film but landed a major deal right before her untimely death

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Monroe did not make as much as her co-stars for most of her career. In her final, unfinished film, Something’s Got to Give, she was paid $100,000 (approximately $957,000 in 2022) compared to her co-star Dean Martin who made $500,000 ($4.7 million in 2022).

Monroe was fired from the production of the movie because of perpetual lateness but four days before she died she landed a new two-picture deal, with Twentieth Century Fox, for $1 million ($9.5 million in 2022).

People pay a lot of money to be buried next to Marilyn Monroe

Monroe is buried at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Hugh Hefner bought the crypt beside Monroe, where he is buried now, in 1992 for $75,000 according to LA Magazine.

In 2009, a widow of a businessman tried to sell the plot above Monroe’s, where her husband was laid to rest, to pay off her $1.6 million mortgage, reported by Reuters. Bids on eBay reached $4.6 million but the sale fell through, according to the New York Post.

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts/ideation, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (US) 1-800-273-8255 or visit http://afsp.org for resources.