Not everyone knows that Marilyn Monroe, the Hollywood legend by experience, had a couple of touch-ups to achieve the look that made her famous.
That Marilyn Monroe's beauty was not 100% natural is something I discovered when I read the magnificent biography of the actress written by journalist Donald Spoto. I will never forget that book, which I found in a library: I spent two whole days reading fascinated, unable to put it down.
That biography was not only superbly written but well documented. So much so that the author did not leave any detail of the life of the unfortunate actress to chance, from the birth certificate of Norma Jean Baker, her real name, to the number of lovers her mother had had, one of the most toxic influences. and unfortunate of his life.
In the biography, we find evidence that Marilyn Monroe married her first husband just to avoid having to go to an orphanage. Several testimonies tell how, after her divorce, she took up the habit of having s- relations with men to thank for any favor, even the smallest. Marilyn Monroe had been abused at puberty, and like many women s- before her time, she didn't quite know how to distinguish between affection and eroticism.
Returning to the subject, a few days ago the leak of some X-rays of Marilyn made shortly before she tragically died went viral. The images showed the existence of an implant in her chin. Everyone was shocked, when I already knew it for years, thanks to Donald Spoto's biography.
It seems that Marilyn Monroe had surgery on her own initiative. It was not the idea of the evil and greedy movie studios. It was a time when cosmetic touch-ups were not only infrequent but downright dangerous. Those touch-ups are the same that most Hollywood actresses, like Angelina Jolie, do today: Beauty is in the bone structure and actresses need to be perfect from every angle. Correcting large noses and small chins is one of the first touch-ups that very famous women do to go from beautiful to spectacular.
Before the operation, Marilyn Monroe was not a famous actress, but a starlet hired by Fox Studios. A starlet was an attractive but not necessarily talented aspiring actress. She received a base salary in exchange for being available for whatever she was. Maybe she was just trying to appear as an extra in some big production or play a supporting role in a low-budget movie. They could be important or filler jobs, but the salary did not vary. If the starlet didn't work, she earned the same. If she overworked, so did she.
A starlet's contract was often abusive and didn't do much good. Most of the girls stayed halfway; only a few rose to star status. Marilyn Monroe suffered a lot as a starlet because she couldn't stand being without work and she knew that being seen was an important part of the road to fame. Six long months passed until she was summoned for an important casting.
The starlets also had to buy their own makeup for the jobs, because the studios didn't want to pick up the tab. As a base, they were forced to use a yellowish paste to cover the shine and small imperfections.
One of the first people to work with Marilyn Monroe when she was just a starlet she recounted: "She was a terribly insecure girl. We had a hard time convincing her how beautiful and fresh her natural beauty was, and how great she could look on screen if she learned to use it."
That insecurity was a tailor-made suit that Marilyn wore throughout her life. An insecure woman ends up doing stupid things in her personal and work relationships. The biography tells how Marilyn made men wait for hours when she had a date. That happened to her second husband, Joe DiMaggio, who sat in a restaurant for three hours before the actress appeared. The reason for the delay was that Marilyn didn't finish looking pretty. She spent the three-hour delay putting on makeup, putting on makeup again, trying on clothes, and changing her hairstyle.
To hydrate her face, Marilyn Monroe used two drugstore products: Vaseline and Nivea cream. When she became a star, Elizabeth Arden sent her a sample of the famous Eight Hour Cream, which was unknown to anyone at the time.
Marilyn Monroe also used pure lanolin and olive oil to prevent wrinkles.
Are there any cosmetics that Marilyn Monroe used that we can buy today, apart from Chanel No. 5? Yes, any of Erno Laszlo, a Hungarian firm Marilyn was a huge fan of. When Marilyn died, the police found the room full of Erno Laszlo's items. The boats, damaged by the passage of time, are currently on display in a museum.
One of them, a jar of powder makeup, was right next to her body, on the nightstand, and appears in photographs taken during the investigation.
Marilyn's favorite product was Phormula 3-9 Repair Serum, a scar removal concentrate that Erno Laszlo created especially for her. Today it is one of the firm's best-selling items, at almost 300 euros per bottle. But why did the actress need a cosmetic for scars? The reason was appendicitis. At the time of the operation, the doctor was perplexed to find a note written by Marilyn herself that begged him "not to remove more than necessary" and "to leave as small a scar as possible."
Judging by the photos of her, Marilyn's pleas entered the doctor in one ear and out the other. Poor Marilyn came out of surgery with a hideous scar on her belly.
Marilyn Monroe loved facial rituals. Every night, she immersed her face in a bowl of hot water to open the pores and then put on a few drops of Chanel No. 5 before climbing into bed stark n-, the beauty trick that went down in history. She even gave interviews explaining how she took care of herself and what she ate to stay slim like any actress does now. Thanks to these reports we know that she had hot milk for breakfast with two raw eggs.
Her extra pounds were always a headache for her. She alternated extreme fasting with limitless bingeing. Her weight swings were so gigantic that they brought her assistants to their heads: they took measurements to order her clothes and when the pieces arrived, she no longer fit her well.
That is the reason why the dress of hers that she wore during the famous Happy Birthday Mr. President began to tear at the back of her while the blonde of hers sang, and it is also the reason why she always resorted to enemas before a premiere.
Insomnia, lack of care, and her excess of barbiturates caused Marilyn Monroe to begin to decline physically at the age of 33. It is curious since she reached the peak of her beauty around 30. But it is true: although the exterior of her was dazzling, her health was suffering more and more. Reports from her psychiatrist proved that Marilyn needed sleeping pills, but they were so strong that she then needed different ones to wake up.
Donald Spoto's biography makes for a good CSI chapter when it comes time to talk about Marilyn Monroe's suicide. Thanks to the superb investigative work, we can know precisely and exactly everything the actress did before hanging up the phone for the last time that night. The most relevant fact is that the barbiturates that were in Marilyn's body were administered anally. This is a true fact, confirmed by the thanatologist. "Her stomach was empty," he wrote in the report.
The press always said that Marilyn Monroe had died from an overdose of Nembutal, but no one told how the pills had been introduced into her body. The type of intake strikes down the official version because who commits suicide like that?
According to the book, Marilyn Monroe was furious that John F. Kennedy had "passed" her on to her brother Robert after realizing that her affair with her blonde was affecting her image. Marilyn felt used and "like a piece of meat." The days before her death, she was preparing a press conference to tell the media her story with the President of the United States. And John Kennedy was aware of those plans.
The son-in-law of her assistant recounted years later that on the day of her death, Marilyn was on the verge of hysteria: «I had never seen her like this. She seemed terribly ill, not just in the physical sense. She was scared to death. At nine Robert Kennedy came with two men. They told us to leave. I mean, they made it very clear that we had to go. We went to a neighbor's house. We had no idea what was going on."
The FBI report on the death of Marilyn Monroe timidly speaks of an "induction to suicide."
Suicide or not, her death gave the actress the halo of mystery and tragedy that stars who go down in history need. An unhappy childhood, stunning beauty, three failed marriages, problems with barbiturates, and chronic loneliness were the other ingredients in the cocktail that made Marilyn Monroe the myth par excellence.
