Marilyn Monroe is still one of the biggest names in Hollywood even 60 years after her untimely death. Known for acting, modeling and singing, Marilyn was a force to be reckoned with in her heyday. But the road to success was by no means an easy journey. She first had to overcome an unstable childhood consisting of a mother struggling with a mental disorder and an absent father (Charles Stanley Gifford).
Unlike some of her acting friends (Cass Chaplin Jr. and Eddy G. Robinson Jr.), the pop icon was not born with a spoon in her mouth. She did not grow up in a house with two parents. Often she was moved from place to place because her mother (Gladys Pearl Baker) was unable to take care of her.
It wasn’t until Marilyn met factory worker James Dougherty that she finally began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. After Marilyn married Dougherty, she no longer needed to be transported from place to place without her consent.
So where did Marilyn become when she was forced to move? Has she ever been an orphan? We have the answers to these questions and shared them below.
Was Marilyn Monroe an orphan?
Technically, Marilyn Monroe was not an orphan. To be considered an orphan, both her parents would have to be dead, which was not the case. Her mother was alive, but just couldn’t take care of her. And although she never knew her father, he was still alive when she was little.
However, she spent most of her childhood in foster homes and orphanages. When Marilyn was just two weeks old, Gladys abandoned her in a foster home. Marilyn’s mother visited her often and even wanted to spend the night. So, when Marilyn was seven years old, Gladys bought a house in Los Angeles and moved her in with her. But this did not last long.
In 1934, Gladys suffered a mental breakdown and was institutionalized for paranoid schizophrenia. Marilyn would then become a parishioner in the state and spend many of the following years moving in and out of different homes.
Along with Newsweek, Marilyn spent two years at the Los Angeles Orphans Home Society and four years with a guardian (Grace Goddard). She also lived in 10 different foster homes and with different family members throughout her childhood. In these different places she must have been subjected to sexual abuse and sexual abuse.
It is sad that Marilyn had a troubled childhood. But I’m glad she didn’t let that stop her from working towards her dreams.
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