Norma Jeane Mortenson was born on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles — and the cards were already stacked against the child who’d become Marilyn Monroe. Instead of two doting parents welcoming their adorable baby into the world, Norma Jeane was cursed with a father who abandoned her. Her mother Gladys quickly placed her with a series of foster parents, and would see her infrequently before finally having a mental breakdown. Gladys was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and spent the rest of her life in institutions, with Norman Jeane rarely seeing her mother…
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marilyn monroe prostitute childhood 2
Things
only got worse for Norma Jeane when she moved in with family friend Grace McKee Goddard in the summer of 1935. Grace's husband, Erwin "Doc" Goddard, often grabbed and fondled young Norma Jeane. She once escaped his grasp and told Grace what happened. "I can't trust anything or anyone," Grace muttered — and within months, Marilyn was sent off to live with relatives.
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Early Marilyn Portrait
After Marilyn's death, her former housemaid and seamstress, Lena Pepitone, insisted that her boss had once confided that that she was also raped during a stay at another foster home, and eventually delivered a little boy. In her book, "Marilyn Monroe Confidential," Pepitone explained that Grace had once again returned with her questionable intentions and forced Marilyn to give the baby up.
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Teenage Marilyn
Sadly, the twisted pattern of sexual abuse Marilyn suffered as a child only got worse. "Not long before Norma Jeane's 12th birthday in June 1938, a [13-year-old cousin named Jack] forced her into some kind of violent sexual contact," revealed Donald Spoto in his biography.
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Young Marilyn
Later looking back
on the wreckage these twisted earlier experiences had caused her, Marilyn sadly noted her robbed youth: "As I grew older, I knew I was different from other children because there were no kisses or promises in my life."
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Jim Dougherty and Norma Jeane Baker on their wedding day in June of 1942.
The future screen legend later admitted her first marriage was just an attempt to escape her transient childhood. "I was placed in nine different families before I was able to quit being a legal orphan," Marilyn revealed. "I did this at 16 by getting married" — adding: "Grace McKee arranged a marriage for me. I never had a choice...They couldn't support me, and they had to work out something."
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Marilyn Monroe
Jim Dougherty was 21 years along when he agreed to marry the 16-year-old. "I agreed to it because I was going into the service soon and I figured she'd have a home with my mother," he later explained. In her autobiography "My Story," Marilyn described it as a "friendship with sexual privilege" — with her husband's absence freeing her to work as a teenage prostitute.
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Iconic first photo of Marilyn Monroe modelling goes up for auction
Marilyn became a regular in Hollywood's ritzy high-rent district, as
the bisexual beauty sold her favors at $5 a session to both men and women. "She started working as a hooker in all the swankiest hotels and restaurants along Hollywood and Wilshire boulevards," said author Ted Jordan, 66, a veteran movie and TV actor who wrote the 1989 book "Norma Jean: My Secret Life."
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Photo of Marilyn MONROE
"By the time she was 18, she'd had sex with dozens of Hollywood's most powerful men. She vowed to
sleep her way to fame and fortune as a movie star," added Jordan — who knew the sex goddess when she was still known as Norma Jean Dougherty.
9 of 13
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Marilyn Monroe Early Portrait Session
"She would go to Woolworth's on Hollywood Boulevard to buy makeup, then hustle around the swimming pools and bars of the Ambassador, Windsor and Gaylord hotels," Jordan told
The National ENQUIRER. "She also cruised the fancy restaurants, like Chasen's. "If she ran out of makeup, she'd go to bed with a guy. If she wanted a new dress, she'd have sex for $5. That's the kind of money she made."
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Brunette Marilyn
"She didn't hook every day," added Jordan. "She told me: 'How am I
supposed to be a model if I don't have the right clothes? Sometimes men help me out. So I've gone to bed with a lot of them. They help me out.'" Jordan also insisted that Marilyn enjoyed her sex work: ""She told me: 'God, isn't sex just the greatest thing there ever was?'"
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Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn finally put her hooker days behind her after divorcing her serviceman husband and beginning to sleep with movie stars. Porn star Linda Lovelace — of "Deep Throat" fame — claimed that singing cowboy
Roy Rogers later confessed
that he was one of Marilyn's first Hollywood conquests!
12 of 13
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Roy Rogers And Dale Evans
The late Lovelace said that she had joined Roy in a threesome with a Las Vegas showgirl before learning about how Marilyn began to go from the streets to the movie studios. Roy reportedly told her that he'd spied 19-year-old Marilyn while riding in Las Vegas' Helldorado Parade in 1946. ""I thought she was a beauty," Roy told Linda."I pulled
Trigger to a halt and hoisted her up onto my saddle."
13 of 13
Photo credit: Getty Images
Marilyn Monroe Portrait
As his future wife
Dale Evans rode a block behind, Roy invited the beauty to a barbecue that night. Linda said that he bragged: "During the party, I managed to slip away with Norma Jeane" — and, within a year,
Marilyn Monroe would make her first appearance on the big screen.
marilyn monroe prostitute childhood 2
Things
only got worse for Norma Jeane when she moved in with family friend Grace McKee Goddard in the summer of 1935. Grace's husband, Erwin "Doc" Goddard, often grabbed and fondled young Norma Jeane. She once escaped his grasp and told Grace what happened. "I can't trust anything or anyone," Grace muttered — and within months, Marilyn was sent off to live with relatives.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Early Marilyn Portrait
After Marilyn's death, her former housemaid and seamstress, Lena Pepitone, insisted that her boss had once confided that that she was also raped during a stay at another foster home, and eventually delivered a little boy. In her book, "Marilyn Monroe Confidential," Pepitone explained that Grace had once again returned with her questionable intentions and forced Marilyn to give the baby up.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Teenage Marilyn
Sadly, the twisted pattern of sexual abuse Marilyn suffered as a child only got worse. "Not long before Norma Jeane's 12th birthday in June 1938, a [13-year-old cousin named Jack] forced her into some kind of violent sexual contact," revealed Donald Spoto in his biography.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Young Marilyn
Later looking back
on the wreckage these twisted earlier experiences had caused her, Marilyn sadly noted her robbed youth: "As I grew older, I knew I was different from other children because there were no kisses or promises in my life."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Jim Dougherty and Norma Jeane Baker on their wedding day in June of 1942.
The future screen legend later admitted her first marriage was just an attempt to escape her transient childhood. "I was placed in nine different families before I was able to quit being a legal orphan," Marilyn revealed. "I did this at 16 by getting married" — adding: "Grace McKee arranged a marriage for me. I never had a choice...They couldn't support me, and they had to work out something."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Marilyn Monroe
Jim Dougherty was 21 years along when he agreed to marry the 16-year-old. "I agreed to it because I was going into the service soon and I figured she'd have a home with my mother," he later explained. In her autobiography "My Story," Marilyn described it as a "friendship with sexual privilege" — with her husband's absence freeing her to work as a teenage prostitute.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Iconic first photo of Marilyn Monroe modelling goes up for auction
Marilyn became a regular in Hollywood's ritzy high-rent district, as
the bisexual beauty sold her favors at $5 a session to both men and women. "She started working as a hooker in all the swankiest hotels and restaurants along Hollywood and Wilshire boulevards," said author Ted Jordan, 66, a veteran movie and TV actor who wrote the 1989 book "Norma Jean: My Secret Life."
Photo credit: Splash News
Photo of Marilyn MONROE
"By the time she was 18, she'd had sex with dozens of Hollywood's most powerful men. She vowed to
sleep her way to fame and fortune as a movie star," added Jordan — who knew the sex goddess when she was still known as Norma Jean Dougherty.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Marilyn Monroe Early Portrait Session
"She would go to Woolworth's on Hollywood Boulevard to buy makeup, then hustle around the swimming pools and bars of the Ambassador, Windsor and Gaylord hotels," Jordan told
The National ENQUIRER. "She also cruised the fancy restaurants, like Chasen's. "If she ran out of makeup, she'd go to bed with a guy. If she wanted a new dress, she'd have sex for $5. That's the kind of money she made."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Brunette Marilyn
"She didn't hook every day," added Jordan. "She told me: 'How am I
supposed to be a model if I don't have the right clothes? Sometimes men help me out. So I've gone to bed with a lot of them. They help me out.'" Jordan also insisted that Marilyn enjoyed her sex work: ""She told me: 'God, isn't sex just the greatest thing there ever was?'"
Photo credit: Getty Images
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn finally put her hooker days behind her after divorcing her serviceman husband and beginning to sleep with movie stars. Porn star Linda Lovelace — of "Deep Throat" fame — claimed that singing cowboy
Roy Rogers later confessed
that he was one of Marilyn's first Hollywood conquests!
Photo credit: Getty Images
Roy Rogers And Dale Evans
The late Lovelace said that she had joined Roy in a threesome with a Las Vegas showgirl before learning about how Marilyn began to go from the streets to the movie studios. Roy reportedly told her that he'd spied 19-year-old Marilyn while riding in Las Vegas' Helldorado Parade in 1946. ""I thought she was a beauty," Roy told Linda."I pulled
Trigger to a halt and hoisted her up onto my saddle."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Marilyn Monroe Portrait
As his future wife
Dale Evans rode a block behind, Roy invited the beauty to a barbecue that night. Linda said that he bragged: "During the party, I managed to slip away with Norma Jeane" — and, within a year,
Marilyn Monroe would make her first appearance on the big screen.
Photo credit: Getty Images
