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Beneath the Beauty: Marilyn Monroe
"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." -Marilyn Monroe (qtd. in "Marilyn Monroe > Quotes > Quotable Quote"). Marilyn Monroe is well known for her beauty and acting, but the majority of people are unaware of her troubles. During her short career in acting, her films originated over 200 million dollars ("Marilyn Monroe"). Despite Marilyn Monroe's many predicaments and hardships in life, her image is one of the most prominent of all stars.
Born as Norma Jeane Mortensen and baptized as a Baker, Marilyn Monroe was one to remember from the very beginning. Monroe was born in Los Angeles, California on June 1, 1926 and grew up not knowing who her father was ("Marilyn Monroe"). Gladys (Monroe) Baker Mortenson, Marilyn's mother, was placed in a mental institution when Marilyn was just young, after she was rumored to have smothered Marilyn with a pillow in her crib.
Cropped screenshot of Marilyn Monroe from the trai...
Cropped screenshot of Marilyn Monroe from the trai...
English: Crypt of Marilyn Monroe at Westwood Villa...Gladys was known for her psychiatric problems and was later diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic ("Marilyn Monroe Biography"). Spending two years in an orphanage and seven in foster care, Monroe was well-adapted to many foster families. In 1937, Gladys paid a family friend and her husband, Grace and Doc Goddard, twenty-five dollars weekly to care for Marilyn. The Goddard family was strictly religious, and Monroe was not even allowed to the movies. Little did she know that her future career would end up in performing. When Doc Goddard was transferred to the east coast for work in 1942, he could not afford to take Marilyn with them, so they sent her back to foster care. While in foster care, Monroe encountered several situations where she was sexually assaulted; she was raped...