New Marilyn Monroe film Blonde has finally arrived on Netflix – and it looks set to be one of the most talked about films of the year.
On the face of it, it might seem like the film is a traditional biopic of the Gentleman Prefer Blondes star, but it’s actually based on a historical fiction novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates – meaning that it mixes together fact and fiction throughout its runtime.
Viewers will therefore be eager to learn which aspects of the plot come from Monroe’s real life and which were invented for this project, given it’s not always clear which elements are taken from the historical record.
One such example concerns the three-way relationship Monroe is in towards the beginning of the film, when she is seen to be living in a ménage à trois style arrangement with Cass Chaplin and Eddy Robinson – the respective sons of Hollywood legends Charlie Chaplin and Edward G Robinson.
So, is this based on reality? Read on for everything you need to know.
Did Marilyn Monroe have romances with Charlie Chaplin Jr and Edward G Robinson Jr?
It appears that although aspects of this plot point might have their basis in reality, no such throuple relationship between Monroe, Chaplin and Robinson actually existed.
Chaplin and Monroe are believed to have had a relationship, something which is referenced in Anthony Summers’s biography Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe, with Summers detailing how Cass invited the star to meet his family over lunch in 1947. The relationship is again suggested in Cass’s own book My Father, Charlie Chaplin.
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Meanwhile, Summers’s book also claims that Monroe met Eddy through Pass and the pair subsequently had a relationship, although this was after her relationship with Cass had already reached its end.
But Summers writes that “any passion in the Robinson affair was soon spent, and turned to friendship,” suggesting that it was not a long relationship.
It appears that the trio did continue to stay close friends for some time after these supposed affairs, but there is no evidence to suggest that the three-way relationship that is depicted in the film is in any way based on real facts.
Blonde was released in select cinemas on Friday 23rd September and is available to stream on Netflix from Wednesday 28th September. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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