New film Blonde arrived on Netflix this week, telling a story about Marilyn Monroe that is partly based on her true life but also contains many fictionalised elements.
Based on Joyce Carol Oates’s historical fiction novel of the same name, one of the things that the film focuses on is her marriages to ‘The Ex-Athlete (Joe DiMaggio) and The Playwright (Arthur Miller) – painting both unions as difficult ordeals for the star, though in rather different ways.
Monroe actually had three husbands during her life. The first of those, James Dougherty, does not appear in the film.
We have all the information you need to know about all three marriages below, including which aspects of Blonde match up to the historical record.
James Dougherty
Monroe married her first husband, Jame Dougherty, at the age of just 16 in 1942. The son of one of her neighbours, he was five years her senior and was a factory worker at the time.
The couple stayed together for four years but divorced in 1946, with one of the reasons for their separation being that Dougherty did not like the idea of Monroe pursuing a career in Hollywood, preferring that she remain a housewife – while some studios did not want to offer her projects while she was still married.
The pair rarely met again after, although Dougherty continued to follow her career from afar, and in 2002 he told Associated Press: “Fame was injurious to her. She was too gentle to be an actress. She wasn’t tough enough for Hollywood.
“And once someone starts getting into pills –uppers and downers, the way she was – people can go downhill. They can’t sleep, so they take more and more pills.”
Dougherty went on to become a police officer, playing a key part in the creation of the Special Weapons and Tactics group, and remarried a year after the divorce, this time to Patricia Scoman, with whom he had three children. He married one further time, to Rita Lambert in 1974, and passed away in 2005 at the age of 84.
Because of the dates of their marriage, Dougherty is absent from Blonde – which mainly focuses on the ’50s after it jumps ahead from Monroe’s childhood.
Joe DiMaggio
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As is seen in Blonde, Monroe’s second husband was former New York Yankees centre fielder Joe DiMaggio, referred to as The Ex-Athlete in the film and played by Bobby Cannavale.
This is one of the aspects of the movie that matches up with the historical reality: it is true that DiMaggio was abusive towards Monroe, both physically and verbally, and that he was deeply jealous of the attention she received.
As is shown in the film, he became especially jealous when she was filming the infamous scene from The Seven Year Itch and reportedly beat her in her hotel room shortly after.
Their marriage was a short-lived one, with Monroe filing for divorce in October 1954, just nine months after they had married – but DiMaggio reportedly stayed devoted to her for many years.
In 1961, he secured her release from Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic – although rumours of a remarriage proved to be wide of the mark.
Shortly before Monroe’s death in 1962, it is reported that DiMaggio had been planning to ask her to remarry, and it was he who arranged for her funeral, barring members of the Hollywood elite and Kennedy family from attending.
DiMaggio’s attorney Morris Engelberg claimed that his last words before his death in 1999 were “I’ll finally get to see Marilyn” – although this claim has been refuted by his family.
Arthur Miller
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Monroe’s third and final marriage was to Arthur Miller – referred to as The Playwright in the film and played by Adrien Brody – with their union lasting from 1956 to 1961.
Although in some ways less turbulent than her previous marriage to DiMaggio, the film’s suggestion that Miller used Monroe’s words in her plays without telling her appears to be true.
The pair had initially met in 1951, when they had had a brief affair, and got together properly in 1956, with Miller leaving his wife of 16 years Mary Slattery.
During their marriage, Monroe converted to Judaism in an attempt to fit in with Miller’s family, and her life appeared to become more normal for a while during the start of their time together.
Problems began to show in 1960 when Monroe turned to drugs to help her sleep, and they separated in 1961 shortly before the premiere of The Misfits – which Miller had written and Monroe starred in.
Blonde’s suggestion that Monroe had a miscarriage during their marriage is also accurate, although there is no evidence to suggest that this happened after she fell at a beach, as is shown in the film. Monroe actually had two miscarriages during their marriage – one in 1956 and another in 1957.
- Read more: How to watch new Marilyn Monroe drama Blonde
- Read more: Did Blonde’s Marilyn Monroe and John F Kennedy story actually happen?
- Read more: Blonde review: A brutal but beautiful look at Marilyn Monroe
Blonde is available to stream on Netflix now, and you can listen to the soundtrack on Amazon Music. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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