{"id":22881,"date":"2022-09-29T15:00:53","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1713497"},"modified":"2022-09-29T15:30:46","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T13:30:46","slug":"who-were-marilyn-monroes-husbands-accuracy-in-netflix-film-blonde","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/who-were-marilyn-monroes-husbands-accuracy-in-netflix-film-blonde\/","title":{"rendered":"Who were Marilyn Monroe\u2019s husbands? Accuracy in Netflix film Blonde"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Patrick Cremona\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 29 September 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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New film Blonde<\/a> arrived on Netflix<\/a> this week, telling a story about Marilyn Monroe that is partly based on her true life but also contains many fictionalised elements.<\/p>\n

Based on Joyce Carol Oates\u2019s\u00a0historical fiction novel of the same name, one of the things that the film focuses on is her marriages to \u2018The Ex-Athlete (Joe DiMaggio) and The Playwright (Arthur Miller) \u2013 painting both unions as difficult ordeals for the star, though in rather different ways.<\/p>\n

Monroe actually had three husbands during her life. The first of those, James Dougherty, does not appear in the film.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>

James Dougherty<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 while some studios did not want to offer her projects while she was still married.<\/p>\n

The pair rarely met again after, although Dougherty continued to follow her career from afar, and in 2002 he told Associated Press: \u201cFame was injurious to her. She was too gentle to be an actress. She wasn\u2019t tough enough for\u00a0Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd once someone starts getting into pills \u2013uppers and downers, the way she was \u2013 people can go downhill. They can\u2019t sleep, so they take more and more pills.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Because of the dates of their marriage, Dougherty is absent from Blonde \u2013 which mainly focuses on the \u201950s after it jumps ahead from Monroe\u2019s childhood.<\/p>\n

Joe DiMaggio<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Bobby Cannavale as The Ex-Athlete and Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde.<\/span><\/figcaption> Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

As is seen in Blonde, Monroe\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Their marriage was a short-lived one, with Monroe filing for divorce in October 1954, just nine months after they had married \u2013 but DiMaggio reportedly stayed devoted to her for many years.<\/p>\n

In 1961, he secured her release from Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic \u2013 although rumours of a remarriage proved to be wide of the mark.<\/p>\n

Shortly before Monroe\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

DiMaggio\u2019s attorney Morris Engelberg claimed that his last words before his death in 1999 were \u201cI\u2019ll finally get to see Marilyn\u201d \u2013 although this claim has been refuted by his family.<\/p>\n

Arthur Miller<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Adrien Brody as The Playwright and Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde.<\/span><\/figcaption> Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Monroe\u2019s third and final marriage was to Arthur Miller \u2013 referred to as The Playwright in the film and played by Adrien Brody \u2013 with their union lasting from 1956 to 1961.<\/p>\n

Although in some ways less turbulent than her previous marriage to DiMaggio, the film\u2019s suggestion that Miller used Monroe\u2019s words in her plays without telling her appears to be true.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

During their marriage, Monroe converted to Judaism in an attempt to fit in with Miller\u2019s family, and her life appeared to become more normal for a while during the start of their time together.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 which Miller had written and Monroe starred in.<\/p>\n

Blonde\u2019s 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 \u2013 one in 1956 and another in 1957.<\/p>\n