Norma Jeane, the famous actress more commonly known as Marilyn Monroe, was married three times. One of her husbands was Joe DiMaggio, a former centerfielder for the New York Yankees.
At first, Marilyn didn’t want to meet DiMaggio, thinking that he was a stereotypical arrogant athlete. Her opinion obviously changed with time, before they eloped at San Francisco City Hall on 14 January 1954.
However, even if they looked perfect together, their marriage was far from perfect. After the famous skirt scene in The Seven Year Itch was filmed on 14 September 1954, an incident between the couple occurred. It’s assumed that the couple had a shouting match in the theater lobby. A month later, the couple divorced. Marilyn’s attorney filed for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty only nine months after the wedding.
After divorcing Marilyn, DiMaggio quit drinking, went into therapy, and expanded his interests beyond baseball.
He was also considered as a womanizer at the time because of the rumors that liked him to many famous women. He denied any involvement with them.
Joe started to see Marilyn again after her unsuccessful marriage with Arthur Miller. He secured her release from Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic and she joined him in Florida where he was a batting coach for the Yankees.
Despite all rumors about the famous couple getting back together, Monroe and DiMaggio claimed they were ‘just friends’. However, the famous athlete quit his job on 1 April 1962 because he wanted to ask Marilyn to remarry him again.
Before deciding this, he was alerted that she started hanging around with people that DiMaggio felt were detrimental to her well-being. Unfortunately for him and her fans, she was found dead in her home in Los Angeles on 5 August 1962. According to the investigation and toxicology report, the cause of death was acute barbiturate poisoning.
Her body was claimed by DiMaggio, who also arranged the funeral at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, barring Hollywood’s elite.
Besides the investigation and toxicology report, many believe Marilyn Monroe was murdered.
According to DiMaggio’s son, she sounded well on the phone as they spoke on the night of her death. DiMaggio refused to talk about her in public but his actions spoke more than words could.
He placed a 20-year order of a half-dozen roses to be placed on Monroe’s grave three times a week. With this gesture, he showed that he truly loved and respected Marilyn.
However, as they say, some people never truly die because they continue living in the hearts of the people who loved them.
And Marilyn will live in the hearts of her fans forever.