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Mental Health Heroes - Marilyn Monroe

This was going to be the first in our series about mental health, but due to circumstances this will be the second. Seeing as mental health has become a big thing in the last year, we have decided to take some time and reflect on mental health and put some blogs together about famous people we all know that have either suffered or suffer from any type of mental health issue. Seeing as today marks the 59th anniversary of her passing we are going to kick off with the blonde bombshell herself, Marilyn Monroe. This year would have also been her 95th Birthday so it would be a fitting tribute to her. 

Ever since her death there has been speculation as to what was the cause. Some say it was the Kennedy's, while others believe it was an overdose on her sleeping pills. Many people knew that Marilyn suffered with a mental health issue, but many don't know the full story behind it and where it all stemmed from. From the moment she was born her mother Gladys struggled to look after her, both financially and mentally. She spent most of her childhood either with extended family or at an orphanage. Her mother did what she could to save up money so she could look after Marilyn and would eventually buy a small house with a loan so they could live together. In January of 1934, Gladys had a mental breakdown and was then diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

She spent several months in a rest home, but was then committed to the Metropolitan State Hospital. Gladys would spent the rest of her life in and out of hospitals and was rarely in contact with her daughters. Because she was only 8 years old, Marilyn became a ward of the state, and her mother's friend, Grace Goddard, took responsibility over her and her mother's affairs till she would come of age. When Marilyn made it as a star she sent $250 to her mother every month. Marilyn sent support to her mother right up until she died but even after that her mother received a trust fund of $100,000 out of which she received $5,000 a year. 

Through out her life Marilyn was afraid to end up like her mother as she knew that it was something that ran in her family. Her grandmother Della had suffered with postpartum depression, she would eventually be sent to a mental hospital where she sadly died 19 days later at the age of 51. Marilyn's great grandfather Tilford, suffered from mental illness and committed suicide. Everything that she feared would eventually come to a head as she started to become more and more famous and more out of control of her life.

From an early age close people to the family admitted that Marilyn had had periods of paranoia and delusions, one such time involved the death of her pet dog Tippy. She had a hard time when it came to connecting to the children at her school, so instead she formed a bond with Tippy. While she was at school the dog was hit by a car and a neighbour found the body and placed in on the drive of Marilyn's home. It was evident that the dog had been run over, but she didn't believe what had happened to Tippy and blamed the neighbour had murdered the dog by cutting it in two with a garden hoe all because of it's barking. This incident caused a concern for her foster parents Ida and Wayne Bolender.

Despite all this she pushed through and concentrated on becoming that star that she wanted to be. But on the other side the signs of mental illness were always present. Marilyn was always exhausted, suffered with depression, her emotions would often run wild and the fame would consume her. This was probably not helped by her 2 failed marriages and 3 miscarriages. When she was preparing for an audition of the film "The Asphalt Jungle", she claimed to her coach Natasha Lytess that she could hear voices outside the door. This made Natasha worry about Marilyn and told of her concern to Marilyn's then boyfriend Johnny Hyde who acted as though it was normal. 

When Johnny died the following year, Marilyn fell into a deep depression. Luckily at the time Natasha was living with her as one night she came home to find her passed out with a mouth full of sleeping pills. She claimed that she was not trying to kill herself, yet Natasha didn't believe her. Natasha kept expressing her concern for Marilyn and said that she was heading down a dark path that would lead to her death. 

Marilyn would marry Arthur Miller in 1956, the marriage would emphasise all her her insecurities. She was even seen pouring pills in the champagne that she was drinking at the time. When she was in England filming the "The Prince and the Showgirl", she found Arthur's diary in which he complained that he was disappointed and embarrassed by her. Once she read it she was devastated and immediately flew back to New York to she her psychiatrist.

A few years later while filming "Some Like It Hot", she and Arthur got into an argument over the phone. It caused her to take another overdose, but this time she was found by Paul Strasburg, her new coach, laid in the floor. When the couple announced their separation in 1960, it caused her mental health to decline rapidly. Again she would state that she was hearing voices while she was on the set of "The Misfits". It was during this that Dr Ralph Greenson, her psychiatrist, prescribed her three times the maximum dose of Nembutal, which was to treat her insomnia. 

By February 1961, she had told Ralph Roberts that she had contemplated jumping from her 13th floor apartment. This information she told to her other psychiatrist Dr Marianna Kris, who then persuaded Marilyn to admit herself to a hospital. She went to Payne-Whitney Hospital under the name Faye Miller. She expected to have some rest while she was there but instead was taken to the psychiatric ward. While there she was threatened with a straight jacket and was then placed in a cell. Marilyn spent 3 days there, before her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio ordered her to be released. The year before she died, she wrote a 6 page letter to Dr Greenson about her time in Payne-Whitney, in the letter it shows a different side to Marilyn as she explains how she lashed out at the staff.

Her close friend and make up artist Allan "Whitey" Snyder, stated that at times it was hard for Marilyn to get up due to her depressive state. He would on some occasions have to apply her make-up while she was lying down. Ten days before her death she was taken on a trip, by some friends to Frank Sinatra's Cal-Neva Lodge. The plan was to cheer her up and to feel better, but it had the opposite effect. Even Frank Sinatra was shocked to see how depressed Marilyn was.

At 3.30 am on the 5th August 1962, her housekeeper Eunice Murry became concerned when she saw that Marilyn's bedroom light was on, yet her door was locked. Eunice called Dr Greenson who arrived and broke Marilyn's bedroom window. He found her unconscious and naked in bed. Her physician Hyman Engelberg was then called who would pronounced her dead at 5.30 am. Marilyn was just 36 years old and her death was ruled as suicide.

Even after her death there have been many conspiracy theories about her death, some believe that it was accidental or that it was the work of the Kennedy family trying to silence her. At about 7 pm the night before her death she had phone call from Joe DiMaggio's son, he claimed that she sounded fine while on the phone. An hour or so later she had a call from Peter Lawford who claimed that she didn't sound like herself as though she was under the influence of drugs. An autopsy and toxicology report state that she died from an barbiturate overdose. Marilyn's body was released to Joe DiMaggio who put together her funeral. She was laid to rest at Westwood Village Memorial Park and is probably one of the most visited grave in America. 

When I think of Marilyn's death I'm unsure on what to believe. Yes she had her monsters which like many of us struggle to deal with. So in a way I do believe she took the pills, but I don't believe she took them with the intention to kill herself. From gathering all the information I think that she had some kind of personality disorder as she seemed to have two sides, the one for the cameras and then her private one and that she also suffered from depression, which ran in her family. Everyone knows that during her lifetime especially when she was famous she was kept drugged up and always in what seemed to be a sleepy state. This would have either been due to the pills she was taking to deal with her mental health or was done by the people around her so that they were in control and not her, but sadly we will never know.

If you or you know anybody that needs help, you are not alone. Below are some useful sites and numbers if they are needed. Remember, you are not alone!!
  • www.youngminds.org.uk
  • Parents helpline: 0808 802 5544 (Mon-Fri from 9.30am to 4pm, excluding bank holidays)
  • YoungMinds Crisis Messenger: text YM to 85258 (available 24/7)

 

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