The Truth About Marilyn Monroe's Death

Marilyn Monroe was an invention. She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles on June 1, 1926, per Biography. She never knew her father, so she went by Norma Jeane Baker, taking her mother's last name. Gladys Baker suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was incapable of caring for her daughter.

Monroe was raised in and out of foster homes, where she suffered violence and sexual abuse. To escape, she got married at 16 to a man named Jimmy Dougherty. While he served as a merchant marine in the South Pacific during World War II, Monroe did her part for the war effort by working at a munitions factory in Van Nuys.

In June 1945, she caught the eye of David Conover, an army photographer who had been sent by Army's First Motion Picture Unit to take pictures of the factory girls. With her curvy figure and pretty face, Conover recognized her potential. In January 1945, Monroe quit her factory job and began modeling as a pin-up girl for Conover. That August, she signed a contract with Blue Book Model Agency. By the time Doughtery returned in 1946, she had appeared on 33 magazine covers, per Vintage News. He disapproved of her career, and they divorced that September. But by then, she had set her sights to grander things. She signed her first acting contract, dyed her hair, changed her name, and moved to Hollywood.

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