For decades, we’ve been presented with an image of Marilyn Monroe which reads seamlessly: A wildly successful performer, a sex symbol, a trailer blazer.
But there was a lot more to Norma Jean Baker than that—and Netflix’s new drama film, Blonde shares another version of her supposed true story, albeit in a confronting two and a half hour package with Ana de Armas in the lead role.
It pays to note that the film was actually adapted from Joyce Carol Oates’ book of the same name, and the author was clear that the novel was not a biography, rather, it is a “distillation” of the star’s life, and a work of fiction.
Upon its release, some viewers called out some of the scenes in Blonde as confrontingly inaccurate and unnecessary, particularly those involving abuse and sexual assault. So, if you’re wondering what’s fact and what’s fiction in Blonde, scroll on for answers to all of your questions.
Did Marilyn Monroe really have an affair with JFK?
The film depicts Monroe and JFK embarking on an affair with one scene involving the former US President smuggling the actor into his room for a late night booty call. In the scene, JFK is near-emotionless as he sleeps with her before having her ushered away by his agents—barely an acknowledgement in sight.
But did JFK and Monroe actually have an affair, or sleep together at all in real life? The truth behind this one is unclear. After Monroe’s stirring ‘Happy Birthday Mr. President’ performance in 1962, many speculated that something was going on between the pair.
A former US Secret Service agent, Jerry Blaine previously told PEOPLE that on the several occasions he saw Kennedy and Monroe together, there was no evidence of an affair. But he added: “I don’t know what happened behind closed doors.”
Another insider named Tony Oppedisano, who was Frank Sinatra’s road manager and was close with JFK and Monroe, previously claimed it was “obviously a sexual thing, and I would expect that there were feelings on her side”.
“She respected him; she admired him. She loved what he was doing with the country … but she wasn’t about to break up [JFK’s] marriage, so she wouldn’t let it go that far, even if she felt that deeply.”
To add, Netflix doco The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, reveals that Monroe and Kennedy’s relationship went as far back as 1954 when the soon-to-be President was a junior senator. It was said that the pair would meet for drinks at a dive bar whenever the politician was in California.
Was Marilyn Monroe part of a three-way relationship?
In Blonde, Monroe connects with two fellow acting students Charlie “Cass” Chaplin Jr. and Edward G. Robinson Jr. As the sons of two iconic actors, both are struggling to deal with the pressures of living up to their father’s fame, which brings Monroe closer to them. She feels more like herself around them than anyone else, and the trio begin a three-way relationship together. When it eventually comes to an end, they still remain good friends.
So were they actually a throuple in real life? It appears this narrative is false. A romantic relationship between Chaplin and Robinson has never been acknowledged, and it is widely understood that both men were heterosexual. That said, Chaplin did claim he had a relationship with Monroe, writing in his 1960 memoir: “One of the young girls I had a relationship with at this time… an attractive, petite, unknown movie actress named Norma Jean Dougherty who was under contract at Twentieth Century-Fox.”
He added: “From a professional point of view it was absolutely necessary for her to be seen together with all kinds of movie stars to get the papers interested in giving her a mention. The result was an estrangement between us, and I have not seen her for several years.”
Did Marilyn Monroe have an abortion?
After breaking up with Chaplin and Robinson, Blonde depicts Monroe discovering she is pregnant and deciding to have an abortion.
The throuple romance seems likely to be fiction, which suggests this particular abortion is fictional as well. That said, a friend of Monroe’s named Amy Greene once claimed the actor had undergone up to 12 abortions, which led to long-term reproductive damage.
Blonde also depicts Monroe having a miscarriage while she was with her husband, Arthur Miller after falling down a staircase. This is in part true—it’s understood Monroe miscarried in 1956, and she also had an ectopic pregnancy in 1957.
What was Joe DiMaggio & Marilyn Monroe’s relationship really like?
The film depicts Monroe and DiMaggio’s relationship becoming increasingly toxic and abusive as Monroe’s fame continues to rise and his jealousy grows. In several instances, DiMaggio loses his temper and hits the movie star.
According to an account from DiMaggio’s son, Joe DiMaggio Jr., this element of Blonde is allegedly somewhat true. He wrote that he once woke up to “the sound of my father and Marilyn screaming.”
“After a few minutes, I heard Marilyn race down the stairs and out the front door, and my father running after her. He caught up to her and grabbed her by the hair and sort of half-dragged her back to the house. She was trying to fight him off but couldn’t.”
