xoxoxoe’s #CBR4 Review #28: Marilyn’s Men: The Private Life of Marilyn Monroe, by Jane Ellen Wayne
Marilyn’s Men: The Private Life of Marilyn Monroe
Wayne relies on quotes from Robert Slatzer, who gained fame with his claims of a supposed 1952 secret marriage to Marilyn that supposedly took place in Mexico, at the height of her romance with Yankee slugger Joe DiMaggio. The marriage was supposedly annulled three days later at the insistence of Darryl F. Zanuck. That’s a lot of supposedlys. Slatzer’s credibility is not helped by other quotes by him that Wayne includes as facts, including basic facts of Marilyn’s early life, which he seems to get very wrong. Readers can draw their own conclusions about whether to believe any of Slatzer’s other claims about Marilyn, including his belief that she was murdered.
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| Marilyn entertaining the troops in Korea in 1954 |
Wayne also recycles unproved stories written by others, repeating a story from author Sandra Sherry, that Marilyn was pregnant during The making of The Seven Year Itchand had an abortion. There are many contradictory and conflicting “facts” in Marilyn’s Men. Wayne claims that Marilyn’s agent Johnny Hyde told her not to have children, so she had her tubes tied, which was reversed later. But she also recounts multiple concurrent abortions, which is in direct contradiction to a tubal ligation. And what about her attempts to get pregnant with husband Arthur Miller? None of the stories add up.
The bottom line is that this isn’t even a book for the casual fan of the star. Marilyn certainly deserves better.
You can read more of my pop culture reviews on my blog, xoxoxo e
Related articles
- xoxoxoe’s #CBR4 Review #26: Marilyn, by Gloria Steinem (cannonballread4.wordpress.com)
- xoxoxoe’s #CBR4 Review #25: MM-Personal: From the Private Archive of Marilyn Monroe, by Lois Banner (cannonballread4.wordpress.com)
Cannonball Read IV 
It is true that Marilyn Monroe is the most famous female in the world. It is also true that Marilyn is recognised in every corner of the globe. On a recent trip to China, and wearing my Marilyn shirt, the number of Chinese people who approached me and said “Marilyn” in a loving manner was surprising. Surely it is time that people who write books that are not be factual concerning famous people should be called to account.
In other words, and to be brutally frank, surely it time for these blood sucking bludgers who disparage people who cannot defend themselves, to be dragged through the Courts and to be exposed for the low scumbags they are.
This author may specialize in celebrity sex lives/sensationalism. When I looked up her other books she also wrote Cooper’s Women, Crawford’s men, Ava’s Men, Gable’s Women, etc., etc. I will not be reading any of her other books.