My Story
My Story is a first person account from Marilyn Monroe herself. The autobiography is not complete, however, as it only goes to about 1954 briefly after marrying Joe DiMaggio. Within its pages Marilyn comes through pretty clearly as a woman struggling to escape her past despite her role in the public eye. She seems to refer to her younger self, Norma Jean, as another individual within her who is often unhappy. The child within Marilyn Monroe was clearly in a bad place and inching closer and closer to going down the road of her mother, her mother's father and her great-grandmother (all ended up in a mental hospital). In many ways Marilyn seemed unable to escape her past because all the anguish from it was still present. I found it rather indicative of Marilyn's mental health and her ultimate sadness (and fate) that she stated the following in the book:"Yes, there was something special about me, and I knew what it was. I was the kind of girl they found dead in a hall bedroom with an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her hand."
In some ways Marilyn's story is a Cinderella story, she went from rags (literally, and foster homes and abuse) to riches but she was never able to gain true happiness. Ultimately Marilyn's story is sad and you cannot help but wish things had been different for her.