Marilyn Monroe: Were They Gay?

mentalfloss.com

Probably not the Icon you were thinking of when we think "gay", but there were some rumours. Marilyn Monroe is a very interesting topic when it comes to her being queer because it really is impossible to say. She hinted in interviews that Hollywood tried their best to bury, she was said to have been very acceoting of a lesbian in her fan club, and even had stories rumoured about her relationship with acting coach Natasha Lytess.

To explain who Marilyn Monrow is to explain a time of 50s rebellion. The 50s ideal was a meek virginal housewife, whcih is why Hollywood loved their sexual, free and independent icons, such as Marilyn Monroe. She had a hard life, having never known her father, she was born in 1926 and at eight she was jumping from one foster family to another. Her mother, who was a paranoid schizophrenic, was institutionalised when Marilyn was barely eight-years old. Her childhood was full of sexual abuse from foster dads, and was even thought to be physically abused later by her ex-husband Joe Dimagio. On top of it all, Marilyn led a life of fame, but not in the way she'd hoped. She wanted to be a serious actress, taking on dramatic roles, but this never happened when the world saw her as a dumb blonde. Marilyn died in 1962 due to an overdose. Many believed it to be accidental, others suicidal, some think of it as a murder case.

people.com

But was this certain sex icon queer? Many believed her to be bisexual. Monroe had stated in the past that "A man who had kissed me once said it was very possible I was a lesbian because I apparently had no response to males - meaning him. I didn't contradict him because I didn't know what I was."

Marilyn's reputation, and even her job, was to appeal to heterosexual men, so it makes sense she would have had to hid it. According to Jackie Cooper, a former child star, theorised that "Marilyn Monroe wanted to avoid a Sapphic reputation that would harm her public image and limit her roles. The repertoire afforded her was already pretty limited."

In the 50s and 60s, it wasn't exactly an accepting place. Her reputation and box office would have plummetted if admitting any bisexual tendencies.

patch.com

It could be that Marilyn had just had some sort of a fling in the 50s, but it was rumoured she was very close with her acting coach Natasha Lytess. Lytess was thought to be a lesbian or, at least, bisexual, who Marilyn had allegedly had a small affair with in the 50s. However it could have been bigger than that, as it was reported, by Charles Nelson Reilly (gay actor and coach), that "one of the bigger Hollywood mysteries was why Marilyn and Natasha split up. Almost inseparable one day, then… phfft! It couldn't have been Fox [MM's studio], because they'd already tried breaking them up, and Marilyn had stood firm." Why would they have been forced to split? Or even just split so dramatically in the end after knowing each other intensely for years. It doesn't make sense to see it through a heterosexual lense.

But maybe Marilyn's sexuality was as elusive as her death? We'll never know if she was queer, if she was bisexual or not. And, to me, that just adds to the tragedy that so much truth is buried with her.

I can leave you with a last piece of evidence, though, that can be quite convincing. Dr. Louis Banner, who had a Ph.D and was an MM researcher and biographer, stated:

“I discovered Dr. Anna Freud’s findings when she analyzed Marilyn during a week in London in 1956. According to Anna [daughter of Sigmund Freud], Marilyn was bisexual.”

biography.com

Read more on Monroe:
http://gaycultureland.blogspot.com/2018/04/gay-icons-divas-marilyn-monroe.html
https://glreview.org/friends-and-fans-on-marilyn-monroes-sexuality/