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Marilyn Monroe: The life of a sorrow-studded actress

Vyoma Vijai
Blog Post 2


Marilyn Monroe – known for her alluring charm in terms of her looks, was famously the most prominent sex symbol Hollywood has ever created. Her story is one to tell especially because of the mental illnesses she struggled with throughout her lifetime. A successful actress on the screen and a struggling woman behind the scenes is primarily what her story is about. She was known for her relationships with multiple men but very little was spoken of her childhood struggles particularly her relationship with her mother. This paper focuses on Monroe’s relationship with her mother and the men in her life that provide a mix of influences of both genetic and situational factors.

Starting very early, Marilyn Monroe’s great- grandfather, Tilford Marion Hogan suffered from mental illness and he committed suicide by hanging himself. Monroe’s grandmother Della Monroe suffered from postpartum depression and was institutionalized. She died at the age of 51. Aside from these two people mentioned above the biggest impact on Monroe’s mental health was possibly due to her mother Gladys Baker. Gladys suffered from schizophrenia and was institutionalized for a decade until the year 1945. Having suffered from schizophrenia Gladys was not around much and Monroe was forced to live in multiple foster homes. The absence of a mother in early childhood is likely to have affected Monroe’s emotional development and attachment patterns at an early stage. The probability of transmission of depressive genes from the maternal side of her family is extremely high and that coupled with situational factors in Monroe’s childhood could likely be one of the reasons for Monroe’s depressive tendencies in the future.

Marilyn had a hard time in school and it was difficult for her to form any connections with the children her age. She was really close to her dog Tippy who died after being hit by a car. This was possibly a huge emotional blow to Monroe’s mental health. In the later years Monroe pursued a career in the spotlight and the stress and exhaustion that comes with a career like this possibly acted as a catalyst in her developing mental illness. Her relationship with multiple men and many failed marriages is a reflection of developing an insecure attachment style because of her absent mother. This often led to Monroe having insecurities about her. Due to these insecurities there developed a feeling of mistrust between her and her partners, which led to multiple unsuccessful relationships. After the death of her boyfriend Johnny Hyde, Monroe fell into deep depression and according to her acting coach, Monroe even overdosed on sleeping pills. Monroe’s third failed marriage to Arthur Miller left her devastated and resulted in further decline in her mental health. Her psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenson prescribed her three times the regular dosage of sleeping pills to treat her insomnia.

In 1961, Monroe was admitted to Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in New York. She wrote a six-page letter to her psychiatrist, Dr.Greenson, about her time at the clinic. She spoke of her sleepless nights and the manner in which she spoke in the letter made her sound very helpless and dejected. She sounded extremely lonely in her letters and a sense of restlessness was there in her voice. On Auguest 5, 1962 Marylin Monroe died at the age of 36. Her death was ruled as a probable suicide but the actual reason for her death is not known.

Monroe’s case study is quite interesting as her life shows strong proponents of both biological and situational factors. Selecting one factor is impossible as it is most likely that both nature and nurture had a role to play in Monroe developing mental health issues. A lot of Marylin’s mental health problems pointed towards schizophrenia especially when she complained to her acting coach, Natasha Lytess, about hearing voices. Although, there is no way to fully ascertain this, but with Monroe’s mothers’ medical history of having schizophrenia it cannot be completely ruled out that Monroe could have suffered from an early stage of schizophrenia as well.



References



https://halfway2hannah.com/2018/07/19/marilyn-monroe-what-you-didnt-know-about-her-journey-with-mental-illness/

https://www.simplypsychology.org/mary-ainsworth.html

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/04/19/the-sad-letter-that-marylin-monroe-sent-to-her-psychiatrist/

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