Was Marilyn Monroe Adopted? Was Marilyn Monroe an Orphan? – The events in Marilyn Monroe’s life are recounted in “Blonde,” a Netflix original film that heavily relies on fiction. It starts with her early years, bringing to light her difficult upbringing and providing background information for the issues that Monroe struggles with all throughout her life. She tries to fill the gap left by her father’s absence and her mother’s troubled connection with them with other relationships, particularly with the men in her life.
It appears that Monroe would have had a different outcome if he had grown up in a loving and supportive home. Here is some information on Monroe in case you were wondering how she spent her childhood or if she was an orphan.
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Was Marilyn Monroe an Orphan?
Gladys Pearl Baker and Charles Stanley Gifford welcomed Marilyn Monroe into the world on June 1st, 1926. According to rumours, her father was never involved because, at the time, he had an affair with Gladys; he was already married. Although her mother was absolutely unprepared to raise Monroe psychologically and financially, she never asked Gifford for assistance. Gladys gave birth to her daughter and gave her to Albert and Ida Bolender, who raised her in foster care. The young Norma Jeane resided here for seven years, receiving weekend visits from her mother.
Gladys didn’t want to give up her even though her foster parents had once said they wanted to adopt her. Gladys moved to Hollywood in 1933 and brought Marilyn with her. Gladys shared a home with George and Maude Atkinson. Gladys had a mental breakdown in 1934, which led to her being committed to a hospital; she spent the rest of her life there. Monroe then became a state-appointed ward. Marilyn Monroe once said she was an orphan and had never met her parents when questioned about them.
Monroe stated in a piece for Modern Screen magazine: “Before I was born, my father was killed in an automobile accident during a business trip to New York City. A short time later, my mother became critically ill, and while I was still too young to know- much about what was happening, I became an orphan.“
At the time, her mother was still alive and residing in Norwalk, California. When a Hearst gossip columnist found her, her name was revealed. Monroe tried to contact her father, but Gifford remained distant from her. Gifford’s paternity as Monroe’s biological father wasn’t made public until a DNA test in 2022.
Was Marilyn Monroe Adopted?
Marilyn Monroe was left in the Atkinsons’ care after her mother left the picture and resided with them for almost a year. She spent a short period with Gladys’s best friend Grace Goddard in 1935. But soon after, Grace packed her things and went to spend the following year at the Los Angeles Orphans Home, leaving the child behind. Monroe returned to live with the Goddards in 1937, and Grace was appointed as her legal guardian. A few months later, Monroe was relocated from her current residence and put up with Grace’s or her mother’s family again.
By 1938, Monroe had moved in with Grace’s aunt Ana Lower. Here, things briefly became stable. Monroe, however, found herself back with the Goddards when Lower developed health issues and became unable to care for the small girl. Doc Goddard, Grace’s husband, found work in West Virginia about a year later, in 1942. Monroe had only turned 16 at the time, and by state law, she could not be removed from the country.
She would need to be returned to an orphanage since the Goddards were no longer there. Monroe and Grace, however, were not interested in that. So, when Monroe was 16, she married James Dougherty, the neighbour’s son, who was 21 at the time. The Netflix documentary “The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes” revealed that Monroe, who frequently moved in and out of foster homes and orphanages, said: “I’m not calling myself an orphan. I was raised in poverty. Yes, I’ve never been accustomed to happiness.
Monroe championed the cause for kids living in similar circumstances because she understands how it feels to be unable to grow up in a proper household. Monroe joined the World Adoption International Fund (often known as WAIF) shortly after it was established in 1955 by actress Jane Russell. Working with WAIF “marked the beginning of Marilyn’s active interest in children’s causes, one she would retain until she died,” according to Anthony Summers’ “Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe.”