I stumbled upon this book which is described as an autobiography but seems more like Marilyn Monroes thoughts. Starting in 1954, Marilyn met up with Ben Hecht and discussed some facts about her life from her times in the orphanage to becoming a major star.
Marilyn died in 1962 so the book ended rather abruptly but was released in 1974 with Hecht ghostwriting.
A lot of discussion about the book was whether or not things were added in after Marilyn's death/after she had approved the final transcript. Most seem to add up to the original transcript but there was one line where marilyn supposedly said she'd end up dead with pills in her hand... this line was clearly added in and not said by monroe.
Overall, i thought the book was good even though it was unfinished. Marilyn grew up in orphanages, had a mentally unstable mother and absent father, was molested in the orphanage, married young to get out of the orphanage, divorced and moved to Hollywood and eventually became a big star. The book stops at her marriage to Joe DiMaggio and their trip to Korea.
I felt like Marilyn was a naive person but really kind. A lot of people had negative things to say about her but she never really said unkind things about anyone. People always thought she was dumb, but really she just wasn't educated that well in schools. She was always willing to learn. It's so sad how many people took advantage of her.
You can really hear her voice in the book, sometimes it comes off almost childlike other times almost a hint of paranoia..a inheriting from her mother perhaps.
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