‘Marilyn’s Final Secret’ Goes From Screen to Print

In 2022, after almost a century of speculation, the identity of Marilyn’s biological father was confirmed in the documentary, Marilyn: Her Final Secret. Now, French filmmaker François Pomés has published a book, Marilyn Monroe: Her Final Secret, detailing his long quest to find a DNA match, and how he tracked down Marilyn’s surviving relatives. (This beautiful cover photo was captured by Sam Shaw in the summer of 1957.)

“If there is still a mystery in the mediatised fate of Marilyn Monroe, it is the name of her father. All her life, she never stopped looking for the one she missed so much. Through her romantic relationships, in her movie roles, this absence of a father figure would mark her life. Sixty years later, François Pomès set himself the goal of identifying Marilyn’s father. For three years, he conducted an incredible investigation, meeting many witnesses who allowed him to paint an intimate, unprecedented portrait of the star. But his stroke of genius was to utilise advances in genetics and DNA analysis to discover the identity of Marilyn’s biological father. During his investigations, the author miraculously found the collector of the star’s only lock of hair who could reveal the name of Marilyn’s descendants and that of her father. The results will lift the veil on the last secret surrounding one of the greatest icons of the 20th century, posthumously reuniting her with the father she searched for all her life.”