Influencers may be a fairly recent phenomenon, but in the latest issue of Numéro Spécial we look back at ten historic figures whose impact preceded the age of social media. Marilyn is pictured on the cover in her famous gold lamé dress alongside two eminent Frenchmen, Yves Saint Laurent and Serge Gainsbourg. Inside, there’s a ten-page essay by Lucie Benhamou, referencing books by James Spada, Olivier Dazat, Marilyn’s own memoir, My Story, and Fragments.
“Almost half a century since she left us and she still fascinates: no star has had such a strong influence on the public as this actress. Adored by men and despised by the women of the time, Marilyn Monroe leaves behind her 36 years of black and white movies, burning beauty and heartbreaking anguish. With the abundance of photos and writings that remain of this eternal myth, we still wonder about the circumstances of her death, as if she could never be completely gone … And today everyone is trying to find meaning in the actress’s life: was she the romantic fantasy or the abandoned orphan? Who killed her? Marilyn took all the answers to these questions with her, to leave us only the best of her being, her grace and her purity.”
For the most part, Benhamou’s ‘Blonde Story’ is a decent read, but like so many accounts of Marilyn’s life, it falters at the end due to unproven speculation. An outrageous claim that John Huston called her ‘a whore’ on the set of The Misfits lacks corroboration, while the provenance of a gold Rolex watch she allegedly gave to John F. Kennedy is also dubious.
Finally, Marilyn’s legs were not heavily bruised when she died in 1962 – and while she ate very little on that fateful day, drug residue was indeed found in her stomach during the autopsy.
The Marilyn Report 