The True Light of Marilyn When we here the name Marilyn Monroe many thoughts come to mind. Was she that big time Hollywood star that overdosed on drugs? Was she Hollywood’s angel with hidden secrets? Internally she was stuck in darkness and externally it seemed as if she was always in the light. All of these thoughts circulate in our heads about who Marilyn Monroe really was when in reality, she was just a person who wanted to be loved and feel wanted. Marilyn Monroe was born as Norma Jean on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. Her issues started as a child. Her mother was a single parent and was not around due to work and later being placed in a rest home due to her mental illness of schizophrenia. Consequently, Norma was moved around between family members and eventually ended up in several orphanages. By the age of 15, one of Norma Jean’s family members thought it would be good for her to marry their next door neighbor so she could have some stability in her life. The union between them only lasted several weeks because shortly after the marriage he went to the merchant marines and was shipped away. Feeling alone and needing extra money, Norma Jean began to work at a factory where she was discovered and got her first break as a model. She was featured in over 33 magazine covers and later began getting in to film. As her imaged changed so did her name. Formally known as Norma Jean she was now Marilyn Monroe. She had platinum blonde hair and a figure every girl dreamed of having. Being that, Marilyn wanted to be more than just a pretty face so she pursued acting. The start of her acting career was shot down quickly because no one took her seriously as an actress. They described her as a “dumb blonde” and no sense of acting talent. Despite all of the negative comments thrown her way she managed to get an acting coach and later became a great actress. Many of the people she worked with or was close to would describe her personality to be very innocent and sweet yet flirtatious and daring. Any role that she played she would immediately catch the attention of any viewer not only because of her good looks but because of the presence she would bring into any room. During her journey as an actor she gained many fans but also gained enemies as well. The friends she did have either became an enemy or in some cases died. At this time even though she her fans loved her and showed her love and attention, she felt as if she was treated like a “thing’ versus an actual human being. Marilyn Monroe expressed that she has felt alone since she was a child and had no sense of belonging. Therefore, she has been in many marriages and estranges relationships to feel as if she belonged and actually had a family. In those relationships and marriages they did not last very long due to the fact she or her significant other was gone all the time and she would get bored with the relationship so she would file for divorce. In all of her failed attempts of marriage it made her feel alone and less of a woman because none of her relationships worked out. Marilyn Monroe was in the middle of a movie around the time of her death. Her death was ruled as a suicide due to an overdose on pain medication. Her true close friend s believed that she had too much on her mind and that being alone didn’t help the situation. Before her death, Marilyn Monroe states that she just wanted to be “wonderful”. She strived for perfection and everything that she did. Even though, life itself may have knocked her down more than once she always found a way to keep pressing forward. Her legacy still lives on today. She made a path way for so many other well-known actresses we know today. Her untimely death was a shock to the world but, people closest to her wanted to make sure her name was upheld instead of being tarnished. Hollywood’s special starlet will always be remembered as a sweet yet vivacious woman with a passion for acting and being the best that she could be at whatever it was that she was doing. I believe that Marilyn Monroe did indeed have a psychological disorder. This disorder was child negligence that carried on through her adult life. When Monroe was born she only had her mother and didn’t know her father. Even then, her mother left her to be passed around through family members ultimately living in a various number of orphanages. She describes her childhood as “living in grime” (Bell 2). Being that Monroe had a tough childhood and grew up on her own, the way that she dealt with her issues was by having someone around her all of the time no matter who it was. Every time she found friends they became her enemies because they never were her true friend. Therefore, she settled in relationships that always ended badly which added to her depression of being alone because she always felt that she had no one. It also came from her parents as well. She felt as they did not want her since they left her to be on her own. She could never understand as to why she never knew her father or better yet why he didn’t want to know her rather. All of these things became an issue for her when she got older. A lot of times she fell into the comfort of an older man, almost like a father figure to feel the void of her father not being there for her. Even in her behavior patterns it shows that she had some type of psychological disorder which in this case was child negligence. When she did her first shoot as a model they described Monroe as being alive in front of the camera but, after the cameras went off she went back in this sort of shell she hid under. She acted very self-conscious and to herself in a way. As Monroe got older, she became more open and more expressive about herself and feelings toward different subject matters. Even though she was more expressive she still had that feeling about herself and it seemed as if she still had a shell she would hide behind in different encounters she had in life. Another behavior pattern I saw in Monroe was an encounter she had with her manager’s daughter. In the documentary the manager’s daughter talks about how she saw Monroe standing nude gazing out of the window. She secretly stared at her wishing she could look and be just like Marilyn. Monroe caught her looking and that’s when the managers daughter confessed to Marilyn her thoughts. She looked at her with a frown and said “Oh no, you don’t want to be like me dear” (documentary). She said it in a way almost as if being like her was the worst thing in the world. Monroe felt that people should not want to be like her because of the things she was going through that not many people knew about. At one point in time in her career she did not see what everybody else saw. She didn’t think she was pretty enough and thought of herself to be unworthy of many things. She did a very good job at covering up her emotions because knew that she had been through those type of things as a child and what she suffered from in her adult life. Anytime she was in the lime light, she had a smile on her face and always had a witty comment if asked anything that was out of her comfort zone. As any other person would react who has experienced child negligence, everything will seem ok on the outside but on the inside they had the tendency to feel empty and alone which can ultimately lead to depression in their adult stages in life. This then on can lead to suicidal thoughts and so forth. I believe that this is what happened to Monroe and on top of that the fame could have gotten to her as well. As they say fame comes with a cost and unfortunately that cost ultimately took her life. Being famous and dealing with these type of issues are very hard to balance and cope with especially back in Monroe’s time. The things that are available to us today were not available back in her time period. There are so many ways to deal with depression and/or child negligence today than it was back then. Monroe had issues that no one could fix but the people who caused them which would have been her parents. Child negligence is a serious because disorder that not many people pay attention to but should. More people should take a look into this disorder because it can overflow into that child’s adult like that can cause a variation of things to happen. For example the child could end up like Monroe and ending their life suddenly or they can take it out on other people and take innocent lives because of their parents absents in their childhood life. This disorder occurring early on in life like it does can be a real tragedy in the future. This disorder is very preventive if parents either take care of their child like they are supposed to or find that child a good home where they know that child will be well taken care of and not have to worry about things like this. If someone is around to be a parent like figure to that child event though they are not the biological parent this disorder will most likely not occur because they have someone there to fill that void. Unfortunately, Monroe was a victim of this disorder but this should show that there are preventive measures you can take to keep this from happening.

Work Cited Bell, Rachael. The Death of Marilyn Monroe (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. <www,crimelibrary.com>. Marilyn Monroe-Beyond the Legend biography (film) < www.youtube.com>