Why did Marilyn divorce DiMaggio?
The uncontrollable jealousy of Joe DiMaggio or the shadow that did not abandon Marilyn or her grave
The Hollywood icon and the baseball player were married in January 1954. However, their love faded after 274 days because he couldn't stand living next to a s*x symbol.
This week (last January 14) was the 66th anniversary of the wedding of one of the most admired couples of that decade. That day Marilyn Monroe and baseball player Joe DiMaggio were married in a secret civil ceremony in San Francisco that, in the end, was not so secret because the fans of both and the press flocked to receive them after giving the "yes, I do". ”.
He was 39 years old; She was a few less, 27, although the registry contained two figures less. After thirteen seasons as the emblem of the New York Yankees, as well as the highest paid athlete of those times with earnings of $100,000 a year, DiMaggio had retired from competition a few months before the wedding and only worked as a coach and commentator. .
He was a national hero, and Marilyn, who was already beginning to shine with her own light at 20th Century Fox, knew it. Legend has it that they met in June 1952 at the Villa Nova restaurant in Los Angeles thanks to a blind date organized by businessman David March. Apparently, as soon as they saw each other, the sparks flew.
DiMaggio was extremely shy, a conservative-minded celebrity who was really looking for a woman who would pamper and cater to him the old-fashioned way. It is true that his life was very homely and they were not usually seen at photocalls or at other stars' parties. However, Marilyn, who in 1953 had already dazzled the American public with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, had no intention of moving away from any professional spotlight. On their honeymoon in Tokyo things started to go wrong.
As soon as she arrived at the airport in the Japanese capital, the media gathered there exclusively had eyes for the actress. Despite the popularity that she enjoyed in the United States, DiMaggio as soon as he got off the stairs of the plane realized that her presence was practically invisible. Half the world had fallen in love with Marilyn's beauty and he selfishly didn't want to share her with anyone.
While the player took advantage of those days to do business (we must not forget that the Japanese have a soft spot for baseball), she did not hesitate for a moment to travel to Korea to cheer on the American troops. In all, she performed 12 times to an audience of 60,000 burly soldiers. The images of that moment immediately went viral on televisions around the planet. DiMaggio didn't even want to see them. Jealousy took hold of him. Paradoxically, he did not get along well having the greatest sex symbols of the time by his side.
When they returned to the United States things were not much better. A shoot awaited Marilyn that would mark a before and after in her career under the orders of Billy Wilder: La Tentación Vive Arriba. On September 15, 1954, dressed in a suggestive white model by William Travilla, she appeared at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 52nd Street in New York. It was one o'clock in the morning and the film crew, believing that they could go unnoticed, decided to record at that time the iconic scene in which Marilyn's dress repeatedly rises thanks to a subway vent.
The filming lasted three hours and up to 14 shots were needed because hundreds of journalists and onlookers had gathered around. In fact, such was the noise that days later Wilder had no choice but to re-record the scene on a set in Los Angeles. DiMaggio was present at all times.
And, as expected, he was not amused that his wife showed more meat than necessary in the name of the seventh art. They argued heatedly and, just 42 days later, Marilyn would end up asking for a divorce, alleging "psychological violence" and "a career conflict". Her marriage fell apart within nine months. To be more precise, at 274 days.
In 2014 Joe and Marilyn arrived at bookstores, a title in which C. David Heymann confessed that the athlete lost his nerve when he referred to the film industry. "Don't you realize they're using you? You are nothing more than a piece of meat for them”, exemplifies the book about the animosity that DiMaggio felt towards Hollywood. He also did not forgive his friend Frank Sinatra who a short time later put his beloved in contact with the Kennedys, but that's another story. Even being divorced, in June 1955 the ex-partner went together to the premiere of La Tentación Vive Arriba. It is known that they tried to return on more than one occasion, but at that time the blonde only had eyes for Arthur Miller, whom she would marry the following year.
On January 20, 1961, curiously the same day that John F. Kennedy took office from him as president, Marilyn divorced the playwright and lost control. A few days later she was admitted to the Payne Whitney psychiatric clinic because of a nervous breakdown and, to the surprise of many, DiMaggio was back in action: not only had her transferred to a regular hospital, but also took her into his home in Miami. Her relationship was most cordial until August 5, 1962, at the age of 36, the lifeless body of the actress was found at her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles.
The former baseball player paid her funeral costs and prevented any celluloid star from attending; he only wanted her family and the people closest to her to be there to avoid an unnecessary media circus. In 1982, as reported by El País, he ordered the Parisian Florist to stop sending three bouquets a week to Marilyn's grave, as they had religiously done for two decades. She died on March 8, 1999. She did not remarry. Knowing the lights and shadows of her relationship, the last words she spoke could not be more explicit: "I'm finally going to see Marilyn."
