A little more than six decades ago, almost double than the years she was alive, Marilyn Monroe whispered some of her last words to her friend, the former Rat Pack member, Peter Lawford.
The day the starlet died, Lawford claimed she hinted the two would never speak again, and said he blamed himself for not following his “gut feeling” to her home, possibly saving the world from her tragic loss.
Keep reading to learn what Monroe reportedly said to Lawford.
Ripples of shockwaves shook the world on August 5, 1962, when Marilyn Monroe, the screen legend from the Golden Age of Hollywood, was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood, California apartment.
The 36-year-old woman, born Norma Jeane Mortenson, was allegedly found by her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson, who was summoned to the home by Monroe’s housekeeper.
The year before, the blonde bombshell had spent time in a psychiatric clinic and was under the watchful eyes of Dr. Greenson.
Struggling with attention and feeling unworthy, along with suffering in her alleged affairs with the Kennedy brothers, Monroe reportedly leaned on substances to help her cope.
Jack and Bobby
Months before her death, she famously crooned a sultry ‘Happy Birthday’ to John F. Kennedy (“Jack” or JFK), whom she was reportedly entangled in an affair.
JFK’s brother-in-law was actor Peter Lawford – the star of the 1960’s film Oceans 11 – who introduced Monroe to the two Kennedy brothers.
Her psychiatrist’s son, Daniel Greenson, who was close to Monroe, spent time with her the summer before she died when his father was out of the country. In a 1991 interview with Vanity Fair, Greenson suggests that JFK’s “cavalier treatment” of her made her clingy. “This woman was desperate. She couldn’t sleep, and she said how worthless she felt,” Greenson said of the Some Like it Hot star. “She talked about being a waif, that she was ugly, that people were only nice to her for what they could get from her. She said life wasn’t worth living anymore.”
According to reports, after her affair with JFK came to an abrupt end, she was then passed on to his brother Robert (Bobby), who also had his fun before cutting the starlet loose.
August 4, 1962
The afternoon before her death, sources claim that Lawford and Bobby were at Monroe’s home, which ended in a scuffle.
Contradicting some reports that suggest she died during that visit, Monroe, allegedly feeling overwhelmed by her confrontation with Bobby and Lawford, called Dr. Greenson immediately after.
The doctor made a weekend house call, which wasn’t that unusual according to son Daniel, and spent two and a half hours with her.
Later that day, Lawford had planned a dinner party, which Monroe was expected to attend. Despite the earlier scene at her home, Vanity Fair reports that Lawford still hoped the star of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes would make an appearance.
About 7:30, when she hadn’t showed up for dinner, Lawford said he called Monroe, whose speech was “slurred.”
Lawford didn’t tell his dinner guests at the time, but he later admitted he was disturbed by his conversation with the heartbroken blonde bombshell.
“I could hear the depression moving in on her,” Lawford later said. “Her voice sounded slurred. She seemed to be slipping away. She didn’t understand everything I said.”
Reporting to the L.A. Police Department investigators in 1975, Lawford admitted to having a “gut feeling” that something was not right and “he still blames himself for not going to her home himself.”
After yelling at her, as a “verbal slap in the face,” Lawford claims that instead of striking back, the increasingly despondent woman said, “Say good-bye to Pat (Lawford’s wife), say good-bye to Jack (JFK), and say good-bye to yourself, because you’re a nice guy.”
Then Lawford explained the silence, saying the woman didn’t hang up the phone, rather dropped the receiver or placed it down.
Her death
On August 5, Monroe was found by Dr. Greenson, dead on her bed. About his earlier visit with her, the doctor told investigators that she was “depressed and somewhat drugged” and “furious.” He added that she felt “rejected by some of the people she had been close to.”
Toxicology reports show she died August 4, between the hours of 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., of acute barbiturate poisoning. It was ruled a probable suicide.
Before she died, another of her reported last conversations was an evening chat with her hairdresser Sydney Guilaroff. Monroe told Guilaroff that Bobby Kennedy visited her earlier that day and “threatened” her.
Those allegations were disputed when it was discovered that the former attorney general was in Northern California with his family at the time.
There’s been a lot of speculation surrounding her death and more than 60 years later, the exact cause is still a mystery. Questions have been raised several times over the potential involvement of the Kennedy family and their need to keep her quiet about the alleged affairs with both the president and attorney general.
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If you enjoyed reading this story, you’ll definitely the one on Deborah Kerr, another star in the Golden Age of Hollywood!
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