Marilyn Monroe’s traumatic childhood: origin of her problems?

Marilyn Monroe’s traumatic childhood is a diffuse, dark and dramatic topic about which we will never know everything. Perhaps, her childhood monsters allied with the monsters of her maturity to lead her towards that tragic end, not yet fully clarified. Be that as it may, this year will mark 60 decades since her death and her figure, eternally young, continues to hide as many mysteries as it does fascination.

We have an example of this in the latest Netflix documentary about his life: The mystery of Marilyn Monroe: the unreleased tapes. In this new investigative work, the Irish writer and journalist, Anthony Summers, provides the testimony of all those people who were part of the actress’s life at some point.

The puzzle that he manages to construct brings to light several aspects that, in reality, are not entirely new. The first is the possible involvement of the high political spheres of the time in his death. The second is the sexual abuse that she suffered throughout her career, a rocky and gruesome path that perhaps many actresses had to go through to get a role in a movie.

Now, a notable aspect that this documentary addresses is that of his childhood. The testimony of the family of the psychiatrist who treated her reveals aspects of those traumatic imprints that surely conditioned her life. We analyze it.

Marilyn Monroe spent her childhood in various orphanages and the homes of her mother’s friends.

Emptiness, dark rooms and need for affection

Marilyn Monroe put dozens of books in her suitcases every time she traveled. But also He left a large space in his luggage for the bottles of alcohol, the barbiturates and the tranquilizers he took. Furthermore, it is said that if there was something that defined her, it was her tardiness. Filmings, dinners, galas, appointments… she was unable to arrive on time, because that made it difficult and caused greater expectations, according to many people.

Although the truth is that Marilyn was plunged into her own mind and lost control of reality. She could take baths that lasted hours and in them she tried to cleanse her skin of that dirt that Hollywood had impregnated it with. She was trying to remove that scab to reach Norma Jeane, but doing so meant connecting again with her childhood, with those traumas that she never healed.

Ralph Greenson was his psychiatrist for the last three years of his life.. Michel Schneider, author of the Last sessions with Marilyn, and Lisa Appignanesi, author of Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors, They provide us with interesting data about that doctor-patient relationship.

“Now you can’t go out anymore”, the girl who lived in dark rooms

Gladys Monroe Baker, Marilyn’s mother, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.. He spent his entire life going back and forth to mental hospitals. Charles Stanley Gifford, her father, quickly abandoned her mother as soon as she found out she was pregnant. These two primary figures were barely present in little Norma’s life, nor were they replaced by other people.

His childhood was a sad journey that stumbled between orphanages and family friends. He never found stability or a valid emotional refuge.

His childhood and adolescence were marked by the absence of any form of attachment, love and protection. In fact, when she was 8 years old, an old man entered her room and after locking the door, said some words to her that he would never forget: “Now you can’t go out.” That would be the first time she was sexually abused.

Later, it would be some cousin, family friends, etc. When she was 16 years old, they arranged a marriage for her with a neighbor, Jim Dougherty, a 20-year-old boy. Her idea was that someone else would shoulder the responsibility of maintaining her. However, It didn’t take long for her to start a career as a model, when a Hollywood manager discovered her.

Although Norma Jeane built the character of Marilyn Monroe from then on to escape that childhood and achieve success, the truth is that she never stopped living in dark rooms… Both physical and mental.

Ralph Greenson, the brilliant psychoanalyst who treated Marilyn in an unorthodox way

Ralph Greenson was a prominent American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. On her couch, Marilyn Monroe told him multiple horror stories, most related to all the sexual extortioners she had met. Like Joe Schenck, the 69-year-old president of 20th Century Fox whom she had to attend to whenever she requested it.

She called them “wolves,” characters she had to go through to get relevant roles in movies, as she wrote in her autobiography. My story. However, What Dr. Greenson was most concerned about was Marilyn Monroe’s traumatic childhood. The one that led him to fall into abusive and stormy emotional relationships. The one that made her a figure in need of affection and also self-destructive.

Those who knew Greenson did not hesitate to say that the way he treated his patient was always unorthodox. She integrated Marilyn into her own family in an attempt to provide her with an example of what an environment in which she felt safe was like.. She could call him and go to her house whenever she wanted. However, the dependency she created on her psychiatrist didn’t help her much either.

An obsession that Marilyn had was being around intelligent people. She was looking for male figures of authority to see as that paternal reference that she never had.

Marilyn Monroe’s traumatic childhood and its effects

Post-traumatic stress, chronic depression, addictions… Marilyn Monroe’s traumatic childhood defined her personality: she was emotionally fragile and unstable who, however, was skilled enough to create a character and achieve success. However, the price she paid was too high. She did not choose the companies well and no one could help her the way she needed.

Currently, It is suspected that the mental problems he may have suffered are related to bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder (BPD).. It is not clear. Be that as it may, the unknowns about his life will always be translated into new investigations and documentaries for television.

Hollywood history is full of broken dolls who achieved immortality by selling their soul, their body and even their lives. Norma Jeane was the best example of this.

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