Marilyn Monroe was one of Hollywood’s most glamorous stars in its Golden Age, and she is also the subject of several conspiracy theories based on her death. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, Marilyn Monroe ended up as one of the most popular sex symbols in the 1950s and 1960s and helped launch that era’s sexual revolution.
The actress and model was also a considerable part of the public eye, connected with President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy, and married to baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. However, when Monroe was found dead of an apparent drug overdose, it caused many people to wonder if there was more to it than reports claimed.
Marilyn Monroe’s Official Cause of Death Explained
Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her bed on August 4, 1962. She was 36 years old, and the official cause of death was reported as a barbiturate overdose. Her body was found the morning after she died, while reports were sensationalistic, with the New York Mirror writing she was “nude” with her “hand on phone” after taking “40 pills.“
In Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, it was made known that Monroe was battling substance abuse problems, leading to her death. She had experienced mental health concerns, including depression and anxiety, and she was working with doctors to help her with these issues.
Marilyn Monroe also had just gotten fired from Fox after her last few movies flopped, and she was proving hard to work with. She had just ended her marriage to Arthur Miller, who himself was an accused communist. This also affected her relationships with President John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy.
According to the coroner’s report, Marilyn Monroe had died between 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on August 4. The cause of death was acute barbiturate poisoning and the chief coroner called it a “probable suicide.” The Chicago Tribune wrote that they ruled out an accidental overdose since she took all the pills “over a minute or so.”
Every Conspiracy Theory Relating To Marilyn Monroe’s Death Explained
While Marilyn Monroe’s cause of death was ruled by suicide, that did not stop people from speculating there was something more to it. Countless conspiracy theories have arisen, with people making sometimes wild accusations and others even blaming prominent political figures.
There was even a Netflix series called The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe in 2022 that explored the circumstances surrounding her death. This has led more people to question Monroe’s death and whether it was really death by suicide.
Frank A. Capell Claimed Marilyn Monroe Was Murdered In A Communist Conspiracy
In a 1964 self-published pamphlet by anti-communist activist Frank A. Capell called The Strange Death of Marilyn Monroe, he claimed Marilyn Monroe’s death was part of a communist conspiracy.
According to Capell, Monroe had an affair with Robert F. Kennedy, and Monroe’s actions threatened a scandal. Capell then claimed that Kennedy ordered her assassination. Capell then said that Kennedy was a communist sympathizer, and many people close to Monroe, including her ex-husband, Arthur Miller, were communists.
However, the theory was widely discredited since Capell only had one source, and that source was only giving information Capell had initially given him (via Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto). Capell ended up as his own source.
Robert F. Slatzer published the book The Life and Curious Death of Marilyn Monroe in 1975, and his primary source was Capell’s claims. In his 1976 novel, Who Killed Marilyn Monroe, journalist Anthony Scaduto repeated mostly Slatzer’s claims as well as those from a private investigator named Milo Speriglio, who claimed Jimmy Hoffa was part of the conspiracy.
Norman Mailer Claims The CIA Or FBI Murdered Marilyn Monroe
Norman Mailer released his book, Marilyn: A Biography, in 1973, and he also mentioned that Marilyn Monroe had an affair with Robert F. Kennedy. In his book, he also suggested the affair led to her death. However, Mailer didn’t say Kennedy ordered the murder. Instead, he claims the CIA or FBI killed the star.
According to the biography, the FBI or CIA wanted to use Marilyn Monroe’s murder as a “point of pressure” against the Kennedy family. However, something interesting happened later when Mailer admitted in a 60 Minutes interview that he made it all up to help sell the book. He admitted he believed it was an “accidental suicide.”
Milo Speriglio Claims Jimmy Hoffa Killed Marilyn Monroe
Milo Speriglio, the private investigator who got information for Anthony Scaduto’s 1976 book, then wrote a book of his own in 1982 called Marilyn Monroe: Murder Cover-Up​​​​​​. In this, he continued his claims about Jimmy Hoffa being part of the murder and even implicated mob boss Sam Giancana.
He included claims from Lionel Grandison, an employee at the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, who said Marilyn Monroe’s body was covered in bruises that were left out of her autopsy report. He also said there was a “red diary” that had since disappeared.
The L.A. district attorney looked into the claims and dismissed most of Speriglio’s evidence. The coroner’s claims were also dismissed since he had been fired previously for stealing, making him an unreliable witness.
Anthony Summers Claims Robert F. Kennedy Enabled Marilyn Monroe’s Overdose
One of the biggest books that was released about Marilyn Monroe’s death was Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe by Anthony Summers. In this book, he wrote that Monroe had affairs with both John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, and she was having mental problems at the end of her life.
Summers said that Monroe threatened to expose the affair, so Robert F. Kennedy attempted to stop this by enabling her addictions. He then claimed that she died when Kennedy was there, and they moved her body to the bedroom. Kennedy left Los Angeles, and they staged it as an accidental suicide.
Summers interviewed 650 people connected with Marilyn Monroe to write his book. However, biographers Donald Spoto and Sarah Churchwell said that he contradicted himself, wrote “anecdotal” material, and gave second and third-hand accounts as proof. His book was the basis for the 1985 documentary, Marilyn: Say Goodbye to the President.
Both Summers and Capell’s books were the basis for two more conspiracy theory books in the 1990s, Marilyn: The Last Take by Peter Brown and Patte Barham​​​​​​, and The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe by Donald H. Wolfe.
Donald Spoto Claims Marilyn Monroe’s Doctors Staged The Suicide
In Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto, he claimed her death was an accidental overdose staged as a suicide by doctors who were supposed to be watching over her. Spoto said that the doctors promised they would not prescribe her anything without consulting each other, but they did anyway.
Spoto claimed this led to her overdose, and the doctors covered it up to avoid the consequences of being made responsible for her death. Spoto’s central claim was that Marilyn Monroe had a new movie agreement and was about to remarry Joe DiMaggio, so she had no reason to want to die.
Sources: New York Mirror, Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, Marilyn: A Biography, The Chicago Tribune, The Life and Curious Death of Marilyn Monroe, Who Killed Marilyn Monroe, Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe
