The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe: The Shocking True Story by Keith Badman

Almost at once, a rather large, menacing nurse insisted she take a bath. ‘I’ve just had one,’ she retorted. ‘As soon as you change floors you have to take another bath,’ the nurse informed her. But she was unrepentant. No bath. The doctor in charge of the building soon arrived and shockingly informed Marilyn, ‘You’re a very, very sick girl and have been a very, very sick girl for many years. How could you possibly work when you are depressed? Does it interfere with your work?’ The actress was aghast at his line of questioning and angrily fired back, ‘Don’t you think that perhaps Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin and perhaps Ingrid Bergman have been depressed when they worked sometimes? It’s like saying a ball-player like [Joe] DiMaggio, could he hit the ball when he was depressed? How silly .’
    Hours after Marilyn’s arrival on 7 February, naturally desperate to escape the hell-hole she found herself in, a concerned nurse at the centre had handed her a notepad and agreed to smuggle out a message to Lee and Paula Strasberg. The couple received this pitiful handwritten note the following day. It read:
    Dear Lee and Paula,
    Dr. Kris has put me in the hospital under the care of two idiot doctors. They both should not be my doctors. You haven’t heard from me because I’m locked up with these poor nutty people. I’m sure to end up a nut too if I stay in this nightmare. Please help me Lee. This is the last place I should be. Maybe if you called Dr. Kris and assured her of my sensitivity and that I must get back to class so I’ll be better prepared for ‘Rain’.
    Please help me – if Dr. Kris assures you I am alright – you can assure her I am not . I do not belong here!
    I love you both.
    Marilyn
    P.S. forgive the spelling – and there’s nothing to write on here. I’m on the dangerous floor. It’s like a cell. Can you imagine – cement blocks. They put me in here because they lied to me about calling my doctor and Joe [DiMaggio] and they had my bathroom door locked and I couldn’t get their key to get into it, so I broke the glass. But outside of that I haven’t done anything that is uncooperative.
    Unfortunately, the Strasbergs, merely being friends of Marilyn, were powerless (or had no desire) to help. One day later, on Thursday 9 February, news of the actress’s stay in hospital reached the majority of the national newspapers. The piece in the Daily News even went as far as to reveal the alias which the actress had used when she booked herself in. Unsurprisingly, the announcement managed to attract an avalanche of newspaper reporters and photographers to the hospital.
    An unidentified close friend of Monroe’s seen entering the hospital played down the situation by remarking to a New York Post reporter, ‘Marilyn’s entrance into the hospital means she has retired for a short rest. As for any special significance, this is none. Marilyn is prone into going into hospitals as a way of getting out of environment and escaping any conflict. She would go to a hospital the way another person might visit a doctor.’ Another individual making light of the matter was Ann Marlowe, the executive producer of Monroe’s planned television drama, Rain . Having cut short her Caribbean vacation to see the actress, she was quoted as saying as she entered the hospital, ‘The play will be video-taped as scheduled next month . . . Marilyn’s simply fatigued, just like she was in California when she was filming her picture, The Misfits . She went into the hospital for a rest this time. A hospital is the only place to get a real rest.’ On the steps outside, Marlowe added, ‘I have been in touch with the star and she will sign the contract for Rain as scheduled. All I can say is that she’s going to do it. She’s very eager to. This may postpone rehearsals a week, but that’s all.’
    When quizzed about Marilyn’s condition, the actress’s press agent, John Springer, proceeded to bumble and fluster