Marilyn Monroe: The Private Life of a Public Icon

Description

Marilyn Monroe. Her beauty still captivates. Her love life still fascinates. Her story still dominates popular culture. Now, drawing on years of research and dozens of new interviews this biography cuts through decades of lies and secrets and introduces you to the Marilyn Monroe you always wanted to know: a living, breathing, complex woman, bewitching and maddening, brilliant yet flawed. Casillo studies Monroe's life through the context of her times-in the days before feminism. Before there was adequate treatment for bipolar disorder. Starting with her abusive childhood, this biography exposes how-in spite of her fractured psyche-Marilyn managed to transform each celebrated love affair and each tragedy into another step in her journey towards immortality. Casillo fully explores the last two years of her life, including her involvement with both John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, and the mystery of her last day. Just a few of Casillo's revelations: *Despite reports of their bitter rivalry, Elizabeth Taylor secretly called Marilyn when she was fired from her last film to offer moral and financial support. *Film of a rumored nude love scene with Clark Gable was said to have been destroyed-but an exclusive interview reveals that it still exists. *A meticulously detailed account of the events of her last day, revealing how a series of miscommunications and misjudgments contributed to her death.

Charles Casillo is the author of The Marilyn Diaries, The Fame Game, Boys, Lost & Found, and Outlaw: The Lives and Careers of John Rechy. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and many others. His movies include "Let Me Die Quietly" and "Fetish."

"This biography from Casillo fleshes out the icon, telling Monroe's tale in great and often harrowing detail and showing how the notorious blond pin-up was smarter and shrewder than most realize, yet just as tragic as we knew." --New York Post, "Most Unforgettable Books of 2018" A refreshing take on the complex and talented Monroe....A+. --Tulsa Book Review Casillo explores the myriad facets of Monroe's personality with a respectful but incisive eye...an intricately nuanced portrait of this misunderstood idol...A worthy addition to the Monroe canon. -Booklist "A well-written examination of the mystique of a woman who still fascinates decades after her untimely death."--Publishers Weekly "A deep dive into the model and screen legend's glamorous but troubled life...[Casillo] pays particularly sympathetic attention to her emotional journey...a compelling exploration of a beguiling film icon's life." --Kirkus Reviews "Extraordinary...Castillo's sympathetic and psychologically nuanced Marilyn Monroe bio is compulsively readable and well researched." --Shelf Awareness "After all I've seen and heard about Marilyn Monroe, this book is a revelation, an earthy, empathic vision of a real woman who happened to be an ethereal goddess. Getting to know Charles Casillo's Marilyn made me feel a level of identification and understanding that was devastating and thrilling." --Mary Gaitskill "Charles Casillo has managed to further peel back the layers on one of our most complex modern day heroines." --Stanley Buchthal, co-editor of Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters On The Marilyn Diaries "Casillo provocatively recreates intimate moments in Marilyn's iconic life." --Bert Stern, author The Last Sitting "A classic...The essential honesty and vulnerability of our heroine is never lost. Just as she never lost those qualities in real life." --Liz Smith