Marilyn Monroe's Tragic Childhood Explained

Marilyn Monroe was born to Gladys Pearl Baker in 1926 in Los Angeles, California. However, at the time, she was not Marilyn Monroe at all; her mother named her "Norma Jeane Mortenson," and her life was a far cry from the glitz and glamor of Hollywood. Baker placed her 2-week-old daughter in foster care. While Monroe's mother appeared in and out of her life in her early childhood, her mental health made it difficult for her to raise her daughter. By the time Monroe was 8 years old, her mother was forcibly admitted to an asylum and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Throughout her childhood, Monroe lived in over 10 different foster homes. She ended this journey with foster care at an orphanage. YouTube channel Marilyn Monroe Video Archives released clips of Monroe discussing her childhood in interviews for the documentary "Marilyn On Marilyn." Monroe explained, "You see, some places I was taken there at the end of the school term, and they were planning to keep me, but then after the summer, they'd had enough. So then I was taken to another place, so that's why there were so many." 

It's clear that rejection and loneliness painted Marilyn Monroe's childhood with hurt and difficulty.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.