By Marilyn Monroe

Written at the height of her fame but not published until over a decade after her death, this autobiography of actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) poignantly recounts her childhood as an unwanted orphan, her early adolescence, her rise in the film industry from bit player to celebrity, and her marriage to Joe DiMaggio. In this intimate account of a very public life, she tells of her first (non-consensual) sexual experience, her romance with the Yankee Clipper, and her prescient vision of herself as "the kind of girl they found dead in the hall bedroom with an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her hand."

The Marilyn in these pages is a revelation: a gifted, intelligent, vulnerable woman who was far more complex than the unwitting sex siren she portrayed on screen. Lavishly illustrated with photos of Marilyn, this special book celebrates the life and career of an American icon―from the unique perspective of the icon herself.

Reviews:

"Marilyn's autobiography poignantly recounts her childhood as an unwanted orphan, her early adolescence, her rise in the film industry from bit player to celebrity, and her marriage to Joe DiMaggio. . . .It’s beautiful & reading it you can almost hear Marilyn’s voice inyour head telling the story." — Fraser Penney, Immortal Marilyn

"Above all, you can 'hear' Marilyn’s voice in these pages. . . .This is not an autobiography, covering Marilyn’s life from birth to that last summer. It is a collection of anecdotes, rambling thoughts, and Marilyn Monroe’s own take on specific events up to the year 1954. . . .Like Marilyn herself, the book ends far too soon." — David Marshall, Marilyn Geek

Marilyn Monroe with Ben Hecht. Taylor Trade, $ (208p) ISBN 978-1589793163