Andrew Dominik’s Blonde, starring Ana De Armas premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 8. The film is produced by Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Tracey Landon, Brad Pitt, and Scott Robertson.

Blonde blurs the lines between reality and fiction to discover the broadening divide between her public and private selves, beginning with her turbulent childhood as Norma Jeane and continuing through her rise to prominence and love affairs.

Monroe’s first husband, James Dougherty

After her foster parents decided to return to West Virginia, the Bus Stop star was facing the risk of being placed in an orphanage. Her relationship with her birth mother was notoriously strained, owing in part to her mother’s psychiatric problems. James Dougherty wedded Monroe in 1942 when he was 21-years-old and she was only 16. 

Monroe’s marriage to Dougherty enabled her to leave the orphanage, but she was compelled to abandon her education in order to be a housewife. Monroe’s career began to take off in 1944 after she was discovered by a photographer. Monroe and Dougherty divorced two years later.

Dougherty claimed in his 2000 book that he couldn’t deal with the person Monroe became once she gained fame. He claimed to be in love with Norma Jeane, but “Marilyn Monroe” was a person he had never met. After Monroe, Dougherty married twice and had three children. He died in 2005.

Also Read: 5 best Marilyn Monroe movies

Monroe’s second husband, Joe DiMaggio

American baseball player Joe DiMaggio married Marilyn Monroe on January 14, 1954, at the San Francisco City Hall. 

Monroe was starring in The Seven Year Itch, which featured the famous “subway grate scene,” and became one of the year’s biggest commercial successes after the movie’s release in June 1955.

The publicity catapulted Monroe to global stardom, but it also ended her marriage to DiMaggio, who was furious at the alleged “obscene” shot. His envy and diabolical attitude had strained the relationship from the start. Monroe also claimed that he was physically abusive. She filed for divorce after only nine months of marriage in October 1954.

Also Read: Every picture a frame: Blonde trailer brings Marilyn Monroe photos to life

Monroe’s third husband, Arthur Miller

Monroe married Jewish author Arthur Miller on June 29 in White Plains, New York; two days later, they had a Jewish ceremony at the home of Miller’s literary agent, Kay Brown, in Waccabuc, New York. This was Arthur’s second marriage. Before his marriage to Monroe, he was married to Mary Grace Slattery and had two children- Jane and Robert. 

Monroe converted to Judaism after her marriage, prompting Egypt to ban all of her films.  The media saw the union as a mismatch because of Monroe’s status as America’s sex symbol and Miller’s impression as a scholar, as evidenced by Variety’s headline, “Egghead Weds Hourglass”.

However, due to Monroe’s declining mental condition juxtaposed with substance abuse, the couple soon began to have conflicts.  Miller and Monroe divorced in 1961, just nineteen months before Monroe’s tragic death.