Marilyn Monroe’s death is still shrouded in mystery. So what really happened on the night she died? Ex-cop and psychic Nicky Alan investigates
A superstar’s final hours
When dawn broke on Saturday 4 August 1962, it heralded yet another balmy summer’s day in the city of Los Angeles. Yet Marilyn Monroe’s mood on waking was far from sunny.
The 36-year-old film star hadn’t slept well. For years, she had been plagued by insomnia, often resorting to prescription medication to help her sleep.
At 8.30am, her housekeeper Eunice Murray arrived to find her employer tiling the floor of her new home, which Marilyn described as a ‘cute little Mexican-style house with eight rooms’.
Eunice later stated that Marilyn’s mood soon brightened, as she was excited about a delivery of furniture from Mexico.
But when a stuffed toy with no note attached arrived in the post, Marilyn’s mood once again took a dive.
She believed the anonymous gift was a sign that her life was in danger. But why would anyone want her dead?
Marilyn was convinced it was because of her links to America’s first family at the time — the powerful Kennedys.
Ever since she had made a stunning appearance at John F Kennedy’s birthday celebration in May, speculation had been rife that she was having an affair with the president.
Her rendition of Happy Birthday was undeniably sexually charged. There was even talk that she was also having an affair with JFK’s brother, the attorney general Robert Kennedy.
With JFK about to run for a second term in office, had Marilyn become a liability for the ambitious brothers?
Rumours were circulating that she had been brutally dumped by both men. Hurt and angry, she is said to have phoned JFK’s brother-in-law, the actor Peter Lawford, and told him she intended to expose the Kennedys at a press conference the following Monday.
On Saturday afternoon, her press agent and friend Pat Newcomb dropped in to find
Marilyn in better spirits. However, she had been joined by her psychiatrist Dr Ralph Greenson, who insisted she was highly emotional, and that Pat should leave.
Greenson visited Marilyn daily and, according to some accounts, fell in love with her. Doctor-patient boundaries were certainly blurred, and Marilyn had become increasingly dependent on him.
Worried about Marilyn, Greenson asked Eunice Murray to stay with her overnight. He left at around 7pm, when Marilyn retired to her bedroom with the phone.
From this point on, stories of what happened next differ.
Peter Lawford said he called Marilyn at 7.30pm and she sounded depressed, her speech slurred.
He said she told him: ‘Say goodbye to the president, and say goodbye to yourself, because you’re a nice guy…’ Then her voice faded out.
