‘Blonde’: Did Marilyn Monroe’s Mother Try to Kill Her as a Child?
The new Netflix movie Blonde has the public buzzing about its fictionalized portrayal of Marilyn Monroe’s life. A significant portion of the film focuses on Monroe’s relationship with her mother, Gladys Peal Baker, and the abuse she suffered at her hands. In one distressing scene, Baker attempts to drown Monroe as a child, but did Monroe’s mother ever try to kill her in reality?
‘Blonde’ stars Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe and Julianne Nicholson as Gladys Baker
Joyce Carol Oates’ novel, also called Blonde, inspired director Andrew Dominik’s version for Netflix. Dominik made it clear that Blonde’s story is one entirely of fiction, but it does have some nuggets of truth woven into the story.
Julianne Nicholson takes on the role of Baker in the film. Doctors diagnosed Baker with paranoid schizophrenia, leading to Monroe’s childhood abuse. At the beginning of the movie, fires begin in the Hollywood Hills, and Baker drives a young Monroe toward the wildfires to take her to her father’s house. However, cops stop her and tell her to turn around, and they figure out Baker’s delusional.
When Baker and Monroe return to their apartment, Baker runs a scalding hot bath for Monroe while disrobing herself and the child. She forces Monroe to get in the water and then forcefully shoves her underneath in an attempt to drown her. Monroe escapes and runs to her neighbor, Miss Flynn’s (Sara Paxton) house.
Did Marilyn Monroe’s mother actually try to kill her as a child?
No official records from law enforcement indicate Monroe’s mother ever tried to kill her as a child, but the starlet claimed she did three separate times. According to Keith Badman’s book, Marilyn Monroe: The Final Years, one of Monroe’s husbands, Arthur Miller, told BBC that Baker attempted to murder Monroe.
“Her mother was quite mad. Throughout most of her life, Marilyn often remarked how she could still vividly recall these horrific encounters,” Miller was recorded saying in Badman’s book.
Marilyn Monroe’s grandmother, Della Monroe, tried to kill her as an infant
In addition, Monroe’s grandmother also tried to kill her once as an infant. J. Randy Taraborrelli goes into detail in his book, The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, about Monroe’s grandmother, Della Monroe. Della experienced delusions similar to Baker. However, she managed to convince Baker that she couldn’t care for Monroe as a child, and they gave her to Ida and Wayne Bolender across the street.
Della’s confidence in the decision to allow another family to raise Monroe didn’t last long. In The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, Taraborrelli writes that in 1927, Della went to the Bolender’s house and wanted to see Monroe. At first, Ida refused to let her in but eventually relented.
After breaking the glass pane of a window with her elbow, Della insisted Monroe had died, and the Bolenders hid this from Baker. To appease Della, Ida prepared a glass of water for her. However, when she returned, she found Della holding a pillow over the baby in her crib.
“‘Ida became almost hysterical,’ said one friend of Gladys’s in the telling of the story. ‘She grabbed the child. Della said that the baby’s pillow had slipped and she was simply readjusting it. But Ida was very upset and demanded that Della leave the house.’ Marilyn Monroe – and even the Bolenders – would tell variations of this story many times over the years,” writes Taraborrelli.
Blonde is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.
