Marilyn Monroe Warned Joan Collins About a Studio Executive’s Sexual Harassment Just Days Before She Met Him
Joan Collins, now 90, has had a storied movie and television career. She rose to fame in 1952 after appearing in the British film I Believe In You. Collins moved her career to the United States, believing that after several years in the British film industry, she had a handle on how the business worked. After a serendipitous meeting with Marilyn Monroe over martinis, Joan Collins learned she had underestimated just how predatory Hollywood was. In a recently published essay, Collins recalled the chance encounter with Marilyn Monroe and how she warned her about the dark side of Hollywood.
Joan Collins said Marilyn Monroe warned her about the Hollywood ‘wolves’
Joan Collins penned an article for The Daily Mail earlier this month. In the article, the starlet opened up about the predatory nature of Hollywood and exactly how she learned about it. She said she met Marilyn Monroe when she was new to the scene. At that point, Monroe was a Hollywood veteran. Monroe took the chance encounter as an opportunity to warn Collins about the industry. Collins wrote that Monroe told her that Hollywood bosses were relentless in their sexual harassment and that they would happily ruin careers if they didn’t get what they wanted. Collins said the famed starlet wasn’t afraid to name names, either. She said Monroe specifically warned her about Darryl Zanuck. Zanuck was a famous producer and extremely influential studio executive in the 1950s.
Collins wrote that over the years, she learned exactly how right Monroe had been about Hollywood’s bosses. In fact, she learned just how predatory Zanuck was just days after her fateful meeting with Monroe. She ran into him while working almost immediately after the meetup. Collins wrote that the meeting was so uncomfortable and so terrifying that she was speechless. She freed herself and ran back to the set without saying a word.
The Dynasty star insists that it wasn’t just bosses, producers, and directors who were the problem, though. She said the leading men during the Golden Age of Hollywood were just as predatory. That didn’t end when Hollywood moved into a new era, either. Collins said she had been harassed by multiple leading men over the years, all of whom she claimed believed they were entitled to sleep with their leading ladies.
It would take decades for Hollywood to even acknowledge the issue. Even now, while many heavy-hitters have been shamed and even prosecuted for their behavior, the problem still exists within the industry.
Collins has made comments about sexual harassment in Hollywood in the past
While Collins’ article for The Daily Mail outlined the harassment she experienced, it is not the first time the veteran actor has spoken on the issue. Back in 2018, Collins was criticized when she suggested that actors who came forward to speak out “hardly suffered.”
In an interview with The Guardian, Collins’ was quoted as saying that you just don’t “put up with it” and that she opted to handle tense moments with a “knee to the groin.” Collins’ feelings on Hollywood, the #MeToo movement, and feminism are complex and complicated.
Marilyn Monroe died just a few years after she warned Joan Collins about Hollywood
While Collins didn’t mention exactly when her meetup with Monroe was, it’s fairly easy to date the meeting based on the movies discussed. Collins noted that the martini meetup occurred when she was still new to the American movie scene. She made her debut in an American film in 1955. She said she and Monroe discussed The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing, a movie that premiered in 1955, as well.
Presumably, the duo connected sometime in 1954 or 1955. Monroe died seven or eight years later, in 1962. She was 36. Over the years, there have been multiple theories about the bombshell’s cause of death. Accidental overdose, foul play, and suicide have all been floated as potential causes of the sex symbol’s tragic demise. According to People, her official cause of death is listed as acute barbiturate poisoning.
