THE OTHER MARILYN

I’ve always liked these photos, taken in the same session, late in her life. A tragic end to someone whom I’ve grown to respect for her talent, her intelligence, and personal nature.

Too often we see only the sex symbol, the ditzy blonde, the idiosyncrasies. We hear of her relationships with important men, some real, some imagined, all salacious. And, of course, her death. Suicide or not, conspiracy theories or not, this woman’s demise was a tragedy.

So I just wanted to celebrate her by displaying a couple of photos with no sex attached to them. Just pictures of Norma Jean, the beautiful girl who was driven to her death by her looks and how she leveraged them, often at the behest of many of the male power figures in her life.

Kudos to Elton John for capturing this lovely human being in his song Candle in the Wind.