ShortHand: The Death of Marilyn Monroe
6/2/202633 min
Naked, clutching the telephone receiver, and with a stomach full of prescription meds, Marilyn Monroe was pronounced dead at 4:25am on the 5th of August 1962.
Today, a century after her birth, the iconic “blonde bombshell” is still one of the most famous people who has ever lived. She epitomised Hollywood: the fame, the fortune, and the chaos. Rumours placed her in bed with two Kennedys – and under surveillance from the FBI and CIA. Marilyn Monroe was the tainted American Dream.
Could someone so special really have died from something as simple as an overdose?
--
Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes
YouTube - Full-length Video Episodes
TikTok / Instagram
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSuruthi Bala· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Hello.
Hannah Maguire· Host0:13
Hello. I can't remember how we- This is Shorthand Do we do that?
Suruthi Bala· Host0:18
Welcome to Shorthand.
Hannah Maguire· Host0:19
Okay.
Suruthi Bala· Host0:20
[laughs] Hello, this is Shorthand.
Hannah Maguire· Host0:21
[laughs] In the early hours of the 5th of August 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her bed, sprawled naked under a sheet, platinum blonde hair spilling over the pillow, one hand clutching an off-the-hook phone, and empty drugs bottles scattered all over her nightstand. At just 36, one of Hollywood's brightest stars had tragically fizzled out. Her death was ruled a probable suicide, but for years people have suspected there was more to this story than meets the eye. At the height of Cold War paranoia, and with rumors that she'd bedded President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, but who hadn't? Everyone was fucking the Kennedys. Was Marilyn silenced for knowing too much? What started as whispers ignited into a wildfire of conspiracy theories that still hasn't died out to this day, which is difficult when we've got the FBI, the CIA, the mafia, and the Kennedys. It's not surprising, because