Marilyn Monroe’s struggles with mental health have remained part of her story for decades. Now, a resurfaced letter is offering a heartbreaking look at the actress’s traumatic stay in a psychiatric hospital before her death.
A Biographer Claimed Marilyn Monroe Feared Inheriting Her Family’s History of Mental Illness Throughout Her Life
According to RadarOnline, Monroe wrote a six-page letter to her psychiatrist following her stay at Manhattan’s Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in 1961. In the letter, Monroe described feeling as though she had been locked inside a prison rather than receiving treatment. She claimed she was placed in a room intended for “very disturbed” patients.
“I felt I was in some kind of prison for a crime I hadn’t committed,” Monroe wrote. She also described locked doors, barred windows and walls marked by previous patients. When asked why she was unhappy, Monroe recalled replying, “Well, I’d have to be nuts if I liked it here.”
The actress also said staff moved her to another floor against her wishes. According to the letter, four staff members carried her to another room after she refused to move. “I just wept quietly all the way there and then was put in the cell I told you about,” she wrote.
RadarOnline cited biographer Mark Bego, who said Monroe feared inheriting her family’s mental illness. He linked those fears to her mother’s paranoid schizophrenia, her grandmother’s depression and her great-grandfather’s death by suicide.
The report said Monroe experienced depression following her divorce from playwright Arthur Miller. She reportedly told a friend and her psychiatrist that she had considered harming herself before entering the clinic.
Monroe also wrote that she threatened to harm herself if staff did not release her. However, she later clarified that she never intended to follow through. She said self-harm was “the furthest thing from my mind” because she was an actress and did not want to leave permanent marks on herself.
Monroe was eventually discharged with help from former husband Joe DiMaggio, according to the report. Just over a year later, she died at age 36. Her death was ruled a probable suicide. However, it has remained the subject of speculation for decades.
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If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or is in crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988. You can also text “HOME” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.