Did Marilyn Monroe get married? Who were Marilyn Monroe’s husbands?

Netflix is releasing a new documentary on Marilyn Monroe this week titled The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes. A revered Hollywood icon, Monroe’s death spawned numerous rumors and conspiracy theories including other Hollywood legends and even linking her to the White House.

The documentary pieces together her final weeks, days and hours with previously unheard recordings from those who knew her best, illuminating Monroe’s glamorous, complicated life and providing a new perspective on that fateful final night.

Throughout the documentary, you’ll be privy to many discussions about Monroe’s love life, including her multiple marriages to men like Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller. Below, we’ll look into who she married, what their relationships were like and were her former spouses are today.

Marilyn Monroe’s marriage to James Dougherty

Joe DiMaggio is often considered one of Marilyn Monroe’s first husbands, but she was actually married once before, as a teenager in fact. At just 16, Marilyn (who, at the time of her marriage was still Norma Jeane) married 20-year-old James Dougherty in June 1942.

The age gap isn’t ideal, but the reasoning behind the marriage was so that Norma would not have to return to the foster care system. Even though they were very young and not together long before getting married, Dougherty claimed they were deeply in love and happy together during their four-year marriage.

Dougherty joined the Navy and was away from home for increasingly long periods. Norma was never content to be a housewife waiting by the phone, so to speak. While her husband was away, Norma started branching out and working at a local factory where she met a photographer who encouraged her to model for him.

Norma started to get more into modeling and even started doing screen tests. 20th Century Fox offered her a contract, but with a stipulation that they would not hire her if she was married. Though Dougherty tried to convince her otherwise, Norma chose to divorce him in 1946 and kickstart her acting career and the rest, as we know, is history.

As for Monroe’s first husband, he remarried twice, had three children and lived a relatively quiet life out of the spotlight before eventually retiring to Maine with his family. He died in 2005 from leukemia at 84.

Marilyn Monroe’s marriage to Joe DiMaggio

Monroe’s highly publicized relationship with Yankees baseball legend Joe DiMaggio started a few years later, in 1952. They married in January 1954. Their marriage was passionate and intense, but it also had serious downfalls. DiMaggio was allegedly controlling, possessive and physically abusive.

One particular incident of note happened during the filming of The Seven Year Itch. DiMaggio had problems adjusting to Monroe’s status as a sex symbol and this came to a head while filming the famous subway grate scene where the passing train blows up the skirt of Monroe’s white dress. While filming, the scene attracted an entire crowd of people who wanted to watch Monroe and…essentially look up her skirt. DiMaggio was disgusted.

Billy Wilder, the director of the scene talks about DiMaggio in The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe, saying, he “was watching and he didn’t like it very much, his wife making a spectacle of herself.”

Another documentary subject claims that afterward, DiMaggio got physical with his wife in their apartment. Monroe apparently called for help but no one could hear her through the thick walls. She was reportedly later seen with bruises and scratches on her shoulders. Understandably, Monroe filed for divorce in October 1954, just nine months after they’d gotten married.

Despite the split, DiMaggio was devastated by Monroe’s death and assisted in arranging her funeral. He barred members of the Hollywood elite and the Kennedy family from attending (including President John F. Kennedy).

He reportedly continued to visit her crypt for 20 years after the fact, sending fresh flowers twice a week and would no longer speak of their relationship. He also never remarried. DiMaggio died in 1999 at age 84 after a long battle with lung cancer.

Marilyn Monroe’s marriage to Arthur Miller

DiMaggio and Monroe were still linked even amid their divorce proceedings. She also started dating the acclaimed playwright Arthur Miller. They actually were having an affair as Miller was still married at the time to Mary Slattery, but he was so in love with Monroe that he did later divorce his wife for her. They married in June 1956.

Their relationship became rocky and they grew apart quickly after they married. In one notable instance, which is discussed in the Netflix documentary, Monroe found notes Miller had written about her while she working on The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier. In them, Miller showed discontent with his marriage to Monroe, her actual self not matching his idealized version of her.

Monroe was also devastated because she could not give Miller a child. She had two miscarriages and lost an ectopic pregnancy. Things only became further complicated when Monroe had an extramarital affair with one of her co-stars.

Per Biography:

"Miller was finding the peace and emotional quiet he required to write lacking, while Monroe had come to resent her husband. She didn’t like that he’d ignored his principles and did a lackluster rewrite of scenes for her film Let’s Make Love. And when she had an affair with co-star Yves Montand, she noted that Miller didn’t fight for her, or even object to the liaison."

They divorced in January 1961. “Monroe traveled to Mexico on January 20, 1961, to obtain a divorce — a date chosen in the hopes that John F. Kennedy’s inauguration would distract media attention,” says the outlet.

When Monroe died in 1962, Miller reportedly did not attend her funeral and two years later, he used her as material for his play After the Fall. Miller was widely criticized for obviously basing one of the main characters (she “had the same background, mannerisms and self-destructive tendencies of Monroe,” and even wore a blond wig) on his late ex-wife.

Miller remarried in 1962 to Inge Morath. He had four children, two with his first wife, Mary, and two with his third wife, Inge. In 2005, Miller died at age 89 from congestive heart failure.

Watch The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes on Netflix, Apr. 27.