Who is James Dougherty the first husband of Marilyn Monore? Shortly after its release, Blonde, a new Netflix movie based on Joyce Carol Oates’ 2000 novel of the same name, shot to the top of the charts, with audiences drawn in by the film’s stirring depiction of the actress’s difficult existence. On Friday, September 23, Netflix’s Blonde debuted, and it has stayed at the peak of the Netflix film charts ever since. The movie, which features Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe, tells audiences more about her terrible life. The movie examines Marilyn’s rocky marriages as well as her relationship with her absent father Charles Stanley Gifford.
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Her first marriage to police officer James Dougherty, however, isn’t discussed in the movie, leaving people curious about Marilyn’s past to wonder who her first spouse was and why their union ended in divorce.
List of Marilyn Monroe’s Husbands
Marilyn Monroe was a well-known Hollywood star who was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926. Who did she adore, though? Three marriages and the actor’s public relationships garnered media attention.
From 1942 to 1946, Monroe was married to her next-door neighbor Jim Dougherty. From 1954 to 1955, she was wed to baseball player Joe DiMaggio. From 1956 to 1961, she was wed to author Arthur Miller. Monroe never had children, but according to her biographer Donald Spoto, she maintained a close relationship with her husbands’ families.
Joe DiMaggio was their second spouse of Marilyn. He is referred to as “The Ex-Athlete” in the movie Blonde and is portrayed by Bobby Cannavale. The year before he met Marilyn, Joe DiMaggio, a former baseball player for the New York Yankees, announced his retirement from the game. Marilyn filed for divorce after only nine years of being married, claiming “mental abuse” as the cause.
Playwright Arthur Miller, who is represented by Adrien Brody in the movie Blonde as “The Playwright,” was Marilyn Monroe’s third and last spouse. When Marilyn was married to Joe and Arthur was married to Mary Slattery, they first met and started dating in 1955.
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Marilyn took 18 months off from work throughout their marriage and experienced several losses as well as an ectopic pregnancy. Both Marilyn and Arthur were rumored to have been having extramarital affairs close to the end of their marriage. And the couple divorced in Mexico in 1961 since it was allegedly quicker and easier to do so there than in the United States. Arthur skipped Marilyn’s funeral and she passed away less than a year later.
James Dougherty
Former American policeman James Dougherty is well known for being the first spouse of actress Marilyn Monroe. Norma Jean, also known as Marilyn Monroe, was married to James when she was just 16 years old, long before she rose to fame in Hollywood.
According to information from the LA Times, he told United Press International in 1990, “I never knew Marilyn Monroe, and I don’t pretend to have any insights into her to this day” (opens in new tab). “I knew Norma Jean and adored her.”At the age of 20, James was working the night shift at Lockheed Aircraft when he first met the other person. Grace and Doc Goddard, who was fostering Norma Jean at the time, had resided next door to his family.
According to James in the United Press International interview, “They decided to move back to [West] Virginia, but they couldn’t take Norma Jean.” “Her foster mother recommended I marry her because else she would have returned to an orphanage or another caring family.”I took her to dance even though I thought she was awfully young. She was a fairly mature young lady, as well as mature physically. We conversed and had a good rapport. He said, “But we were in love,” before adding, “So we decided to be married to stop her from getting back to a foster home.”
How Long Were James Dougherty and Marilyn Monroe Married?
The couple divorced in 1946 after only four years of marriage. James enlisted in the Merchant Marines and left to serve in the Pacific not long after the couple was married. Marilyn started her career as a model and actor by joining the Blue Book Model Agency, where she later secured a deal with 1946. The couple separated in the same year. Although the cause of the breakup is unknown, rumors have it that her marriage impeded her ambitions to succeed in Hollywood.
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James would have liked Marilyn to give up her acting profession when he arrived from serving in the Pacific, but Marilyn wasn’t ready to do so, as per the biography Marilyn Monroe: The Private Life of a Public Icon.
What Happened to James Dougherty?
James remarried following the divorce, having three kids, but this marriage too filed for divorce in 1972. In 1974, James wedded his third wife and began working as an investigator for the LAPD.The Secret Happiness of Marilyn Monroe and To Norma Jean With Love, Jimmie are two novels he authored and published on his wedding to Marilyn, or Norma Jean as he knew her after he retired in 1974 and relocated to Maine. James, who was 84 years old and lived in San Rafael, California, died of leukemia complications on August 15, 2005.
