They Say Marilyn Monroe’s Mother Was Insane. I’m Not So Sure.

Depression, abuse and trauma are not insanity

When she went to the pier that day, she had no idea what was about to happen to her — or the toll it would take on the rest of her life, forever and ever, amen.

Gladys Pearl Monroe was a pretty little thing, all of 14, and she was very unhappy with her mama at that moment.

See, Gladys’s daddy had died when she was 7, and soon after, her mama started entertaining widowers. That’s what a woman did in 1909, especially a woman with a child. She needed a man to provide for them.

Her mama remarried when Gladys was 10, but her stepdaddy lost his job and cost them everything, including their home. Then he up and left, so her mama got a divorce. Now there was a new boyfriend. Again.

So Gladys started heading down to the pier every day. It got her away from her mama and that new boyfriend of hers.

One day at the pier, Gladys met a man that took a shine to her.

He was 25 and his name was John “Jasper” Newton Baker. He didn’t care that she was only 14, he wanted to marry her. So he asked her mama.