Editing Marilyn Monroe (section)

=== 1926–1943: Childhood and first marriage ===
Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson{{efn|Monroe had her screen name made into her legal name in early 1956.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/5368339/marilyn-monroe-real-name-story/|title=How Did Marilyn Monroe Get Her Name? This Photo Reveals the Story |first=Olivia B. |last=Waxman |magazine=Time |date=September 5, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4468031.stm|title=Monroe divorce papers for auction|date=April 21, 2005|via=BBC News}}</ref>}} at [[Los Angeles General Hospital]] on June 1, 1926.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=3, 13–14|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2p=13}} Her mother, [[Gladys Pearl Baker]] ({{née}} Monroe), was born in [[Piedras Negras, Coahuila]], Mexico, into a poor [[Midwestern]] family who migrated to California at the turn of the century.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=9–10|2a1=Rollyson|2y=2014|2pp=26–29}} At the age of 14, Gladys had married John Newton Baker, an abusive man sixteen years her senior. They had two children together, Robert{{sfnm|1a1=Miracle|1a2=Miracle|1y=1994|1p=see family tree|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=19–20|3a1=Leaming|3y=1998|3pp=52–53}} and [[Berniece Baker Miracle|Berniece]].{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=7–9|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2p=19}} Gladys successfully filed for divorce and sole custody of her two oldest in 1923, but Baker kidnapped the children soon after and moved with them to his native [[Kentucky]].{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1p=9 for the exact year when divorce was finalized|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2p=20|3a1=Leaming|3y=1998|3pp=52–53}} Monroe first learnt about her sister when she was 12 years old, and met her for the first time in her late teens.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1p=88, for first meeting in 1944|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2p=72, for mother telling Monroe of sister in 1938}}

Following the divorce, Gladys worked as a [[film negative]] cutter at [[Consolidated Film Industries]].{{sfnm|1a1=Churchwell|1y=2004|1p=150, citing Spoto and Summers|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp= 24–25}} In 1924, she married Martin Edward Mortensen, but the union lasted only a few months, although they did not legally divorce until four years later.{{sfnm|1a1=Churchwell|1y=2004|1p=150, citing Spoto and Summers|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp= 24–25}} Gladys named Mortensen (misspelled ''Mortenson'') as Monroe's father in the birth certificate, but most of Monroe's biographers agree that this was unlikely as their separation had taken place well before she became pregnant.{{sfnm|1a1=Churchwell|1y=2004|1pp=149–152 citing Spoto, Summers and Guiles|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2p=26|3a1=Spoto|3y=2001|3p=13}} According to biographers Fred Guiles and [[Lois Banner]], her father was likely Charles Stanley Gifford, Gladys's superior at [[RKO Studios]], with whom she had an affair in 1925.{{sfnm|1a1=Churchwell|1y=2004|1p=152|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2p=26|3a1=Spoto|3y=2001|3p=13}} This was supported by a comparison conducted in 2022 between Monroe's DNA and that of one of Gifford's descendants.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://variety.com/2022/tv/global/marilyn-monroe-documentary-charles-stanley-gifford-mediawan-1235222789/ |title= Marilyn Monroe's Biological Father Revealed in Documentary 'Marilyn, Her Final Secret'|first1= Elsa |last1= Keslassy |magazine= [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date= April 4, 2022 |access-date= April 4, 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Marilyn monroe as an infant brightened.jpg|right|thumb|upright|alt=Monroe as an infant, wearing a white dress and sitting on a sheepskin rug|Monroe as an infant, {{circa|1927}}]]Although Gladys was mentally and financially unprepared for a child, Monroe's early childhood was stable and happy.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=17–26|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=32–35}} Gladys placed her daughter with [[evangelical Christian]] foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender in the suburban town of [[Hawthorne, California|Hawthorne]]. She also lived there for six months until she was forced to move back to the city for employment.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=16–26|2a1=Churchwell|2y=2004|2p=164|3a1=Banner|3y=2012|3pp=22–35}} She then began visiting her daughter on weekends.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=17–26|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=32–35}} In the summer of 1933, Gladys bought a small house in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] with a loan from the [[Home Owners' Loan Corporation]] and moved seven-year-old Monroe in with her.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=26–28|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=35–39|3a1=Leaming|3y=1998|3pp=54–55}} They shared the house with lodgers, actors George and Maude Atkinson and their daughter, Nellie.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=26–28|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=35–39}} In January 1934, Gladys had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with [[paranoid schizophrenia]].{{sfn|Churchwell|2004|pp=155–156}} After several months in a rest home, she was committed to the [[Metropolitan State Hospital (California)|Metropolitan State Hospital]].{{sfnm|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=39–40|1a1=Churchwell|1y=2004|1pp=155–156}} She spent the rest of her life in and out of hospitals and was rarely in contact with Monroe.{{sfnm|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=39–42, 45–47, 62, 72, 91, 205|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=100–101, 106–107, 215–216}} Monroe became a [[ward of the state]], and her mother's friend Grace Goddard took responsibility over her and her mother's affairs.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=40–49|2a1=Churchwell|2y=2004|2p=165|3a1=Banner|3y=2012|3pp=40–62}}

For the next 16 months, Monroe continued living with the Atkinsons and may have been [[child sexual abuse|sexually abused]] during this time.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=33–40|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=40–54}}{{efn|Monroe spoke about being sexually abused by a lodger when she was eight years old to her biographers [[Ben Hecht]] in 1953–1954 and [[Maurice Zolotow]] in 1960, and in interviews for ''[[Paris Match]]'' and ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]''.{{sfn|Banner|2012|pp=48–49}} Although she refused to name the abuser, Banner believes he was George Atkinson, as he was a lodger and fostered Monroe when she was eight years old; Banner also states that Monroe's description of the abuser fits other descriptions of Atkinson.{{sfn|Banner|2012|pp=40–59}} Banner has argued that the abuse may have been a major causative factor in Monroe's mental health problems, and has also written that as the subject was [[taboo]] in mid-century United States, Monroe was unusual in daring to speak about it publicly.{{sfn|Banner|2012|pp=7, 40–59}} Spoto does not mention the incident but states that Monroe was sexually abused by Grace's husband in 1937 and by a cousin while living with a relative in 1938.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1p=55|2a1=Churchwell|2y=2004|2pp=166–173}} Barbara Leaming repeats Monroe's account of the abuse, but earlier biographers Fred Guiles, Anthony Summers, and Carl Rollyson have doubted the incident owing to lack of evidence beyond Monroe's statements.{{sfn|Churchwell|2004|pp=166–173}}}} Always a shy girl, she developed a [[stutter]] and became withdrawn.{{sfn|Banner|2012|pp= 27, 54–73}} In the summer of 1935, she briefly stayed with Grace and her husband Erwin "Doc" Goddard and two other families.{{sfn|Banner|2012|pp=47–48}} In September 1935, Grace placed her in the Los Angeles Orphans Home #2, Hollygrove.<ref name="flickr/7416642764">{{cite web |last1=Acosta |first1=Yvonne |title=Young Marilyn: Photo from Hollygrove Orphanage |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/picarooned/7416642764 |website=flickr |access-date=November 2, 2023 |date=May 30, 2012}}</ref><ref name="pcad/7187">{{cite web |title=Los Angeles Orphans' Home Society, Orphanage #2, Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/7187/ |website=pcad.lib.washington.edu |publisher=PCAD - Pacific Coast Architecture Database |access-date=November 2, 2023}}</ref><ref name="latimes/2005-12-20/me-hollygrove20">{{cite news |last1=Pool |first1=Bob |title=A Haven for Children in L.A. Closes After 125 Years |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-dec-20-me-hollygrove20-story.html |access-date=November 2, 2023 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 20, 2005}}</ref>{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=44–45|2a1=Churchwell|2y=2004|2pp=165–166|3a1=Banner|3y=2012|3pp=62–63}} The orphanage was "a model institution" and was described in positive terms by her peers, but Monroe felt abandoned.{{sfn|Banner|2012|pp=60–63}} Encouraged by the orphanage staff, who thought that Monroe would be happier living in a family, Grace became her [[legal guardian]] in 1936 but did not take her out of the orphanage until the summer of 1937.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=49–50|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=62–63 (see also footnotes), 455}} Monroe's second stay with the Goddards lasted only a few months because Doc allegedly [[molested]] her.{{sfn|Banner|2012|pp=62–64}} She then lived for brief periods with her relatives and Grace's friends and relatives in Los Angeles and [[Compton, California|Compton]].{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=49–50|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=62–64, 455}}

[[File:Monroe and James Dougherty.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Monroe with her first husband, [[James Dougherty (police officer)|James Dougherty]], {{circa|1943–44}}. They married when she was 16 and divorced in 1946, when she was 20.]]Monroe's childhood experiences first made her want to become an actress: <blockquote>I didn't like the world around me because it was kind of grim ... When I heard that this was acting, I said that's what I want to be ... Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2007/sep/14/greatinterviews|title=Great interviews of the 20th century: 'When you're famous you run into human nature in a raw kind of way'|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=September 14, 2007|access-date=October 21, 2015|first=Richard|last=Meryman|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104070748/http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2007/sep/14/greatinterviews|archive-date=November 4, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

Monroe found a more permanent home in September 1938, when she began living with Grace's aunt Ana Lower in [[Sawtelle, Los Angeles|Sawtelle]].{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=51–67|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=62–86}} Monroe was enrolled at [[Emerson Junior High School]] and went to weekly [[Christian Science]] services with Lower.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=68–69|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=75–77}} She excelled in writing and contributed to the school newspaper, but was otherwise a mediocre student.{{sfn|Banner|2012|pp=73–76}} Owing to the elderly Lower's health problems, Monroe returned to live with the Goddards in [[Van Nuys]] in about early 1941.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=67–69|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2p=86}} That same year, she began attending [[Van Nuys High School]].{{sfn|Spoto|2001|pp=67–69}}

In 1942, the company that employed Doc relocated him to [[West Virginia]].{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=70–75|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=86–90}} California child protection laws prevented the Goddards from taking Monroe out of state, and she faced having to return to the orphanage.{{sfn|Banner|2012|pp=86–90}} To avoid this, it was decided that she leave high school and marry their neighbor, factory worker [[James Dougherty (police officer)|James Dougherty]], who was five years her senior. The marriage took place just after her 16th birthday on June 19, 1942.{{Sfn|Spoto|2001|pp=70–75}} Monroe found herself and Dougherty mismatched, and later said she was "dying of boredom" during the marriage.{{sfn|Spoto|2001|pp=70–78}} In 1943, Dougherty enlisted in the [[United States Merchant Marine|Merchant Marine]] and was stationed on [[Santa Catalina Island (California)|Santa Catalina Island]], where Monroe moved with him.{{sfnm|1a1=Spoto|1y=2001|1pp=83–86|2a1=Banner|2y=2012|2pp=91–98}}