Skilled actress, scholar, drug addict: Who was the real Marilyn Monroe?

After dying in tragic and suspicious circumstances at the age of 36, little was known about the movie icon. Now two Netflix shows aim to reveal the woman behind the myth

There was much more to Marilyn Monroe than people realised. Photo: AP Photo/Courtesy Running Press

Paul Whitington

Maybe it’s Andy Warhol’s fault. In 1962, just six weeks after Marilyn Monroe’s death, he unveiled a silkscreen painting entitled ‘Marilyn Diptych’, in which he used multiple versions of an overworked publicity photo to portray the actress as a mass-produced icon.