On the second to last day of the year 1984, a young mother from Akron, Ohio, gave birth to a healthy boy. The young mother, Gloria Marie James, named him her newborn boy LeBron, which roughly translates to “the brown-haired one.”

Unfortunately, Gloria James had to raise that little boy all by herself, with only the help of her mother. But regardless of the absence of a father figure, she raised him to become a person everyone wants to know.

With her mother’s passing when she was only 19, Gloria had to raise the boy alone, and he was now just over two years old. This meant no more help from anybody, so she had to care for a little boy on her own.

While going from one neighborhood to the next in Akron, finding a job was difficult, so life became quite challenging. This was when she decided that she needed to move to a place where there’d be some stability for her and the boy.

While they were living in Akron, they moved around a lot, and often they stayed with friends. This made him change schools regularly, and he lost nearly half of the year while traveling from one place to another.

At this time of his life, he found comfort in sports and started playing pee wee football for the South Side Rangers. This team, where he found sanctuary, was coached by Frank Walker, who decided to look out for the family.

When Frank Walker and his wife Pam heard that the young mother was looking for a new place, he made her an offer. So, they moved in with the Walkers and became part of a healthy home environment where a child could grow up.

Frank and his wife asked Gloria to move in with them until she found something permanent for her and her child. This was the best thing that could happen for the little boy who was struggling to find his place in life.

A great opportunity was given to LeBron by Frank, who was the coach of the youth football team. When he was still in fourth grade, he joined the team and became friends and teammates with Frank Walker Jr.

This was a great way for the energetic young boy to find his feet and become part of a team. Becoming part of something that meant a lot to him was only the beginning of a new era in his life.

When LeBron James was nine years old, he was introduced to basketball by his coach and mentor, and that changed everything. After his first taste of basketball, there was no stopping this young player, and he played whenever he could.

His first introduction was joining the first rec-league basketball team, the Summit Lake Community Center Hornets. This was where he belonged, James was in his element now, and things just started happening for this young athlete.

Just one year after joining the team of Frank Walker, LeBron James joined the Shooting Stars basketball team. This was a traveling youth league basketball team and was part of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) from Northeast Ohio.

This team became both a local and national hit and showed that LeBron was an exceptional player. Life was becoming great for the young boy who had recently struggled to stay ahead with his schoolwork.

It was playing for this team that LeBron and three of his teammates became known as the Fabulous Four. They were LeBron James, Sian Cotton, Willie McGee, and Dru Joyce, who led their basketball team.

These four also became best friends off the court and ended up in the same high school after a mutual decision. They all chose to attend the private school, St. Vincent-St. Mary high school.

While LeBon was playing in the Summit Lake community team, Dru Joyce or Little Dru was playing at the Ed Davis Community Center team. They practiced together at the Salvation Army gym and soon started playing together in the traveling Youth League team.

Cotton, who was a football and baseball player, was persuaded to play basketball and joined them soon after. When McGee moved from Chicago to live with his older brother, he joined their team. With the addition of McGee, the group was complete.

When joining this school, the first thing that Lebron did was join the many different sports teams played with a ball. LeBron became a favorite in both the football and basketball teams, where he dominated in all aspects.

Unfortunately, he had an injury while playing football, making him focus more on playing basketball than the other. According to expert sports analysts, if it weren’t for that, LeBron would easily have been chosen to play in the NFL.

Savannah was born on August 27th, 1986 as the youngest daughter of JK and Jennifer Brinson. She was one of five children and, being the youngest, was raised by all members of the family.

She grew up in a stable and healthy environment with parents who taught her the better values of life. This made her appreciate many things and made her care not just about her close family but also about those who are in need.

As long as Savanah can remember, her parent’s house was always open to those who needed a place or any help. Her parents were always taking care of others who were in need.

These were some of the values she learned from her parents, which made her the person she is today. Any kid or friend of her two brothers and two sisters who had some kind of trouble or need was always welcome in their home.

While she was a member of the cheerleading squad, Savannah Brinson was also quite an accomplished athlete in her own right. She also grew up in Akron and was in a rival school in the area where LeBron was born and raised.

She was part of her school’s softball team and had quite a busy social life at the age of 16. At that time, she knew nothing of the popular basketball player just a few miles away.

He was only 17, and she was 16 when they met, making them the first famous couple from Akron, Ohio. When asked much later, LeBron could still remember what color clothes she wore that first day they met.

They first met when Savanah was a high school sophomore and LeBron was attending a rival school; they became high school sweethearts after that. She remembered that he had asked a friend for her number and she decided that she would take his phone number.

According to LeBron, he didn’t have the courage to ask her out at first and asked a friend to be his wingman. Even though they were in rival schools, that didn’t bother him, and he decided to go after her anyway.

Even though he didn’t muster the courage to ask her out, they eventually became a couple and have been ever since. Many fans and the press say they are the first power couple coming from the same highly competitive area.

Fortunately for LeBron, the wingman dared to ask for Savannah’s number on his behalf and passed it on. Savannah recalled she first thought to say no and ask for his number instead, so she could decide whether or not she wanted to meet him.

It didn’t take long for her to make a move and give him a call, which according to her, wasn’t a dramatic decision. She recalled she had the number of a boy and decided to call him and see how it went.

Because they were both athletes, LeBron asked her to attend one of the basketball games he was playing. She was quite surprised to find out that he was very talented and that he was a local hotshot at his high school.

After that match, she joined him and his team at a local Applebee’s, where they could get to know each other better in a friendly environment. This was the beginning of a years-long relationship that just got better over time.

For high schoolers, their first date was quite a decent feat; he took her out for an Outback Steakhouse dinner. According to Savannah, the date was very good but what impressed her most was the deed of chivalry after dinner.

She had her leftovers packed in a takeaway bag but forgot to take them with her. Luckily, he saw that she’d missed the bag and took care of it by bringing it to her.

LeBron James was a real gentleman and respected her parents’ rules by staying within the curfew set by them. He was wise enough to know that winning the favor of her parents was the best way to earn the girl’s respect.

LeBron made sure that her family knew that he was quite serious about Savannah and obeyed their rules. He brought her home in time and tried not to get on the bad side of her father.

Even though LeBron was quite a hotshot at his high school, his talent wouldn’t win her heart. She wasn’t interested in anything other than his personality and him being himself; that’s what made him attractive to her.

She didn’t need any fans or the spotlight or a big bank account to make her fall for this young athlete. She stuck with him right from the start, and they grew together into a great couple.

In 2003, LeBron James was not yet 19, and he was already a top pick in the NBA draft. This was a big year for him, not just because it was his senior year in high school but also for his basketball future.

He was destined for greater things than just being the hotshot basketball talent of his high school. Before he could get his bearings, he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, which started his big-league life.

This was not junior or high school basketball, this was the big leagues, and much more was expected from LeBron James. Being the youngest rookie placed much more pressure on this talented player, even someone as talented as LeBron.

He was becoming an adult very quickly, much faster than was expected of most 18-year-old boys who’d just started senior year. But that was to become even worse with the newest event happening in the life of LeBron James and Savannah Brinson.

The pressure on LeBron was getting even stronger when he received the news that Savannah was expecting a baby. Everything happened at once; he was now a senior in high school, became the youngest ever top pick draft for the NBA, and now this.

With life getting a lot more complicated and intense, his first season in the NBA was about becoming very busy. But being the professional athlete that he is, he withstood the pressure and supported his high school sweetheart.

By the time it was prom for the 18-year-old Savannah, she was already five months into her pregnancy. She designed the dress to hide the bump, but she said afterward that she looked terrible. Luckily, that’s just her opinion.

The design was quite fashionable at that time, so nobody noticed that she was hiding something from them. They both got through this and became better people and a baby richer, even though she was quite nervous.

She was scared to tell her parents that she was expecting a baby and what it would do to LeBron’s new NBA career. LeBron put her mind to rest with the assurance that they’d get through this together, no matter what.

LeBron told her that this wouldn’t slow them down and that they’d keep doing what they were doing. This put her mind at ease, so she told her parents about it and everything worked out just fine.

Then, on October 6th, 2004, they became a family of three. They called the baby boy LeBron James Jr. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, as he’s just as talented as his father and participated in various sports.

But having the name of a famous father can have its own difficulties, as he experienced in his young life. There was a lot of pressure on Jr. to walk in the footsteps of an overachiever like LeBron James.

LeBron James Jr. is affectionately known as “Bronny” to his parents and everyone else close to the family. He also needed that pet name so people could know they weren’t talking about his famous father.

Bronny is a talented sportsman in his own right and has focused all his attention and talent on basketball. At high school age, he’s already drawing a lot of attention and will bring honor to his family name.

Three years after their firstborn, LeBron and Savannah had another child, a baby brother for Bronny, Bryce Maximus James. Following in his father and brother’s footsteps, he started playing basketball at a very young age.

This son of Lebron was named after the main gladiator Maximus in his favorite movie, The Gladiator. Even though LeBron still needed to attend a practice session, he stood by Savannah all the time she was in labor.

He can easily join the NBA in a few short years and even at the same age as his father at 18. This will be a great lineage of excellent sportsmen from the LeBron James family.

At the age of 15, Bryce was already a little taller than his older brother, Bronny, and played his father’s favorite game. It will be a great day for LeBron James if he can play with both of his sons in the NBA.

After the birth of his second son, LeBron James decided to move from his hometown team, Cleveland Cavaliers, to Miami. His many fans at home weren’t happy when they heard that their favorite player was going to join a rival team.

This happened in 2010 when LeBron became a free agent and joined the Miami Heat team. He was welcomed by the officials, and the team’s fans, with open arms.

Many Cleveland Cavalier fans made their voice heard when it was announced that LeBron was making a move. This was made public on the TV special, The Decision, and was accepted with mixed emotions.

He signed a six-year deal with Miami Heat and brought a lot of talent and experience. In his own words: “To have the best opportunity to win now and to win into the future.”

LeBron and Savannah had been an item for many years now, and with two children already, they needed to make their arrangement permanent. So, LeBron popped the question in 2011, and they were engaged for two years.

On September 14th, 2014, they celebrated their years together and got married. Their wedding took place in San Diego and lasted for three days to make it extra special while everyone enjoyed it.

Just over a month after they got married, their daughter was born on October 22nd, 2014. This was a happy day for the father, LeBron James, who admitted a great change in his life.

According to LeBron, it changed him in many ways, especially the responsibility he felt for the women in his life. He also said that being Zhuri Nova’s father made him a better, stronger, and more dedicated man.

At a young age, she already knew how to use the family name to become a little star on her own. With a YouTube channel of her own, All Things Zhuri,  she has more than 200,000 followers.

Regular videos about her own daily life and parents are posted for the subscribers to view. Her family, friends, and loving parents are featured in these videos.

To the delight of his many fans back home, Lebron announced in 2014 that he was returning to his home team. This was indeed a happy day for his fans and those who supported the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It was also great for both LeBron and Savannah to return home to where they first met. Now, they could settle there and let their children grow up in the same place they fell in love.

When Lebron James returned to his home team, he made them a promise that he’d give them another win. This promise to grant the city another championship was what he planned to do.

In 2016, the man made his promise come true, and the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA finals. This was all to the delight of his home team fans and the LeBron James fans.

All the while, his wife, Savannah, kept a low profile and stayed home with the kids, playing mom and housewife. Every now and then, she’d appear in public with her husband on occasions, but she didn’t like the limelight.

It’s not that she didn’t have the personality and looks to become a star herself. According to her, it wasn’t her scene, so she wasn’t available for many interviews.

Just like her parents, Savannah decided to give back to the community and started a mentorship program for teenage girls. This local mentorship was for girls in her hometown and community called, Akron: Woman of Our Future.

The whole family got involved in her charity undertakings, and even her husband, LeBron, became involved. She also started the LeBron James Family Foundation to do good deeds in the world.

This foundation helps youth in the community with problems and keeps them in school. Helping youth overcome difficulties and giving them a better education will give them a better and more secure future.

The foundation led by this couple also started the I Promise School, a public elementary school in Akron, Ohio. This will help to lay a sturdy foundation for those children with troubled backgrounds to have more stability.

Savannah threw her heart into these foundations and started another one called the I PROMise Makeover. This is an organization that provides prom dresses for underprivileged teens in the community.

This made an impact on the community in which they grew up and met each other. A lot of money has been donated by the LeBron James Family Foundation towards scholarships at Akron university.

The James household is one happy family and is just what LeBron and Savannah wanted for their home and children. Because LeBron grew up without a father, he wanted to be there for his children so they could have what he did not.

This is a great achievement for someone who didn’t have dual-parent role models when growing up. Now, both LeBron and Savannah James are happy to be called Mom and Dad.

Even though Gloria struggled to give her son the best she could, she achieved a lot with little to spare. It’s clear that LeBron has a great appreciation for the woman who raised him into the man he’s become.

Nowadays, he’s able to provide for his wife and family and give his mother everything she didn’t have. This is a great way of saying ‘thank you, mom!’

Just like her parents, Savannah made the James home a place of hospitality and enjoys having friends and family over. The same values she was taught by her parents are now part of their huge home in Los Angeles.

Every visitor to their home is made to feel welcome and stay for dinner or just have coffee. It’s great to see that these people didn’t forget their roots.

Even though they’re very popular and have millions of fans, the James couple didn’t change. They’re still the down-to-earth people they were when they just started out with much less at their disposal.

It’s important to LeBron and Savannah that their children stay humble, which is why they provide that example. As LeBron has said, his family keeps him grounded.

Since that day in 2002 when they first met, LeBron and Savannah have been together and kept it that way. They went from high school sweethearts to the mom and dad of three children and they became famous.

They’ve made it far and will keep going for the sake of their family and true love. It’s nice to know that they’re committed to each other, their children, and their fans.

Marilyn Monroe- it’s a name that everyone knows. One of Hollywood’s most famous celebs of all time and a timeless beauty, Marilyn Monroe was loved and adored by fans during her time and still is today. However, her life wasn’t always glitz and glamor. Born as Norma Jean Baker in a small town to a single mother, her early childhood was rough. Taking care of Marilyn became too much for Gladys, a single mother with mental health issues, to handle, and she had a mental breakdown. She became institutionalized and Marilyn was sent to live in foster care. A she got older, Marily learned to fend for herself, eventually joining the army during World War II where she worked assembling drones. This was where she was discovered by a photographer and her whole life changed…

Naturally, the world ached to know every little detail about Marilyn Monroe’s personal life – a craving that only grew after her untimely death. Still, Marilyn managed to keep some intimate details away from the public sphere.

Marilyn was no stranger to plastic surgery – she had a nose job as well as a chin implant to change her facial structure. Marilyn was actually brave in undergoing the knife, seeing as plastic surgery in the 50’s was no way near as advanced as it is today.

Although Marilyn always portrayed a brainless, blonde bombshell in her films (a persona she hated), in reality she was in fact the opposite.

It is reported that she had an IQ of 160+ – although there isn’t any proof that she had actually took the standardized IQ test. Still, that score is classified as a genius! There were also rumors of Monroe getting intimate with Einstein, although it is hard to tell if these rumors had any basis to them.

During the war, Marilyn worked in an explosives factory, and interestingly enough, these photos of her are what initially set her career in motion.

David Conover, an army photographer, was sent to her base to take pictures of Women in War Work. He moved down the assembly line taking shots of the most attractive employees when he came upon a girl putting on propellers. Loving Marilyn’s ‘plain Jane’ look so much, Conover sent her straight to Hollywood.

Marilyn’s mother, Gladys, attempted at a normal life – trying to piece her life back together, her mother gathered what little money she had and bought a house just for the two of them.

Sadly, little Marilyn was just too much to handle and Gladys, having enough on her plate, felt overwhelmed as she tried to support and take care of both herself and her daughter. Unfortunately, a few months afterwards she had a mental breakdown and had to be institutionalized.

One of her first modeling gigs was for Douglas Airlines, back when she was still Norma Jeane. Her curly hair, innocent smile and curious spark in her eyes made her seem like a complete natural whenever she was facing a camera.

She also appeared in magazine shoots, but when photographer Raphael Wolff hired her for a shampoo advertisement and Marilyn bleached and straightened her hair, was when she truly started booking more and more modeling gigs.

James Dougherty, a retired Los Angeles police detective, earned a niche in Hollywood history when he married a pretty teenager named Norma Jean Baker in the early 1940’s.

Although he was the first of three husbands, few know how much he’s changed Marilyn’s life – having married Marilyn when she was only 15-years-old. After their short marriage ended, James revealed that – “I never knew Marilyn Monroe, and I don’t claim to have any insights to her to this day. I knew and loved Norma Jean.”

Naturally born a brunette, Marilyn did not look like her iconic self at all when she was younger. When she signed her first modeling contact, the producer brought up a suggestion he felt strongly about – Marilyn should dye her hair blonde.

Still not entirely convinced, Marilyn wasn’t sure that she was ready to part from her naturally colored hair, but then the producer explained it would appear to be much more alluring than her current brown hair. That was all Marilyn needed to hear.

Known widely as extremely photogenic, Marilyn sought out different ways to maintain her good looks – and she was willing to try many off-putting, bizarre techniques to do just that.

On one occasion, Marilyn revealed one of her secrets by admitting she would apply thick hormone cream to her face multiple times a day. The cream caused a sort of peach-fuzz to grow on her face, which she claimed gave her an intense radiance evident in all her photos.

The Seven Year Itch was the most controversial topic discussed back in 1955, particularly the scene where Marilyn Monroe and co-star Tom Ewell exit a movie theater and a breeze from the subway passing below lifts Marilyn’s skirt.

Instead of rushing to cover her legs, as any decent woman of that era would have, Marilyn exclaims, ״Isn’t it delicious?״ Rumor has it that second husband and baseball legend Joe DiMaggio became enraged at the director, claiming he had shot this particular scene far too many times.

Perhaps it was the pressure of fitting her own enormous shoes or trying to maintain a persona she was internally struggling with, but for Marilyn, it went beyond landing a part for her good looks.

Despite having revealed her large collection of books, it seems that the blonde bombshell had a significantly difficult time remembering her lines. Standing in front of the camera, the actress was known to often jumble words together, mumble and ask for retakes, as the pressure was simply too much.

Becoming growingly aware of the fact that she was granted several opportunities in Hollywood thanks to her physical appearance, Marilyn had evolved into an intensely self-conscious individual.

By hiding certain facts about herself, like the fact that she loved to read and had even wore glasses, she believed her everyday character – and thus, her success – could be sustained for a longer period of time. Therefore, she hid away her glasses and rarely, if ever, wore them in front of the public eye.

The last film shot before her untimely death was Something’s Got To Give. Her life was featuring so many ups and downs back then and Marilyn was struggling to show up at work, claiming to be ill.

What she lacked in professionalism, she tried to make up in friskiness – during one scene, Marilyn was supposed to swim in a pool wearing a flesh-colored bathing suit, but opted to do without. Disappointingly, Marilyn had died before the movie was done filming, and so it never aired.

Running off from one set to the next and being constantly on the move, Marilyn managed to let her little quirks slip under the radar.

However, after rushing to the bathroom numerous times a day, rumors about the beauty icon started spreading like wild fire. Only later were these rumors silenced, when the actress her self owned up to feeling unclean very often. Because of this, she reportedly washed her face about 15 times a day. Generally speaking, Marilyn had trouble working past her constant feeling of being contaminated.

Although she saw many verbal coaches regularly to help her out with her problem, Marilyn’s speech impairment was very noticeable.

Known to stutter even more so when she was put on the spot, Marilyn tried to calm her nerves and make coherent sentences when facing the media. Since there was no denying how difficult and restricting this issue was for an actress of her fame and rank, the media seemed to turn a blind eye in order to make her feel more comfortable.

While it might seem like the two worlds are the furthest they can be from each other, Marilyn often amused herself by trying to combine politics and Hollywood.

Her affair with President John F. Kennedy is infamous to this day, but few know that Marilyn took a genuine interest in politics and was immensely inspired by one of the nation’s greatest leaders – Abraham Lincoln. In fact, her favorite book was the Biography Of Abraham Lincoln, and was seen carrying the book wherever she went.

Despite being discovered relatively young and spotted for her unique facial features and mesmerizing body, Marilyn had done excruciatingly poorly when she initially attempted at being recognized.

In fact, her first job as a model was so badly paid, it is even more ridiculous when compared to the big bucks movie stars and fashion icons are making nowadays. Although only at the stage of trying to kick off her career, Marilyn received a sum just shy of five dollars for her first ever modeling gig.

After Marilyn’s troubled childhood, she desperately wanted to create a stable home for herself. She truly loved children and wanted a family of her own.

Sadly, Marilyn had two miscarriages throughout her life. Recently, it has been revealed that Marilyn Monroe’s friend, Frieda Hull, kept color pictures she took of Marilyn’s baby bump private. Unfortunately, the photos were sold as part of Frieda’s estate in 2016, along with a note saying “it was never made clear whether that was by way of a miscarriage or even an abortion.”

One of Marilyn’s best known features is her voluptuous figure, but few know that she had an amazing talent at taking ordinary items and transforming them into body enhancing ones.

When she wanted to achieve a perkier look, she sewed marbles into her bras. Sometimes, if there were no marbles on hand, she would sew together a couple of buttons to get the same effect. Her invention was later perfected into what we call today a push-up bra.

“I am so concerned about protecting Arthur, I love him – and he is the only person – human being I have ever known that I could love not only as a man to which I am attracted to practically out of my senses about – but he [is] the only person […] that I trust as much as myself.”

Having written these words in Marilyn’s private diary, it is understandable why she completely fell apart when Miller left her for a photographic archivist, Inge Morath.

Rarely thought of as a fitness icon, Marilyn Monroe certainly has a lot of talents she has kept stacked away. “I am trying to find myself.

Sometimes that’s not easy” said Marilyn on one occasion, but during a 1952 interview with LIFE magazine, she revealed that she lifted weights daily, and in a 1948 set of black-and-white photos, she showed off some asanas. She was also rumored to the student of Indra Devi, a Swedish-Russian Bollywood film star.

“Happy birthday Mr. President” she sang in a steamy, racy voice – and so, on the eve of JFK’s birthday, everyone was staring at Marilyn Monroe.

More than 5 decades later, that 60-second performance is still making waves, and on November 2016, the Jean Louis dress that Monroe wore to sing Happy Birthday to JFK was up for auction, a glittering memento of her tragic last days. The dress she wore during that evening, a flesh-toned gown beaded with 2,500 glittering rhinestones, was sold for a record-breaking amount of $1.26 million.

She might have been the laughing stock of many, but those who actually had the advantage of working with Marilyn were surprised to find out that her devotion to work exceeded the levels of many others.

Despite being named tardy towards the end of her career and life, Marilyn was so invested in her work that she often refused to go off character during filming breaks, and avoided mingling with fellow actors who she perceived as people who do not take their job seriously.

It is no secret that Marilyn’s mother was diagnosed as clinically depressed and had suffered from many other mental illnesses, all of which had greatly affected Marilyn. What few know is that Marilyn’s entire family had a history of mental instability.

Marilyn herself spoke of her internal demons on more than one occasion, claiming to be fearful of the moment the suicidal thoughts and gloomy state would take over her, as well. After all, her mother, her uncle, and great-grandmother both ended their own lives too.

Her flawless physique and go-get-’em attitude were every young woman’s deepest desire in Marilyn’s time, and it is easy to understand why.

Making more waves than the highest paid actress and swerving more heads than the most featured model, Marilyn Monroe let one of her secrets slip – she was actually double jointed in the knees, which meant she had to lock her knees in order to walk properly. This locking of the knees gave her the signature swoon in her hips.

Marilyn posed nude for a series of photos – “I decided I’d be safer [with a friend] than with some rich old guy who might catch me in a weak moment when I was hungry and didn’t have enough to buy a square meal.

He told me he’d camouflage my face, but it turned out everybody recognized me.” That same friend later admitted to having paid Marilyn only $50, while he sold the rights to a calendar maker for $500. When the calendar was published, around 8 million copies were sold.

Marilyn was wonderful when it came to learning techniques such as makeup, hand positions and body posture. Marilyn Monroe, however, was one of the first starlets to contour her face using make up.

Since her facial features made a fantastic canvas as they were, her makeup artist thought it would be best to mix it up a bit and try to apply makeup in a new way. And so, instead of the normal cat-eye and red lips, he would contour her nose with blush to make it seem smaller.

Natural beauty was big in Marilyn’s time, although this talent had a knack of adding external bits to her face and outfits that made an impeccable overall look.

Wanting to seem dreamier but still maintain her rather simple makeup routine, Marilyn had started applying semi-lashes to her eyes, as she decided she wanted her eyelashes to look voluminous, but still natural. She ended up applying half false eye lashes on the outer corner of the eyes, a trick still used by makeup artists today.

Gladys Baker was a complicated woman. Alone by the time Marilyn was born, Gladys was determined to look after her new child despite how single mothers were frowned upon by society.

Still, for almost seven years Marilyn lived without her mother, but stayed with the Bolenders who cared deeply for her and wanted to adopt her. Gladys was appalled by this, as she had already lost two children when her first husband took them out of state after their divorce.

Then, Gladys decided to move Marilyn into a house she was sharing with the Atkinsons – an English couple who worked in the movies.

Shortly after moving in together, news came through that Gladys’ grandfather had committed suicide and that her son Robert had been tragically killed. These two events were enough to push her over the edge, and she found herself blaming Marilyn for their deaths, yelling at her that it should have been her that died instead.

She was a star on the rise, and yet it all threatened to come crashing down with the discovery not only that she had posed nude, but that her mother, whom she had been declaring dead for years, was actually alive and living in an institution.

These revelations almost spelled the end of her career, but Marilyn took a deep breath and decided to tell the truth. She claimed she had done the nude photos because she was broke and needed the money. As for her mother, well she wanted to keep her whereabouts a secret to protect Gladys, not herself.

In 1956, Marilyn and her husband at the time, playwright Arthur Miller, arrived in London to film The Prince And The Showgirl.

However, this turned out to be a horrible time for Marilyn, who discovered Arthur’s secret notebook, elaborating in much detail how he felt let down by his new wife. Her marriage with Miller dissolved after he wrote the part of Roslyn for her in The Misfits. She found his Roslyn character entirely too personal and by the time it was finished – they were done.

Marilyn had numerous miscarriages in her life. After marrying Arthur Miller, they seemed to be a reoccurring epidemic. Unwilling to give up, Marilyn endured several failed operations in an attempt to become a mother.

Her last last surgery was in 1959, when the doctor informed her it was not successful. “I already know,” she told the doctor before he could even break the news. That was the last straw for poor Marilyn, who already felt like a failure as it was.

Only days after filming the misfits, Marilyn’s coworker Clark Gable passed away. His widow blamed Marilyn for his death, which caused her to spiral into an abyss of self pity and hate.

Attempting to pull herself out of that emotional rollercoaster, Marilyn checked into a hospital for rest – but accidentally entered a ward for seriously disturbed patients. Since only Joe DiMaggio could sign for her release, she called him up. The hospital released her after Joe threatened to take the hospital apart “brick by brick” if they wouldn’t.

In death, Marilyn Monroe is every bit as fascinating as she was in life. One of the suggested reasons for her abrupt life ending was suicide.

As the report read, the coroner’s initial finding was probable suicide by depressants: “Miss Monroe has suffered from psychiatric disturbance for a long time. On more than one occasion… when disappointed or depressed, she has made a suicide attempt. On these occasions, she had been rescued. It is our opinion the same pattern was repeated [on August 4] except for the rescue.”

Suicide theory skeptics argued that if Marilyn had overdosed on pills, traces should have been found in her stomach during the autopsy – which they weren’t.

What seemed more likely was a cover-up, since the stories told by the individuals who found her were inconsistent. The official story explains Marilyn’s housekeeper woke at 3.30am to see Marilyn’s light on and the door locked. She called psychiatrist who arrived shortly after, who called the police immediately. But in later interviews, the housekeeper said she discovered the body ‘about midnight’.

Cover-up fanatics also claimed an investigation in 1982 by the LA District Attorney revealed an ambulance was called to the house while Marilyn was still alive.

The head of the ambulance that took Marilyn to the hospital explained Marilyn “passed away at the hospital,” a very different statement than the one given before. Additionally, the first police officer to arrive at the crime scene, Jack Clemmons, believed the death scene was staged. The room was tidy, the linen fresh, the housekeeper was even doing laundry.

Marilyn was often associated with Bobby Kennedy, as the two were rumored to be having out an affair. Wiretapper Bernard Spindel came out to the public with the statement that he bugged Marilyn’s house.

Spindel claimed to have listened to an argument between Bobby Kennedy and Marilyn the night of her death, during which he allegedly heard a loud bang. Spindel was convinced the bang meant Marilyn was hit strongly with something hard that caused her death. The tapes were seized by the DA in 1966 and “routinely destroyed.”

When Marilyn’s career was finally starting to pick up in the 1950’s, her agent and mentor Johnny Hyde, vice president of the William Morris Agency, died suddenly of a heart attack.

His death was particularly inconvenient considering only a few days prior to his death he secured a seven-year contract for Marilyn. The rising star felt as though her promising future was about to dissolve, since the one man she learned to trust had left her alone in the world.

Determined to break out of her sexpot typecasting, Marilyn endured several lengthy battles with her production company over the films she worked on.

Since she felt as though she was not being taken seriously despite her many threats, Marilyn came to her senses and established the fact that she was the only one with her own personal best interest at heart. Marilyn went so far as to create her own company – Marilyn Monroe Productions – which was immediately lampooned by the press.

After her marriage to Miller disintegrated, Marilyn was still forced to work with him on the The Misfits. Unfortunately for Marilyn, Miller started a new relationship during the filming, one that he carelessly flaunted around the set.

To cope with the agony it caused her, Marilyn wrote in her diary: “Starting tomorrow I will take care of myself for that’s all I really have and as I see it now have ever had […] I still feel hopeless. I think I hate it here because there is no love here anymore.”

The budget for Something’s Got To Give was getting tight, so the film executive had to do something about it.

Therefore, in spite of being well aware of Marilyn having sinusitis and requiring lots of rest, Studio heads spread rumors about her, accusing her of faking her disease. Once setting the ground, they were able to sue Marilyn for $750,000 in damages, but at co-star Dean Martin’s insistence, they eventually attempted to resume filming before her untimely death.

Few know that Marilyn was a secret poet, mostly thanks to her many psychologists who pushed her to write down her deepest, darkest thoughts:

“I think I am very lonely—my mind jumps. I see myself in the mirror now, brow furrowed—if I lean close I’ll see—what I don’t want to know—tension, sadness, disappointment, my [“blue” is crossed out] eyes dulled, cheeks flushed with capillaries that look like rivers on maps—hair lying like snakes. The mouth makes me the sadd[est], next to my dead eyes…”

The contouring queen may often be associated with reality stars of the Kardashian descent, but it was Marilyn who nailed the trick of using several shades to tone her face better.

To make her lips appear fuller, Monroe applied 5 different shades of lipsticks and gloss, thus creating dimension. Darker reds went on the outer corners, while lighter reds were brushed on the middle of the lips. This created a shadowy 3D effect giving the lips a plumper look.

Monroe was so aware of her persona, her friends frequently commented on how different she acted when she wasn’t “in character.”

Author Truman Capote noted that he once found her gazing into a mirror and asked what she was doing, to which she replied, “Looking at her.” Monroe’s Misfits co-star Eli Wallach recalled walking around NYC with her, saying, “Nobody noticed who she was because she was just being herself — suddenly her walk, attitude and appearance would change and in moments everyone would be ogling her and asking for autographs.”

Few people know that rock musician Marilyn Manson derived his stage name from Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson. When asked for the reason behind those two particular names, Manson replied that it was in order to project a dichotomy between good and evil.

But oddly enough, in his autobiography, Manson smirked as he stated nobody ever suspects that the Monroe half might be just as dark as the Manson half. “Marilyn Monroe had a dark side, just as Charles Manson has a good, intelligent side,” he wrote.

Somehow the news have spread about Marilyn Monroe being a size 16, but Sara Buys, a fashion editor for The Times of London utterly dismissed that rumor, as she had the opportunity to try on articles of Monroe’s clothing.

“Quite the opposite,” wrote Buys. “While she was undeniably voluptuous — in possession of an ample bosom and a bottom that would look at home gyrating in a J-Lo video — for most of the early part of her career, she was a size 8 and even in her plumper stages, was no more than a 10.”

Forbes magazine ranked Marilyn Monroe as 2013’s sixth highest-earning dead celebrity, entering a very prestigious list after Michael Jackson, Elvis, Charles M. Schulz, Elizabeth Taylor and Bob Marley.

She was also named the new face of Chanel No. 5 in October of that same year, which should have occurred much sooner considering she was a volunteer advertiser for their perfume in her prime, as well. One of her most famous quotes was her answer to the question “what do you wear to bed?” – to which she replied, “my Chanel No.5.”

The FBI investigated Marilyn because they thought she was a communist sympathizer. They compiled a 34-page file monitoring the actress for ties to communism in the years before her death.

Monroe’s file focus on her travels and associations, searching for signs of leftist views. For years, the FBI files on Monroe have intrigued investigators, biographers and those who don’t believe her death at her Los Angeles area home was a suicide, but the bureau never found any proof she was a member of the Communist Party.

Marilyn Monroe is the exact embodiment of an insecure woman wearing a confidence mask. Emmeline Snively, the agent who had signed a young Norma Jeane Dougherty, shared that Marilyn “didn’t feel she was a qualified actress, [but] how could she have felt any different?

“She’d signed her first contract before she had her first acting lesson. God I wanted to cry for her then. This can be the loneliest town in the world, and it’s even lonelier for you if you’re on top of the heap.”

Marilyn had a huge library in her home which contained over 400 books. Reading was Monroe’s favorite pastime and she once claimed that she could understand a book’s entire plot after skimming just 10 pages.

This fact is surprising considering she became famous for playing comic “dumb blonde” characters. Feminist biographer Oline Eaton wrote on her blog that “the power of the phrase ‘Marilyn Monroe reading’ lies in its application to Monroe and in our assumption that she wouldn’t know how.”

Born by the name of Norma Jeane Baker, Marilyn was a small town girl trying to make it big in the bombastic Hollywood bubble.

Having initially changed her last name to Dougherty, the actress’s new name didn’t have the life changing effect she had hoped. When she finally signed a contract with 20th Century-Fox, agents recommended switching to a more attractive name. Monroe, a last name from her mother’s side was chosen, and before she knew it, Norma Jean Baker was dead.

Marilyn had a troubled childhood – her earliest memory of her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker, was her attempt to smother her with a pillow.

As a lonely child neglected by a mentally ill mother, Marilyn admits she was scarred greatly by having a parent suffering from schizophrenia. Eventually, Marilyn was sent into foster care and Gladys was in and out of various psychiatric hospitals for the remainder of Marilyn’s life. Secret Life mentioned what truly haunted Marilyn – the paralyzing fear that her mother’s madness is hereditary.