10 Marilyn Monroe Facts That Reveal Why The Audience Is in Awe of Her Even Today

Marilyn Monroe still remains one of the most recognizable celebrities ever. When thinking about her, the thing that comes to mind are her naive roles in movies or the scene where the wind is blowing up her dress. While these things are iconic, there are also a lot more reasons why people still love her to this day: starting from her work ethic to her progressive mindset.

Bright Side wants to look back on Marilyn’s life and list all the reasons why we still adore her. Prepare to fall in love with the Hollywood icon even more, since we bet you did not know some of these facts.

1. She supported various charities for children.

Marilyn was known for her generosity. She supported multiple charities for kids, including organizations for underprivileged children and a fund that placed abandoned children in homes.

2. She was a hard worker and never had anything handed to her.

Marilyn was born to a poor family and spent the majority of her childhood in foster homes. She got a modeling contract, which eventually lead to her getting cast in the movies, but she started off with really minor roles. Her career steadily progressed to her getting bigger and bigger roles.

3. She dared to defy Hollywood’s studio system.

Back in the 1950s, actors were treated like machines by studios and couldn’t refuse any roles, or else their careers would’ve been destroyed. Marilyn was forced to star in the movie River of No Return, but she hated it so much that she became brave enough to turn down roles she did not like. As a result, she faced many lawsuits from her studio, but it didn’t matter to her because she wanted to change the system.

4. She became the second woman to start her own production company.

Because of the lawsuits, Marilyn had to leave Twentieth Century Fox and fly to the other end of the country. They threatened to end her career, but instead, she founded her own company Marilyn Monroe Productions, which gave her more power than the rest of the actresses had at the time.

5. Marilyn proved that she could break away from typecasting and play different roles.

A lot of people knew her for her “dumb blonde” roles, but Marilyn did not like doing them. She felt like she could do something more, and she proved it when she played Cherie in Bus Stop. The critics praised her, saying that she proved her talent and that she “accomplished the most difficult feat for any film personality.”

6. She treated people with kindness and helped out whenever she could.

Marilyn was friends with jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, who could not get a gig because of her race. The owner believed that she was not glamorous enough. To help the situation, Marilyn promised the club owner that she would sit in the front seat every night if Ella got to sing. Her promise got Ella a job and generated publicity.

7. Even though she became a world-famous star, she still remained “one of the people.”

When we think about celebrities, we often think about all the riches they own and how they spend money on things normal people cannot afford. It seems that Marilyn did not let that get to her, as she used a really cheap and unexpected foundation on her face instead of going the professional route — it was Vaseline.

8. She also struggled with self-esteem.

The camera loved Marilyn, but she did not seem to love it back — according to sources, she was really shy in front of it, and would often lose her focus when she had a camera pointing at her. It is said to be due to her lack of self-confidence, but she remained a professional and continued doing her job.

9. She was well-read and educated.

Marilyn owned a collection of over 400 volumes of books, and her favorite pictures of herself were the ones where she was reading. She said her method for buying books was to open a random page in one, read it, and get it if she liked what she saw.

10. Her wardrobe remains iconic to this day.

At the 2022 Met Gala, one of the biggest modern stars, Kim Kardashian, wore Monroe’s legendary 1962 dress to the ceremony, which Marilyn had custom-made for her to sing “Happy Birthday” to JFK.

What other facts about Marilyn Monroe do you know? What factors do you think make a celebrity admired by everyone, even years after they’ve passed?