Tapes reveal Monroe secrets

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe fretted over a relationship with then-Attorney General Robert F Kennedy and had a one-night stand with actress Joan Crawford that left her cold.

Monroe also thought sex with former spouse and playwright Arthur Miller was just "so-so" and maintained a deep affection for ex-husband Joe DiMaggio. But she credited her psychiatrist with teaching her how to achieve orgasm.

The Los Angeles Times revealed a few glimpses into Monroe's mind yesterday in excerpts of tape recordings the sex symbol and actress is said to have secretly made for her psychiatrist days before she died aged 36 in 1962.

The Times said it obtained a written record of the tapes from former prosecutor John Miner, 86, who says the recordings support his belief Monroe was a victim of foul play.

Miner took "extensive" and "nearly verbatim" notes from the tapes when they were played for him by Monroe's therapist, Ralph Greenson, now deceased, while Miner was investigating her death.

Monroe's body was found on August 5, 1962, in her Los Angeles home. An autopsy concluded she died of barbiturate poisoning, and the death was ruled a probable suicide. Many still claim she was murdered.

Miner told the Times the recordings showed the actress was anything but suicidal. She started off the recording by thanking her doctor for helping her regain "control of myself, control of my life".

She also credits him for helping her unlock the secret to orgasm after years of unsatisfying sex, and goes on to dwell on the shape of her own body, her former husbands, and her feelings toward such fellow stars as Clark Gable and Frank Sinatra, whom she called "a wonderful friend".

The tapes bore no evidence of Monroe's rumoured affair with President John F Kennedy, the Times said. But they did strongly suggest she and the president's brother, Robert, were involved romantically.

"I want someone else to tell him it's over. I tried to get the president to do it, but I couldn't reach him."

The Times said Miner was allowed to hear the tapes on condition he never reveal their contents and only broke his promise years after Greenson's death, when some Monroe biographers suggested the doctor might be considered a suspect in her death.

- REUTERS