Inside ‘Damaged’ Marilyn Monroe’s Affair With Her Sketchy Psychiatrist
Sep. 25 2019, Published 7:49 p.m. ET
The new episode of “The Killing of Marilyn Monroe” podcast delves deep into the shocking affair Marilyn Monroe carried on with her therapist, who she often shacked up with at his house.
“She was obviously astoundingly beautiful, but she was also very needy and she was a very damaged person,” author and Hollywood historian Bill Birnes noted on the the podcast.
The actress’ desperate search for a powerful man to look after her landed her in the arms of her own psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson.
“Dr. Greenson fell in love with Marilyn Monroe,” said entertainment journalist Charles Casillo of the psychiatrist’s “questionable” relationship with his famous patient. “Like many people before him, he fell under her spell... That was crossing all kinds of bad lines for doctor-patient because there was no separation between her therapy and her friendship.”
“She became more and more and more and more dependent on him,” continued Casillo. “He was making all kinds of decisions for her about who she should see and who she shouldn't see, and telling her who she should be friends with and who she shouldn't be friends with.”
Dr. Greenson had become just one more player in a game that Monroe had long ago lost control over.
Download and stream “The Killing of Marilyn Monroe” everywhere podcasts are available for more on just how significant a role Dr. Greenson was to play in Monroe’s passing.
The 12-part series investigates the secret life Monroe hid from the world before her controversial death on Aug. 5, 1962. While many believe the star’s deep depression led her to take her own life, others still believe she was murdered 57 years ago.
Upcoming episodes of “The Killing of Marilyn Monroe” investigate the actress’s secrets in never-before-heard detail. The series documents her career, marriages, affairs, and so much more.