Joe was the father she never knew, the strong, silent man who encouraged her and wanted to look after her, in life and even in death. There is a videotape made of Marilyn performing a sex act on an unknown man. The original 8mm sex film is mentioned in an FBI file after being investigated nearly 40 years ago by federal agents. It describes "a motion picture which depicted deceased actress Marilyn Monroe committing a perverted sex act on an unknown male". Joe is said to have tried to buy the film for $25 000 after her death. But the owner refused to sell the explosive movie because "it is the only one in existence". The FBI was interested in the film because the mystery man on whom Monroe was performing oral sex could have been a Kennedy, say insiders. "All you saw was the back of his head and a partial profile that was very Kennedy-esque. But the film turned out to have been shot before she met either brother, so it was a moot point." "He believed that the man was a movie executive who secretly shot the film after persuading Marilyn to romance him by offering to cast her in a movie." This is just proof that Joe wanted to protect her both in life and death as he repeatedly made offers to buy that film.

The relationship between Joe and Marilyn was complex, as on paper a marriage between America's shy sporting idol and America's sexually appealing movie star was not one destined for a fairytale ending. Joe was deeply in love with Marilyn and even promised her that if she died before him, that would he place flowers on her grave every week as William Powell had done for Jean Harlow. This was a promise DiMaggio upheld from her death in 1962, until his own death in 1999.

When Marilyn told Joe that she was going to abandon him on their their honeymoon in Japan, to entertain 13, 000 U.S troops in Korea, DiMaggio wasn’t exactly pleased. All he wanted was to spend time with his wife, not to have to share her with tens of thousands of troops. It is rumoured that while on tour, Marilyn was nursing a broken thumb that was rumoured to be a result of Joe's anger at her decision to perform for the troops. Although it has been reported that DiMaggio beat Marilyn on several occasions, he did love her and she still loved him. DiMaggio never intended to hurt his wife, he couldn’t understand her need for the spotlight and to be the glamourous star loved by all, and felt it necessary, in order to make Marilyn understand his point of view, to resort to violence.

Joe was jealous of not only the men but also the women that showed his wife attention. He didn’t think that it was right that the whole world be in love with his wife, and didn’t want to share her with anyone. He had certain ideas about what his wife should do and how she should be, which saw him dominate the relationship early on and become violent when Marilyn started to disagree with him.

Joe wasn’t jealous of her fame, as he was famous enough, but he was jealous of her appeal and the way that people reacted to his wife. DiMaggio longed for a clean and healthy 50s lifestyle with Marilyn - a lifestyle that included a wife who cooked, cleaned and looked after the house, and had dinner on the table every night when he walked through the door. This was not the case. Soon after they were married, he had asked Marilyn to abandon her career, but Marilyn was not about to abandon her career for a lifestyle she didn’t want and a marriage she wasn’t happy in. Dimaggio used this cocoon of male familiarity to escape from the pain of not having the quiet, typical family life and a wife to come home to every night. He was uncomfortable with the parade of people, social events and fanfare that surrounded Marilyn. He resented the fact that the phone and doorbell rang at all hours and he'd retreat behind a wall of silence, sometimes not uttering a word to Marilyn for days at a time.

DiMaggio was an extremely shy, traditional man from the old school who truly did love Marilyn but was not suited to be the husband of a legendary sex symbol, as he couldn’t handle men worldwide ogling over his wife. This was evident at the filming of the infamous skirt blowing scene for the film, “The Seven Year Itch.” Joe stormed off the set in a rage, of embarrassment and anger, as the scene was reenacted over and over again for thousands of on lookers, who got the chance to get a glimpse of the body that had set so many tongues wagging, time and time again. Joe was so that rumour has it that he beat her that evening in their hotel room for being an embarrassment to him and creating a spectacle of herself in public. What JoeM could not do was separate the fact that the actress performing the rituals demanded of her by her profession, the woman that every man in America wanted, was also his wife.

On October 5, 1954, just 274 days after they were married, Marilyn and Joe divorced. Marilyn claimed that she wanted a divorce on the grounds that Joe was mentally cruel to her. DiMaggio, was devastated as he still loved her. Although the divorce was ultimately granted, Joe refused to give up on a relationship with Marilyn, and they remained good friends until her death.

“The Wrong Door Raid”, in which Joe and Frank Sinatra, were allegedly involved in the raid of Florence Kotz's home looking to catch Marilyn with a lover in the apartment, was only a taste of the extent of Joe’s jealousy, and to what lengths he would go to get his wife back.

The weekend before Marilyn died Joe spent the weekend at Lake Tahoe with Marilyn. It is rumoured that they discussed and planned their wedding that was scheduled to go ahead on August 8th. However, some say that the weekend was only a ploy to obtain blackmail worthy material on Marilyn by Frank Sinatra on behalf of the Kennedy’s. DiMaggio, who never had a great liking of Frank was furious with him and the Kennedy’s for luring Marilyn to the Cal-Neva Lodge, with drugs and the fact that the Kennedy’s would be present, then stabbing her in the back by taking compromising photos of her to be used as blackmail if she threatened to expose the Kennedy’s. Joe was heartbroken for Marilyn as she was betrayed by the people that she thought were her friends, and lured back into a lifestyle of drugs, alcohol and scandal after their divorce, as she again joined the friendship circle of Sinatra and company – a group she neglected whilst married to DiMaggio.

Although Joe was still the same jealous guy she had met nine years ago, he offered her security as she knew he would always be there to look out for her, and that she would never again be in the mess she found herself in without him in her life, as her husband. DiMaggio had it in his mind, that he would be gaining his wife back, his one true love, whilst also protecting her and preventing the impending scandal that may have erupted if the news of her relationships with the Kennedy brothers became public knowledge. DiMaggio was the man Marilyn needed to ensure she survived, if the scandal was to break to the public, to reassure her that someone was on her side, as the public would not have looked favourably upon Marilyn if the details of her affairs became known and maybe someone to talk her out of taking her own life.

DiMaggio's love for Monroe was one of the few genuine aspects of DiMaggio's life. She was his only love - the one who reached deep into his soul, where he kept his emotions under double lock.

The 8th August, 1962, saw DiMaggio kiss Marilyn, but it wasn’t a kiss to seal their wedding vows, it was his kiss goodbye. Joe took care of all her funeral arrangements, and was devastated at the service, apparently leaning over her casket, whispered he loved her and kissed her forehead, whilst crying openly throughout he entire service. DiMaggio upheld his promise to send white roses to her grave twice a week, in honour of her memory refused to talk publicly about what he thought happened and had one rule - never mention Monroe, Sinatra or the Kennedys. For the last 37 years of his life, he was devastated as he had to live with the fact that he had come so close to remarrying her only to have her taken from him at the hands of Frank and the Kennedys.

DiMaggio's ultimate hatred for singer Frank Sinatra and for the entire Kennedy clan was instant upon Marilyn’s death because of the relationship President John Kennedy and his brother Robert had with Monroe. In the 1990s, DiMaggio was invited to appear at a charity event at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, and agreed to go only after being assured that no Kennedy would be there. When asked why he would bar family members who had never harmed him, he responded: 'It's in their blood, and what they did to me will never be forgotten. They murdered the one person I loved." DiMaggio even refused to shake Robert Kennedy’s hand when they met one time at New York’s Yankee Stadium. It’s no surprise that he shed no tears when the Kennedy’s were assassinated as he believed "they got what they deserved".

DiMaggio did the best thing regarding the memories of his days with Marliyn: he kept them to himself, where they belong and remained obsessed with the star for the rest of his life, never remarrying. DiMaggio reportedly turned down $50,000 for a 15-minute interview about her. His dying words showed his enduring passion for Marilyn. He took his last breath fully expecting to meet her in that other world, which he was certain existed. 'I'll finally get to see Marilyn,' were his last words.