"I have a hole in my heart....and I don't know how to fill it...."

"They talked about my mother and her father and brother & grandmother all
being mental cases & said I would certainly follow in their footsteps."

     
~ 1 st photo ~ Maternal grandmother Della Hogan holding her new grandaughter Norma Jeane.
~ 2nd Photo ~ Grandmother Della (left) & her sister Myrtle circa 1890.

                 
Norma Jeane's Mother, Gladys Pearl Monroe
Age 4 ~ Age 16 ~ Age 72

"For a long time I was scared I'd find out that I was like my mother & end up in the crazy house.
I wonder when I break down if I'm not tough enough ~ like her. But I'm hoping to get stronger."

"I used to tell lies in my interviews ~ chiefly about my mother & father.
I'd say she was dead ~ & he was somewhere in Europe."

Norma Jeane's half brother Robert Kermit Baker, nick named Jackie.
He died at 14, Norma Jeane never knew him.

        
~ circa 1919 ~
~ 1st photo ~ Della, Jackie & Gladys holding infant Berniece
~ 2nd photo ~ Gladys, holding Berniece. Her brother Marion Monroe is holding Jackie.

"Alan Ladd is such a gentleman. On an impulse I almost told him that one my grandfathers, Otis Elmer Monroe, helped build the Mexican National Railroad & knew Poncho Villa. Poor Della Mae, my grandmother was so embarrassed visiting my grandfather in the hospital since he was dying of a disease he contacted as a playboy in Mexico. I could have shocked Alan with the story of how my grandmother Della put a pillow over my face when I was a year and a half old baby. She didn't kill me but it was not through lack of trying. Like her brother and father she was committed to a mental hospital. Seemed to be a common gene in the family. Mother Gladys was in and out of mental hospitals & it was always my nightmare that the same would occur with me."

*Click on the image of the postcard and letters to read them

~ Norma Jeane meets her half sister Berniece for the first time in the fall of 1944 ~

~ Letter written February 2, 1944 by Norma Jeane to Berniece

~ Letter from Norma Jeane to Berniece 1945

Berniece, Norma Jeane, Gladys & Mona
~ 3 generations at Santa Monica Beach 1946

Berniece & Norma Jeane 1946

Berniece, Mona, Aunt Grace Goddard, unidentified woman, Norma Jeane, Aunt Ana Lower & Gladys 1946

"I have never seen my half-sister. We have nothing in common. She is married to an airplane engineer.
I am not sure where he lives. It's in Florida, Clearwater or St. Petersburg."
~ Marilyn Monroe to Maurice Zolotow

"I think her desire for privacy was a big part of why she gave out fake stories
about her background through her public relations people. She thought that she could preserve my normal life and my family's & that she could protect our mother's privacy by giving false leads to the press."
~ Berniece Baker Miracle

Berniece holding a photo of Marilyn 1994

~ If you would like to learn more about Norma Jeane's relationship with her sister
Berniece please read her book "My Sister Marilyn" ~