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need it. Should be punished. Will be. I fuck up everything good I ever have,’ and on and on. I talked to her for about an hour, talked her down so she stopped crying and went calm again. Next time we talked, didn’t say a word to her about what she said before. Nor did she. Might as well have never happened. Then that’s how things always were with her.”
Marilyn by then must have known that her letter had crossed with Jackie and that she had no choice but to brazen out the consequences of her confession.
3321 Dent Place
Washington, D.C
Martha Marshall
8336 DeLongpre Avenue
Hollywood, California
November 12, 1954
Dear Martha,
Your letter so alarmed me that I am writing back instantly. You sound so sad and depressed, so I sincerely hope that this scarf will cheer you up a little and that you will soon be on the road to recovery.
First of all, I am absolutely convinced that you should never give up on becoming a mother. You would love, cherish, and nurture a child so deeply and make a perfect mother, so don’t lose heart.
As for my religion—I was, indeed, raised a Catholic. However, because of my parents’ divorce, I have always felt somewhat of an outsider in the society in which I live and my religion only intensified that feeling. Consequently, perhaps to my detriment, I allowed my Catholicism to lapse. Nonetheless, I believe in the precepts of the religion concerning divorce, particularly after my own experience in the aftermath of my parents’.
Your Mr. G sounds divine and I am flattered that you decided to confide in me. However, I am fearful of the consequence to your career in the eventuality that the affair ever becomes public knowledge. Although I suppose the studio would protect you from the resultant scandal. That concern aside, please don’t think that I am in the least bit shocked about your new romance with a married man.
How could I be, given the way in which my father cheated on my mother during their honeymoon, and later told me all about it, and his subsequent illicit affairs as well? My primary concern, Marilyn, is not about the morality of the situation—the heart, as we both know, beats to its own moral code—but that you may get hurt. Mr. G, I assume, is probably much older than you and, if he is anything like most men, can take good care of himself. Of course, I feel sorry for his wife, but French women are bred to endure their husbands’ infidelities, and who knows whether or not she has driven him to cheat. My mother certainly bore some responsibility for my father’s infidelity, so no doubt Mr. G’s wife does as well.
But please take care of yourself, dear Marilyn, in negotiating this perilous situation. You may be worldly on the surface, but knowing you as I do, I am profoundly aware that you can also be somewhat naïve. So I hope you will shield your heart as best you can. That said, please do not, under any circumstances, jump to the erroneous conclusion that I am judging you in any way whatsoever. Nothing is further from the truth, for I am sure that if I had never met Jack, I, too, might well have fallen prey to the blandishments of an older, experienced, married man. of some charm and sophistication. Consequently, I am certainly not judging you, nor would I ever, as I am much too fond of you. Please take great care, cherish your times with Mr. G, but do guard against giving away your entire heart to him. *
Warm regards,
Josephine
__________________________
* Jackie’s ability to guard her heart and restrain her emotions was masterly. Maria Mencher has made available to the editor her tapes of off-the-record interviews that she used for background on her groundbreaking 1977 biography of Jackie titled Jackie Unmasked (Düsseldorf: Muller Books, 1977). “During one of her trips to London to stay with Lee (shortly before Jackie married Ari) Jackie summoned one of her beaux, a lovestruck Philadelphia oil and steel millionaire named Gray Partland. He
Marilyn by then must have known that her letter had crossed with Jackie and that she had no choice but to brazen out the consequences of her confession.
3321 Dent Place
Washington, D.C
Martha Marshall
8336 DeLongpre Avenue
Hollywood, California
November 12, 1954
Dear Martha,
Your letter so alarmed me that I am writing back instantly. You sound so sad and depressed, so I sincerely hope that this scarf will cheer you up a little and that you will soon be on the road to recovery.
First of all, I am absolutely convinced that you should never give up on becoming a mother. You would love, cherish, and nurture a child so deeply and make a perfect mother, so don’t lose heart.
As for my religion—I was, indeed, raised a Catholic. However, because of my parents’ divorce, I have always felt somewhat of an outsider in the society in which I live and my religion only intensified that feeling. Consequently, perhaps to my detriment, I allowed my Catholicism to lapse. Nonetheless, I believe in the precepts of the religion concerning divorce, particularly after my own experience in the aftermath of my parents’.
Your Mr. G sounds divine and I am flattered that you decided to confide in me. However, I am fearful of the consequence to your career in the eventuality that the affair ever becomes public knowledge. Although I suppose the studio would protect you from the resultant scandal. That concern aside, please don’t think that I am in the least bit shocked about your new romance with a married man.
How could I be, given the way in which my father cheated on my mother during their honeymoon, and later told me all about it, and his subsequent illicit affairs as well? My primary concern, Marilyn, is not about the morality of the situation—the heart, as we both know, beats to its own moral code—but that you may get hurt. Mr. G, I assume, is probably much older than you and, if he is anything like most men, can take good care of himself. Of course, I feel sorry for his wife, but French women are bred to endure their husbands’ infidelities, and who knows whether or not she has driven him to cheat. My mother certainly bore some responsibility for my father’s infidelity, so no doubt Mr. G’s wife does as well.
But please take care of yourself, dear Marilyn, in negotiating this perilous situation. You may be worldly on the surface, but knowing you as I do, I am profoundly aware that you can also be somewhat naïve. So I hope you will shield your heart as best you can. That said, please do not, under any circumstances, jump to the erroneous conclusion that I am judging you in any way whatsoever. Nothing is further from the truth, for I am sure that if I had never met Jack, I, too, might well have fallen prey to the blandishments of an older, experienced, married man. of some charm and sophistication. Consequently, I am certainly not judging you, nor would I ever, as I am much too fond of you. Please take great care, cherish your times with Mr. G, but do guard against giving away your entire heart to him. *
Warm regards,
Josephine
__________________________
* Jackie’s ability to guard her heart and restrain her emotions was masterly. Maria Mencher has made available to the editor her tapes of off-the-record interviews that she used for background on her groundbreaking 1977 biography of Jackie titled Jackie Unmasked (Düsseldorf: Muller Books, 1977). “During one of her trips to London to stay with Lee (shortly before Jackie married Ari) Jackie summoned one of her beaux, a lovestruck Philadelphia oil and steel millionaire named Gray Partland. He
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