Marilyn was the daughter of a schizophrenic mother and who's father was not in her life at all. As a result of this she ended up in the foster system for most of her childhood and had to leave at least a couple of foster homes due to sexual assaults and/or attempts by men in her life beginning in pre-adolescence which most likely contributed to her adult oversexualization and depression. She married a boyfriend two years before she was even legal to avoid ending up a ward of the state again when her guardians were moving a declined to take her with them. She was a homemaker and he enlisted in the Marines and was shipped off. Clearly this marriage disolved and and she eventually became the figure we know. What most people don't know is that she was far from dumb and was an avid reader and diarist, concerned herself quite a bit with her diet and excercise routine (which in our time would be clearly lacking but in her time females weight lifting at all was rather unheard of) and desperately wanted to be a mother but was never able to carry a pregancy full term. She was surprisingly unmaterialistic and size-wise she was actually tiny.
from Shape.com
According to her dressmaker, she was 5’5 ½ and fluctuated between 118 and 140 pounds, with measurements that ranged between:
Bust: 35-37″
Waist: 22-23″
Hips: 35-36″
At either weight (118 and 140), Marilyn’s body mass index would fall within the normal 18.5 – 24.9 range – the numbers work out to 19.3 on the low end and 22.9 on the high end (I know BMI is flawed, but without knowing her body fat percentage, it’s the only viable estimate of weight status). Even at her heaviest, Marilyn was by no means overweight.
Simon Doonan wrote an article about his experience sorting and showcasing the items from her estate and was shocked to find that her clothes were too small for regular bustforms, they had to have special one made:
http://mobile.slate.com/articles/ar...marilyn_monroe_fat_her_secrets_revealed_.html
Her "diet and fitness" routine:
http://www.withamymac.com/news/2011/02/14/marilyn-monroe-fitness/
An article about her love of reading complete with the list of (I believe) all 400 titles she had in her library at the time of her death:
http://www.booktryst.com/2010/10/marilyn-monroe-avid-reader-writer-book.html?m=1
A Vanity Fair article about the secrets her diaries, notes and letters reveal about her life:
http://m.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/10/marilyn200810
Her Wikipedia, if you want to know more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marilyn_Monroe&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop
I, personally, view her as a rather tragic figure/cautionary tale instead of a role model but I definitely think she was beautiful and fascinating. I think that the thing about her that captures people is that even though her onscreen persona was always the dumb, ditzy blonde there was an inherent sweetness in her and all of the struggles, flaws and issues she had give her a very tangible realness. Same thing that I think makes Britney Spears so popular.
As far as this thing with people wanting to make her the poster girl for the "curvy" movement with their "She was a 16!!!" bull crap, all I can say is, ignorance is bliss. She was a tiny woman and no fatty will ever have her figure. It's not even realistic. It's unfair to hold anyone up to the standard of a genetic anomally. Her figure is no more attainable for most people than a supermodel's. Peeps need to stop worrying about convincing anyone else that there is just ONE look that is beautiful and better and start worrying about working with what they have and becoming the best version of themselves. Whatever that may be. Live and let live.
TL;DR - Sorry this is so long.
