Just weeks before her death, Marilyn Monroe gave what would become one of her most intimate and revealing interviews, offering a rare glimpse into the woman behind the icon. In the summer of 1962, she sat down with Life magazine editor Richard Meryman to discuss fame—but the conversation quickly evolved into something far more personal.
At 36, Monroe expressed a deep desire to be understood beyond her public image, admitting that being labeled a sex symbol made her feel reduced to an object rather than seen as a real person. Behind the glamour was a far more complex story. Born Norma Jeane Baker, she grew up in foster homes and an orphanage before being discovered at 18 while working in a factory, a moment that launched her modeling career and eventual rise to stardom.
The interview appeared in the August 3, 1962 issue of Life. Tragically, just two days later, Monroe was found dead from acute barbiturate poisoning in a case ruled a possible suicide—though questions about her final hours remain to this day.
Now, as the world approaches what would have been her 100th birthday, a new book, Marilyn: The Lost Photographs, The Last Interview, revisits that final conversation in full. It also includes her last photo session, captured by Allan Grant, with many images never before published.
In her own words, Monroe reflected on everything from her difficult childhood and complicated relationship with fame to her views on love, Hollywood, and identity. She spoke candidly about feeling misunderstood, navigating public expectations, and searching for authenticity in a world that often reduced her to an image.
Those who knew her best, including longtime friend James Haspiel, have said that “Marilyn Monroe” was, in many ways, a persona she created—while the real woman remained Norma Jeane.
The newly released material offers a poignant reminder of her vulnerability, intelligence, and depth—revealing a side of Monroe that the world rarely had the chance to truly see.
