A Marilyn Monroe fan threatened Joe DiMaggio
As we know, Joe DiMaggio was Marilyn Monroe’s second husband. Their marriage, which lasted only nine months in 1954, was plagued with problems. DiMaggio was extremely jealous and openly disapproved of Marilyn’s career, as he wanted a traditional wife. He was not particularly kind to her, and due to the constant tension, Marilyn was unfaithful to him. At times, they barely even spoke to one another. Ironically, their marriage came to an end alongside one of the most iconic moments of Marilyn’s career: the famous scene in The Seven Year Itch where her skirt is blown up by a subway grate. The scene, filmed in public as a clever marketing stunt by Billy Wilder, drew loud cheers and risqué comments from the crowd. DiMaggio was furious at the attention Marilyn received, and some sources even claim that he became physically violent with her that night. Marilyn would not tolerate such treatment, and soon after, she divorced him.
However, Marilyn Monroe’s relationship with Joe DiMaggio lasted much longer than their brief marriage. The two began dating in 1952, though they did not marry until 1954. In the early years, their relationship was smoother than what would later unfold during their marriage, though tensions already arose due to rumors of Marilyn’s alleged affairs during the filming of River of No Return and There’s No Business Like Show Business. Despite his jealousy and controlling behavior, DiMaggio genuinely loved Marilyn, and he came to realize his mistakes after losing her. He even sought therapy in an effort to change.
When Marilyn divorced Arthur Miller, DiMaggio saw his chance to win her back. His devotion became especially clear in 1961, when Marilyn was mistakenly committed to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in New York. Joe rushed from San Francisco to rescue her, and this gesture rekindled Marilyn’s feelings for him. That same year, they vacationed together in Florida and maintained an on-and-off, open relationship until Marilyn’s death. Marilyn herself admitted that she still loved him, and there were even rumors that the two were planning to remarry. While these claims cannot be fully confirmed, they are far more plausible than the sensational stories about Marilyn supposedly preparing to marry José Bolaños, a Mexican filmmaker with whom she had only a brief affair in Mexico. After the 1962 Golden Globes, DiMaggio personally pushed Bolaños out of Marilyn’s life. Although Bolaños later claimed he and Marilyn were engaged, all of her close friends denied this, and no credible source has ever considered him a significant figure in her final months. Another rumor suggested that Marilyn and Robert Kennedy were planning to marry. While Marilyn and RFK were friends and may have had a brief fling, the idea of marriage is virtually impossible according to serious, non-conspiratorial sources. Compared to these stories, the possibility of Marilyn and DiMaggio considering remarriage is much more likely, though still unconfirmed.
What is certain is that after Marilyn’s death in 1962, DiMaggio organized her funeral and sent roses to her crypt for decades. He never remarried. Their romance was, without question, the most important in both of their lives. While Marilyn’s marriage to Arthur Miller lasted a bit longer, it lacked the same kind of love, and her first marriage to James Dougherty was even less meaningful. Counting their years of dating, marriage, and later reconciliation, Marilyn and Joe’s relationship spanned several years and left a lasting mark on them both.
Joe DiMaggio never remarried after Marilyn’s death; however, not everyone accepted his decision to move on with his life. Between 1963 and 1964, DiMaggio was briefly linked to an actress, although their relationship never became serious. A fan of Marilyn Monroe had different ideas. The girl, who was mentally unstable, began sending threatening letters to both DiMaggio and the actress, expressing anger at the notion of Joe being with another woman. After receiving several letters, DiMaggio reported the case to the authorities, and the FBI opened an investigation.
The threatening letters sent to Joe DiMaggio after Marilyn Monroe’s death reveal the disturbing intensity of some fans’ devotion. In these messages, the woman condemned DiMaggio for allegedly being involved with another woman—whom she viciously referred to as a “high-class prostitute.” According to the fan, this woman had supposedly tricked several Hollywood magnates, become pregnant, and later been paid thousands of dollars to have an abortion. The writer insisted that DiMaggio was a “gentleman” and demanded that he honor Marilyn’s memory by never remarrying. The letters went beyond jealousy—they revealed an obsessive, almost delusional fixation with protecting Monroe’s legacy, even at the cost of harassing the man she once loved.
Although it is rarely discussed, the fan also expressed extreme hostility toward Arthur Miller. In the FBI files, Miller’s name is redacted, but the context makes it clear who she was referring to. She argued that being an “intellectual” or “studious man” did not make him a gentleman, contrasting him with Marilyn, whom she described as a true lady despite lacking formal education. According to the fan, Miller never should have married Monroe: at first, he seemed deeply in love, but this quickly faded, and his true nature began to show. She characterized him as a man with a “dirty mind” who was now trying to enrich himself by exploiting his marriage to Monroe—a clear reference to his 1964 play After the Fall. The letter went even further, suggesting that “someone should take care of him” so that the world would be a better place. This disturbing sentiment reveals not only the obsessive loyalty some fans felt toward Marilyn, but also how Miller’s posthumous portrayal of her was viewed as a cruel betrayal.
In one of her letters, the fan expressed regret over DiMaggio’s marriage to Monroe, insisting that if he had always behaved like the gentleman she believed him to be, their story might have been different. She argued that if DiMaggio had respected Marilyn’s career, controlled his temper, and been more willing to communicate, she would not have been afraid of remarrying him. According to the fan, Monroe truly loved both DiMaggio and the movies. She concluded that if he had acted as the “gentleman” Marilyn deserved, the actress would still be alive—and by his side.
According to FBI files, the woman received a series of explicit and violent threats from the correspondent. The letters warned that the recipient would be killed — variously by having her face disfigured with acid or being shot with a silenced pistol — and instructed her not to contact or meet DiMaggio in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Florida, or “anywhere in the world.” The writer also threatened DiMaggio directly, stating that if he married the woman she would be killed, and warned that any secret marriage would result in the deaths of both the woman and DiMaggio’s son.
Initially, Joe DiMaggio tore up the letters, but when they became too numerous he finally reported the situation. The FBI opened an investigation and discovered that the fan was institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital. She was described as being obsessed with sex and with DiMaggio himself, constantly reading newspapers and magazines about him. Eventually, the letters stopped. Given her mental condition, and since none of the threats had any real consequences for the intended victims, the fan was never punished.
As we have seen, crazy fans are nothing new—they have existed for a very long time. Marilyn, too, had her share of completely unhinged admirers, and she surely still does today. This particular fan went as far as threatening several people, but fortunately, she never carried out any of her threats.
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