Marilyn Monroe, the world's number one sex symbol and the most desirable woman on the planet, was not the man-eating siren that her image suggested, it has been revealed.

Fifty years after her death, an author who met the star has questioned her sexual identity.

Although she married and divorced three times, she was - though few people are aware of the fact - a lesbian by inclination.

She admitted to sexual encounters with actresses Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich and Elizabeth Taylor, as well as with both her acting coaches, Natasha Lytess and Paula Strasberg.

Only a day before Jean Negulesco, who directed her in 'How To Marry A Millionaire', was due to visit her, Monroe was found dead.

"I still think I might have saved her if I could have got to her in time," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

"You know what was wrong with her, don't you?

"Her whole existence was a search for identity, and her sexual identity was a complete lie.

"She told me once she had never had an orgasm with a man in her entire life," he said.

Another of those who worked with Monroe, actress Celeste Holm, who appeared with her in 'All About Eve', and who died last Sunday, said that Marilyn's sexual problems were rooted in her traumatic childhood.

Born illegitimately in 1926 to an unmarried mother in the charity ward of the Los Angeles General Hospital, she was originally known as Norma Jeane Mortenson, the child of a 24-year-old film negative cutter, Gladys Pearl Monroe Mortenson, who developed schizophrenia.

Both of Gladys's parents, Otis Elmer Monroe and Della Monroe Grainger, lived out their twilight years in mental institutions, while Gladys's brother, Marion, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

So it is small wonder that the child who became Marilyn Monroe grew up with a deep-rooted fear of genetic insanity.

This, according to Celeste Holm, gave Marilyn a lifelong terror of pregnancy.

In addition to her fear of giving birth to an abnormal child, Marilyn suffered from devastating bouts of endometriosis, a gynaecological condition causing intense pelvic pain, severe cramps and painful periods.

It made normal sexual intercourse difficult and uncomfortable.

"Because of this Marilyn was never able to enjoy sex with men," Holm said.

"She was afraid of it, and turned to older women as sexual role models," she had said.

(Read by CJ Henderson. CJ Henderson is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)
 

有爆料称，玛丽莲•梦露，世界头号性感女神，地球上男人最想得到的女人，并非如她动人形象所暗示的那样是吞噬男人的女妖。

梦露去世50年之后的今天，一个曾与这位巨星见过面的人在书中对她的性取向提出了质疑。

她虽然先后离婚三次，但确实有同性恋倾向，这一事实很少有人知道。

她承认曾和多名女性发生性关系，其中包括演员琼•克劳馥、芭芭拉•斯坦威克、玛琳•黛德丽以及伊丽莎白•泰勒；还有她的两位演戏指导娜塔莎•莱提丝和宝拉•斯特拉伯格。

让•尼古拉斯格曾执导梦露主演的电影《如何嫁给百万富翁》，就在他要去拜访梦露的前一天，梦露被发现已经死亡。

“我至今仍觉得如果我能及时去看她，也许她就不会死。”每日邮报引用他的话说。

“你知道她出了什么问题，对吗？”

“她一生都被自己的性取向困扰。她呈现在公众视线里的正常的性取向，完全就是个假象。”

“她曾经亲口告诉过我，她从未在跟男人发生关系时达到过高潮。”他说。

和梦露合作过的一位女星赛莱斯特•霍尔姆于上周日去世，她曾和梦露一同出演影片《彗星美人》。她说：“梦露性取向问题的根源在于她饱受创伤的童年。”

1926年，未婚母亲格拉迪斯•佩尔•梦露•莫天森在洛杉矶综合医院慈善病房产下梦露，取名诺玛•珍妮•莫天森。梦露的母亲当时24岁，是一名负片剪接师，后来患上精神分裂症。

格拉迪斯的双亲奥蒂斯•埃尔默•梦露和德拉•梦露•格拉杰的垂暮之年都在精神病院度过，她的兄弟马里恩也被确诊患上偏执型精神分裂症。

所以，后来成为玛丽莲•梦露的诺玛一直对遗传精神疾病有着根深蒂固的恐惧，这一点也不奇怪。

赛莱斯特•霍尔姆说，这一点让梦露一辈子都害怕怀孕。

除了害怕生出不正常的孩子，梦露还患有严重的子宫内膜异位症，这种妇科病发作时会导致盆腔剧烈疼痛和严重痉挛，还会引发痛经。

这导致性交不适，难以进行正常性生活。

霍尔姆说：“因此梦露从来没能从男人那里得到过性爱享受。”

她说：“她对此感到恐惧，转而把年长的女人当做性榜样。”