Joe and Marilyn: Legends in Love

by C. David Heymann

From the New York Times bestselling author of Bobby and Jackie comes the riveting, true story of the passionate, volatile relationship between baseball great Joe DiMaggio and Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe.

When Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe eloped in January of 1954, they became an international sensation. Joe and Marilyn reveals the true inside story of these two iconic figures whose marital troubles were Hollywood legend. Though their marriage only lasted nine months, they remained close until Monroe’s mysterious death in 1962 at the age of thirty-six. He had a half-dozen red roses delivered three times a week to her crypt for twenty years. According to Heymann, DiMaggio remained devoted to her until his own death in 1999.

An intimate, sensitive, shocking, and richly detailed look at two of America’s biggest stars, Heymann delivers the expertise and passion for his subjects that his many fans so love. Based on extensive archival research and personal interviews with family and friends, Joe and Marilyn offers great insight into this famously tragic romance. Sixteen pages of striking photos accompany this unforgettable love.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Pop Culture

448 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2014

About the author

C. David Heymann is the internationally known author of such New York Times bestselling books as The Georgetown Ladies' Social Club; RFK: A Candid Biography of Robert F. Kennedy; Poor Little Rich Girl: The Life and Legend of Barbara Hutton; and A Woman Named Jackie: An Intimate Biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Three of his works have been made into award-winning NBC-TV miniseries. A three-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, he lives and works in Manhattan.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joe and Marilyn: Legends in Love may not be the best written book or even most truthful book but I love it anyway!

Joe DiMaggio & Marilyn Monroe were a power couple in the 1950's and their love story continues to fascinate 60+ years later. That quite the accomplishment for a couple who were only married for 9 months. Despite the shortness of their marriage they continued to have an on/off relationship until the day Marilyn died. Even after her death Joe had roses delivered to her grave 3x a week for 20 years.

Marilyn and Joe's relationship was messy as fuck.

They were not #couplegoals!

They had an extremely volatile relationship. Joe was physically abusive towards Marilyn. Marilyn was emotionally abusive towards Joe. They couple live with each other but they also couldn't live without each other.
And despite the toxic aspects of their relationship, I think they truly loved each other. Joe was really the only person Marilyn could count on to be there for her no matter what. When they were together Joe wouldn't allow Marilyn to party and do drugs. He made her take care of herself and Marilyn tried to repair Joe's fractured relationship with his only child Joe Jr.

While this book does at times nose dive into conspiracy theories I still felt like I got a clearer picture of Marilyn and Joe's relationship. I don't know if Marilyn and Joe would have ended up together had lived Marilyn lived but I think its highly probable.

A must read!

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all things Marilyn but I really liked this book as it came from a different perspective and didn't just focus on her prescription pill problems or her supposed suicide / murder?! No one really knows!!! But instead it focuses on the on going love between Joe and Marilyn and every one in his life swears he loved her till the day he died and then some. Always coming to her rescue it makes me think maybe just maybe there is such a thing a soul mates . Their love had problems it was never destined to be a happily ever after but that is why it's real not many people get happy ever after . I think though that they were each others great loves and that usually only comes around once in a lifetime ❤️

[N.N. Heaven · Rating 1 out of 5]

UGH! One of the worst salacious biographies on Joe and Marilyn I've ever read. It's filled with lies and inaccuracies. How do these writers get huge publishing contracts? It's beyond me.

PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS!

My Rating: .0005 star

[Tara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read over a hundred books about Marilyn Monroe, and this is one of the worst. Actually, it may one of the worst books I've ever read, period. It's riddled with factual errors, and many of the quotes from alleged interviews with people close to Marilyn seem paraphrased from other, previously published texts, while the rest seems fabricated. It should be read like an airport novel, or the National Enquirer - as a kind of guilty pleasure, not to be taken seriously. But even as trash-lit, it soon becomes tiresome. And as a testament to the lives of its subjects, it's a disgrace. I can only assume that the author, now deceased, was the Walter Mitty of biographers - because this is pure fantasy.

[Marlo Boone]

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!
David Heymann fabricated a lot of stories in this book! Please read this article:
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/05/c-...

Please protect Joe Dimaggio and Marilyn Monroe from these people!!

[OpenBookSociety.com · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://openbooksociety.com/article/jo...

Brought to you by guest reviewer JoAnne

Let me first tell you that I love biographies. It doesn’t matter if they’re movie stars or war veterans; politicians or animals. I read them like I read any other book, but with a catch: in a novel, you expect to connect to the characters somehow, to try and like them or at least be willing to spend a few hours of your time with them (or however long it takes to read the book). With biographies, you expect to learn about the person; their likes and dislikes, their manner, their thoughts, ideas, and how they lived their lives. Well, I did learn how Ms. Monroe and Mr. DiMaggio lived their lives. But it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.

The keyword here from the blurb is “scandals”. The way Mr. Heymann portrays Ms. Monroe is as follows: A nymphomanic who liked to walk around in the nude high on drugs and would sleep with anything that wore pants. (Mr. DiMaggio doesn’t fare any better; we are told – but very few examples are given – that he would sleep with any woman who came near him). In fact, according to this “biography” that’s all they did – sleep with each other and anyone else who crossed their paths. From the way Mr. Heyman describes it, I am sure their marriage didn’t survive not because their personalities were so different, but the fact that they couldn’t stay faithful to each other.

Nearly everything the author tells us I already knew: Marilyn’s childhood, teenage years, first marriage, the heavy drug use, the Kennedy years, etc. The only new stuff was the numerous – nay,constant affairs she was having. It reads as if she were having so many affairs, she wasn’t tired from the work she was doing while in Hollywood; all her energy was sapped from having to sleep with so many people. She slept not only her way through Hollywood, she slept with people right through all her marriages, and it didn’t matter who it was. The author excuses it by stating that:

‘Marilyn looked as sex as the only thing she had to give to men, so she gave it.’
What is said of Joe is a little about his first marriage, how badly he treated his wife and about his horrendous temper and jealousy of any man who looked at Marilyn. He is portrayed as a man with a terrible temper who disliked the limelight and could not understand Marilyn’s desire for a career and to be photographed constantly. Joe’s son from his first marriage, Joe DiMaggio, Jr. also figures heavily in this book, as Marilyn’s relationship with him never wavered, even after she divorced his father. It was a stability in his life that he longed for and appreciated.

I will not spoil the book for others by stating exactly what drove the relationship between Joe and Marilyn. Suffice it to say that they both loved each other until the day they respectively died. I was, however, disappointed to find that this was not truly the love story between Joe and Marilyn; what it was, at least to me, was more about Marilyn’s career and how badly she wanted it, and things about her life (which might prove interesting to others who aren’t aware of the details).

Unless you’re a baseball fan, you will probably find new and interesting information on Joe Dimaggio, the Yankee Clipper. For myself, I already knew. I grew up in a household with a brother who can recite every baseball stat from every year, so I know what a great player he was. (My brother is a flight attendant and was once on an airplane with Harmon Killebrew, an ex-Minnesota Twin player, and when he started quoting stats, Harmon’s son told him, “you know more about my dad’s stats than he does!” So you see, baseball I know, just by osmosis…)

I was saddened to read of the terrible relationship between Joe and his son Joe, Jr. I have to wonder if this was just the way Joe was as a person, or if it was because his own relationship with his father wasn’t that great. Although he supposedly was extremely close to his family growing up, it doesn’t seem that having a close relationship as such wouldn’t carry over into his own son, however much he wanted him to be a ballplayer. (After all, Joe himself didn’t do what his own father wanted him to do, and that was work on the fishing boat).

There are photos, but only one of Joe and Marilyn together, so if you’re expecting more, you won’t see it here. That could be due to Joe’s dislike of the press, however. At the last as I see it (and this is just my opinion), is that practically every other page has something about Marilyn’s sexploits on it, and they read like a tabloid. Unfortunately, it was not for me.

[Jen Selinsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Joe and Marilyn" delves into the torrid, turbulent, and short-lived love affair between Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. The couple married in January 1954 and divorced a mere nine months later. The divorce was sparked by revealing photos of Marilyn’s subway dress during the filming of The Seven Year Itch. Even though Joe and Marilyn’s marriage was brief, they remained lifelong friends, especially after Marilyn and Arthur Miller’s divorce. Not only does "Joe and Marilyn" give readers a glimpse into the lives of these noted celebrities, it also lets them explore their psyches.

[Emily Finch · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is no point writing a review for this book because it is all negatives. There is nothing decent about this book. Well, one thing. The cover. That's it.

[Samantha D'Aloisio-Schmunk · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh :(

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

With all the books that have been published on the life and career of both Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, why do we need yet another one covering these two iconic celebrities? Perhaps until now, no author has put the two star-crossed lovers together in one volume before.

There’s probably not a lot of new ground covered here in “Joe and Marilyn” by the late author C. David Heymann. You may have never watched DiMaggio play centerfield for the New York Yankees. You may have never watched Monroe in any of her, more than thirty major or minor film roles. Even so, many of the scenes Heymann paints in these 393 pages will seem very familiar to you.

It’s all here in one package to review. Heymann includes lots of backstage stories from Monroe’s many roles as a “dopey blonde” in yet another “crummy movie.” He covers the sex symbol’s 286-day marriage to DiMaggio as well as her less than five year-long but perhaps equally painful relationship with Arthur Miller.

Heymann’s version of these two “Legends in Love” should be required reading for anyone planning a career in psychiatry. This tell-all bio is a medical case study of the personalities of two, polar-opposite people. We see DiMaggio as “lonely and sad.” We see Monroe through the eyes of Dr. Margaret Herz Hohenberg who “diagnosed (the actress) as suffering from borderline personality disorder, a psychological condition characterized by intense turmoil and instability in relationships and behavior. Marilyn demonstrated two of the conditions commonly associated with BPD: dissociation and depersonalization.” We see the Yankee slugger through Monroe’s eyes: “her one constant: a lover, a father figure and a friend.” We see the baseball legend through the eyes of the late “Las Vegas showgirl and burlesque queen, Liz Renay.” For the “blond, boisterous and buxom” Renay, (a Monroe look-alike), DiMaggio “was the American hero that nobody knew.” After a ten-week affair with DiMaggio, Renay also noted “the vast ego problem that had always existed between Joe and Marilyn.”

Arthur Miller’s friend, Kurt Lamprecht, according to Heymann, “felt that Marilyn wanted to marry the playwright in order to validate her intellect.” According to Miller’s own journal, “he found Marilyn difficult to deal with, unpredictable, at times ‘out of control,’ a forlorn ‘child-woman.’ “Anna Freud confirmed that diagnosis, labeling Monroe “a paranoid schizophrenic.” Acting student Delos Smith Jr. reported on Marilyn’s “wild, pendulum-like mood swings. At her best she was fantastic: sweet, funny, sexy, effervescent, creative, generous and clever. At her worst, she was a total mental case: depressed, manic, tense, angry, insecure, worried about growing old, heavily addicted to pills and booze.”

This is the story of two Marilyn Monroe’s. For Truman Capote “there was the frenetic, fast-talking, street-savvy, tough, sometimes mean and spiteful Marilyn, often so drugged and drunk that she didn’t know where she was. But when she felt relaxed, she changed into the other Marilyn. She became a soft, lovely person with a wonderfully sweet smile and a full, hearty laugh, a bit shy, a keen listener, with wide, inquisitive eyes, nice but always naughty.”

Author Heymann also documents the “conspiracy of shrinks” that ultimately led to Monroe’s untimely death. The film star’s cadre of psychiatrists, as the author points out, helped immerse her in a “culture of barbiturates.” If this were to occur in 21st century America, there would be serious grounds for some major malpractice lawsuits, medical license revocations, not to mention prison terms.

Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra, John F. Kennedy, Marilyn’s “trio of lovers” are exposed in these pages. “Quartet of lovers” might be a better term, if you include Kennedy’s own brother, Robert. Those were just some of the biggest names who allegedly spent time under the sheets with Monroe.

Dorothy Arnold, DiMaggio’s first wife, found “an entire catalog of less than admirable traits” in the retired Yankee’s personality. “Joe DiMaggio exhibited unaccountable moments of anger and distrust, black moods, idiosyncratic behavior, parsimony, self-adulation, indifference, egocentricity and an overwhelming urge to control the actions of others.”

Heymann reports on DiMaggio’s failed attempt at a “second go-round” with Monroe. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. Marilyn was buried on the same day she was scheduled to remarry the iconic New York Yankee. DiMaggio was said to be Monroe’s “most devoted friend.” Jeanne Carmen told Heymann, she’s “convinced that had she lived, they would’ve at some point remarried. And it would probably have been a much more successful union the second time around.”

Heymann sums up Monroe’s tragic life on page 334. “The seeds of her slowly developing self-destruction had originated in a traumatic and loveless childhood marked most profoundly by a schizophrenic mother, an endless stream of indifferent foster families, a prison-like orphanage and the uncertainty associated with a pattern of continuing and constant abandonment on the part of nearly everyone she’d ever known and cared about.”


Marilyn Monroe once lamented the fact that she’d been “sold to the public as a celluloid aphrodisiac.” Her promiscuity both on and off camera is well documented in this profile. Heymann’s provocative study of these two legends-in-lust left me with three impressions: First, but for all of the enablers around her, at 88, it’s conceivable that Marilyn [Norma Jeane Baker-Mortenson-Dougherty-DiMaggio-Miller] Monroe could still be alive today. Second, Monroe and DiMaggio’s lifestyle was symptomatic of a 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s Hollywood culture with all of the sexual morals of an alley cat. And third, DiMaggio was a first class, (but loveable) jerk!

[Tesia Mentzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would say it was more of an obsession then a love. Joe really loved Marilyn. Marilyn really valued his friendship, his father figure abilities, and how good he was in bed. She also valued being in bed with other men. Some would say if you really loved someone you wouldn’t be able to cheat on them. This is one of life’s greatest mysterious. The great mystery of Marilyn Monroe. Did she really love Joe? Did she kill herself intentionally with all the barbiturates? Was she murdered? We will never know because she had to sleep with everyone she met and if you think that wouldn’t stir up some issues…read on. She slept with some of the most infamous men of all time. Dangerous men. Mafia men. Political men. Where do you stand on the untimely death of Ms. Monroe?

[Florence Primrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joe DiMaggio had been thinking about Marilyn Monroe since he had seen her picture in 1951. After retiring from baseball he spotted her picture when they wanted starlets to pose with baseball players. He was enamored with her and wanted to meet her.

When meeting, both were quiet but Marilyn realized DeMaggio was famous. There was a strong sexual attraction between them, but Joe wanted her to be a housewife and mother and Marilyn wanted a career. And Joe was jealous of the attention she received.

This is an interesting story of Joe’s constant love for her no matter what Marilyn did as well as her dependence on Joe I regardless of whom she was seeing.

[Steven D. Cron · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was definitely a page turner, but it’s impossible to know what to believe when it comes to the Marilyn Monroe story. For example — and it’s only one of many — Spoto’s biography says that there isn’t a scintilla of evidence that Bobby Kennedy was at Marilyn’s house the day of her death, but this author quotes Peter Lawford at length as he tells of his and RFK’s visit to Marilyn the afternoon of her death. Needless to say, both can’t be true, but which to believe? That said, this is a fascinating, if depressing, portrait of a tumultuous relationship.

[Anne Fischer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning that Marilyn was the love of his life, and he hers. Previously, I didn’t know the two of them were actually married less than a year but their relationship continued until her death. That said, the book jumped back and forth from their relationship to Marilyn’s relationship with all the other men in her life including Frank Sinatra’s and the Kennedy brothers.
That is the reason I rated it only three stars.

[Mick Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book,not about the conspiracy surrounding the death of marilyn but her relationship with men especially joe DiMaggio.even though he was controlling in the end he did try to help her.her taste in men not only eclactic,but in some cases you ask yourself why,was she looking for that father figure she never had or was her capricious nature her own downfall.too many hangers on riding on her fame and fortune it's a story as old as time.

[Jay Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you treat this book as Historical Fiction, then you'll be fine with it. It was basically a a TMZ gossip rag full of half-truths and innuendo. It was a light read really, hard to take seriously in spots, but my DiMaggio interests kept me there.

[Sabine Flury · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lies, see: https://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/05/c...

[Jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigh. I really wanted this to be better. There really has not been an extremely good book written on this iconic couple. I had hoped that this one might be it. Sadly, it falls victim to the pitfalls of so many books about Marilyn. Constant repeats of unsubstantiated rumors, sexist and hateful stories of how Marilyn "made" it in Hollywood (yeah, because a slut with no talent would maintain iconic status over 50 years after her death)and oh yeah, more rumors. The bibliography explains a lot--the author read just about every bad book about MM written along with a few good ones and decided to use the bad ones. I knew I would not get much decency when Lena Pepitone was repeatedly referenced as if she were a valid source ( for those not in the know, she was a maid of MM's that wrote one of the cruelest and most fictional books ever written about MM for a boatload of cash). The material on Joe DiMaggio was very similar. Mostly rumors and unsubstantiated gossip (I actually checked several chapters that seemed outlandish in the back of the book chapter by chapter and most of it was just "he said, she said" to the nth degree). The author seemed to have developed a fondness for DiMaggio's estranged son--a sad and confusing man who in many ways never knew his dad. That is fine--he's a heartbreaking figure, misunderstood by his father and ignored by his mother--a man who never fulfilled any of the potential many felt he had--I found him sympathetic and honest as well--however--I felt like the author had an agenda to make DiMaggio look like an even worse father than he was (and he was not perfect, not by a long shot)in revenge for DiMaggio Jr. The material that came from certain close members of DiMaggio's family was interesting reading and reading of Joltin' Joe's last days was sad and sweet and had the ring of truth to it. That and the properly sourced material is where the stars I have given it come from.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the legacies of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio will live on forever and while there lives and death will always be open to debate there is one thing every one who knew, loved, talked about, and wanted to know about can agree one.

They most absolutely without a doubt loved each other, they were each other soulmates. They accepted each other faults, and we're always there for each other and both were willing to make the relationship to work for the sake of the others happiness and perhaps there own. There love lasted forever, and is still alive today, both of them knew that, the sad reality which would have been the day of there remarriage and perhaps there new claim happiness to and for each other turned into the day Joe DiMaggio had to bury the love of his life.

While I know more about there relationship and there lives thanks to this book, I don't necessarily believe everything that is written in this book actually happened. Most of the details of this story are only claimed by interviews and very few facts support the stories. If I didn't love Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio as much as I do I would have rated this book 3 out of 5 stars.

In the end though, we all know how the story ends, Marilyn's tragic death and Joe DiMaggio having to figure out how to keep on living without his love, but what brought him peace in the end was knowing that "I'll finally get to see Marilyn again", which were his last words on earth before he passed away. I hope Joe DiMaggio found peace again when he died, I hope him and Marilyn are in heaven right now, enjoying married life, but most importantly I hope they are both experiencing something they never were able to accomplish when they were alive.

I hope they are both happy, together again, till the end of time.

[Paul Pessolano · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Joe and Marilyn” by C. David Heyman, published by Emily Bestler Books.

Category – Movie Biography Publication Date – July 01, 2014

If you are interested in a book that contains sex, romance, movie stars, baseball stars, the mob, political intrigue, and tragedy. “Joe and Marilyn” will give you that and so much more.

This is the story of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, two star crossed lovers, whose story, to this day, has no ending.

Joe DiMaggio, whose career was behind him, fell in love with Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn Monroe, whose career was just starting, fell in love with Joe DiMaggio. Joe was looking for a woman that would have his children, be a stay at home housewife, and someone that he could love and protect. Marilyn wanted all of that too, but was smitten by the Hollywood aura and wanted her career. This proved to be a volatile relationship that led to marriage and divorce.

The hard part for one to image is that they both loved each other even though both continued to have sexual affairs with many and various partners. Marilyn found that she could depend on Joe for assistance in her topsy-turvy life. Joe was there to help her mentally and financially, but he could not turn her away from the alcohol and drugs that eventually took her life.

“Joe and Marilyn” will have you shaking your head, not only at their lives but everyone that they came in contact with. A book that borders on fiction, because it is so unbelievable.

This book may not be suitable to all readers due to sexual content.

[Linda Lipko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meticulously researched, this very well written, insightful book provided details into the lives of two incredibly complex super stars.

Volatile, turbulent, obsessive, damaged, dysfunctional, sensational and tragic, the relationship between Joe DiMaggio, baseball's record-setting hero, and Marilyn Monroe, America's sex Goddess, is as difficult to describe as the deep psychological problems both seemed to exhibit.

The marriage lasted a short nine months. The relationship lasted as long as one of them was alive. Long after her death, DiMaggio had roses delivered to her grave three times a week.

She was unfaithful throughout the many years of their attempts to reconcile. He was a brutal, angry man who was not adverse to slugging her face with the same speed and accuracy as he hit a baseball.

Promiscuous and self defined as a sex symbol, while Marilyn talked of breaking away from this stereotypical role, her behaviors always pushed all envelopes of societal approval.

Thriving scandal, Marilyn simply could not help by spin out of control Narcissistic, Anna Freud, daughter of Sigmund, deemed her schizophrenic with an extreme character disorder. Hailing from a close knit Italian family, Joe's idea of a woman's role in the kitchen, would never conform to the need to be in the glaring public limelight that Marilyn craved.

Throughout the years, as she allowed other men to use and discard her, Joe remained the one and only stable force in her life.

Three and 1/2 stars!

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Joe DiMaggio was a base coach for the Oakland A's, I met him at a Cleveland Indians game and got an autograph. I was with my other baseball friends and we just thought baseball not man who loved a Hollywood legend. DiMaggio was handsome and charismatic even in the ridiculous gold and green uniforms the A's wore in the '70's.

He and Marilyn Monroe have always fascinated me, after reading this book they frustrate me for being so willing to be famous that everything else in their lives is sacrificed. Marilyn seemed doomed from the start and knew it, except for Joe who was in no way perfect most of the people around her didn't want what was best for her.

Joe had such a hard time realizing his prime time for attention was over, by the time he'd accepted it, it was too late for Marilyn and too late for his son. Joe's relationship to Joe Jr. is probably the saddest part of the book. At least Joe Jr. had Marilyn to love him.

The biggest crime to me is that Marilyn's doctors never were punished for their roles in this tragedy. If you're looking for evidence that Marilyn Monroe was murdered, you won't find it her. Just a tale of how people who look golden in the spotlight are tarnished and fragile when the spotlight goes out.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Joe and Marilyn: Legends in Love", by C. David Heymann, is about the love affair, brief marriage, and post-marriage relationship of baseball great Joe DiMaggio and screen icon Marilyn Monroe. The book was well-written and I have read many other books by the author Heymann, but it certainly was padded to make up an entire book, since their marriage lasted less than a year. By the middle of the book, the couple are already divorced, so the story continues on of their occasional flings and phone calls during and after the years Marilyn subsequently married playwright Arthur Miller. By all accounts, although DiMaggio was pathologically jealous of Marilyn and was very unrealistic about expecting her to give up show business when at that time her star was just beginning to rise, they seemed to get along fairly well later on as friends. As is widely known, DiMaggio took charge of Marilyn's funeral when she passed, and for at least 20 years after her death, he had fresh flowers sent to her crypt twice a week. He never remarried. The author, C. David Heymann, has done much better work than this book so I will give it 3 stars.

**#53 of 100 books pledged to read/review in 2015**

[Tom Emory Jr.]

No stars.

Tom Emory, Jr. Review -- "Joe and Marilyn:Legends in Love" bothered me from the first chapter. There were just too many lengthy quotes that seemed conversational and too pat. There also were too many stories about them individually or together that I questioned or previously read were questionable at best and outright lies at worst.

After I finished the book, I read some Goodreads reviews and Marlo Boone's review answered my questions by giving me a link to a Newsweek article. I'll stop here with grateful thanks to Marlo Boone, and the link is below.

One last thing, one part of the book that may be completely factual is Joe Dimaggio being a pretty awful human being. Living in New York years ago, I knew a national sports writer who adored Dimaggio the ballplayer. As for Dimaggio the person, his exact words were: "He is the worst person I have ever known, and baby, I know a lot of people."

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/05/c-...

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, which brought new light to Marilyn Monroe's life and her relationship with Joe DiMaggio. It also clarifies that her death was an "accidental suicide", even though the coroner's report was incomplete and inconclusive.

I also found it interesting that the author accepted the history of David Conover's relationship with Marilyn Monroe and his discovery of her while working as a photographer on the assembly line where she worked while being Norma Jean. David Conover was a family friend and author of "Finding Marilyn", which describes an affair with her early in her career, but was dismissed by several researchers as being a fiction. However, after researching the author of "Joe and Marilyn", I discovered that he may have fabricated some of the facts in his book, as well as several other books he wrote! http://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/05/c-...

[Regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I consider C. David Heymann's books guilty pleasures - because they are nonfiction they are a step above popular fiction, but they still read like a juicy gossip column. Which is a nice change of pace from time to time.......

I don't think this was one of his better books - he spends a lot of time foretelling the reasons why the relationship between Joe and Marilyn will never work as a marriage. Basically Joe is an old fashioned guy with old world values - he wants a stay at home wife to take care of him and have his babies. And he certainly doesn't want to compete with someone else for the limelight.

And Marilyn, like a lot of celebrities, not only craves attention and adulation from the public, she needs it.

I did like that Heymann wrote about what happened to Joe and Marilyn after their divorce - both professionally, but also the continuance of their relationship, even though both of them knew it was doomed.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a good read, but I have significant doubts as to its veracity after reading the Newsweek article (see link in other reviews). I was happy that I got it from the local library, so wasn't out full price.

As I was reading it, the phrase "the more things change, the more they stay the same" kept coming to mind. It is well known that Marilyn Monroe (MM) had problems with drugs and alcohol, and had a family history of mental health issues. It seems almost daily now we hear stories of other celebrities bouncing in and out of rehab, or into an early grave. If even a fraction of the story of the behavior of the doctors was true, they would face severe penalties now.

I had not read as much about DiMaggio, so don't know how much to believe of his part. I do think he truly loved her for the rest of his life.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book difficult to follow, seemed to jump around. The author did no just to this book, there seemed a lot of hear say mixed with some fact. His thoughts were fragmented and had trouble completing one thought. I would not recommend this book. I think he scratched the surface on who Marilyn Monroe really was and really made her look like a bimbo, not the truly smart women she really was. I believe that her unstable life style was more of how people saw her and the image they believed was who she was.

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not much into movie stars but Marilyn is different. She intrigues me, with her tragic life circumstances, her seemingly insatiable sexuality, and her desire to to be something other than she was--a smart actor who got serious roles. This book held my attention but I did not care for the lengthy quotes (1-2 pages) from people other than the author. He uses those to tell the story, a cop-out, seems to me. Anyway, I learned a lot about Joe DiMaggio as well as MArilyn and their relationship.

[Linda]

I would have given this biography an average at best, but I hesitate to rate it at all as it seems as though the author might not been on the up and up with all of his supposed quotes in piecing together his story. I think the main thing that I came away with is that the two doctors responsible for all the drug enabling would today be facing criminal charges. One thing that was interesting was the supposed link over the years between Joe DeMaggio and Marilyn Monroe even after their 9-month marriage ended in divorce.