Marylin Monroe had a secret abortion weeks before her death, and the baby might have belonged to either John F. Kennedy or his brother, Robert Kennedy, a new book claims.
It is also suggested the blonde bombshell was distraught when it became clear Bobby would not leave his wife for her. Days later she died from a drug overdose believed to be a suicide.
The shocking revelations are made a book titled "Norma Jean: The Life of Marilyn Monroe" by author Fred Lawrence Guiles, which is due out April 28. The Daily Beast published an excerpt on Saturday.
Monroe was admitted July 20 under a secret identity to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles to terminate a pregnancy, according to a publicist who worked for Monroe's press agent.
"She was three months away from her last bedroom encounter with the president and only a few weeks away from her last date with his brother," Guiles wrote. "It would be easy to assume that the aborted child was a Kennedy, but she was seeing other men as well that spring and summer."
In the days leading up to her death, Monroe had grown increasingly infatuated with Bobby Kennedy. She reportedly placed a July 30 phone call to Bobby Kennedy. It is unclear whether or not she told him about the terminated pregnancy, but she "plunged into a profound depression" after that and started seeing psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenson on a daily basis, Guiles noted.
The night before her death, Monroe attended a dinner at her favorite restaurant, La Scala, where she was joined by her secretary and press agent, Pat Newcomb, actor Peter Lawford, and allegedly Bobby Kennedy, who had taken a trip to California to be with his wife and children.
"Marilyn had drifted into an unrealistic view of the situation — believing that Bobby was somehow available to her," Guiles continued. "Now the Kennedy clan was shoving her back into her place. If she felt that the possibility of a really serious relationship with Bobby was being dismissed — that would certainly help explain her ill temper Friday evening."
That Saturday, Aug. 4, 1962, Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home. She died from an overdose of barbiturates at age 36. The official cause of death was ruled "probably suicide," Daily Mail noted.