08/05/2025
Marilyn Monroe was 25 years old when she met Joe DiMaggio in 1952. Joe, 12 years her senior, had just retired from the New York Yankees.
They were married in January 1954, and although they divorced 9 months later, they remained friends for the rest of her life.
When Marilyn was hospitalized in February 1961 for a nervous breakdown, it was Joe she called to help get her out. He went to the hospital and demanded she be released.
Joe was at her side when she woke up from emergency gall bladder removal surgery.
When Marilyn was found dead on August 5, 1962, it was DiMaggio who planned her funeral, bending over her casket, kissing her, repeating “I love you, I love you.”
DiMaggio barred the Kennedy family from attending, as well as most of Hollywood, saying, “Tell them if it wasn’t for them, she’d still be here.”
Joe refused to talk about her publicly or otherwise exploit their relationship, and in the rare moments when he did speak to reporters, he was unable to hold back tears. He never married again. For 20 years after her death, DiMaggio sent roses to Monroe’s grave.
Joe told his friend, Dr. Positano, “I always knew who killed her, but I didn’t want to start a revolution in this country. She told me someone would do her in, but I kept quiet”
“They did in my poor Marilyn. She didn’t know what hit her.’ ”
“‘I’ll go to the grave regretting and blaming myself for what happened to her,’” DiMaggio told Positano, per the book.
When he Joe was terminally ill he said to Dr. Positamo, “I don’t feel bad about dying. At least I’ll be with Marilyn again.”
Excerpts are from the book, “Dinner with DiMaggio” by Dr. Positano. His book recounts what he learned over the course of his ten-year friendship with Joe.
I have photo 7 framed in my living room.
