Jackie Kennedy was stunned when Marilyn Monroe, the Hollywood star who was rumored to have had a fling with her husband, called her home.
It was April 1962, and the first lady was in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, when the phone rang in her bedroom. When she picked up, the mother of two instantly recognized the breathy voice on the other end.
Author J. Randy Taraborrelli told Fox News Digital that the glamorous wife of President John F. Kennedy thought it was a cruel practical joke. His book, "Jackie: Public, Private, Secret," published on Tuesday, is based on nearly 25 years of research and hundreds of interviews with friends, family and lovers. It also references unreleased papers from the JFK Library, including diaries and oral histories.
"There was something about that phone call," he explained. "She later told family members that there was a haunting quality to Marilyn’s voice that really stuck with her… And it’s not like they even had any kind of deep conversation… But it was 10 years of wondering, was it really Marilyn Monroe? And that buzz stayed with the family."
According to Taraborrelli’s book Monroe asked, "Is Jack home?" Kennedy said he wasn’t and then asked who was calling. "Marilyn Monroe," the caller replied. "Is this Jackie?" When Kennedy said it was, Monroe asked if she’d tell the president that she called. Kennedy asked what it was regarding, and Monroe said it was nothing in particular. She just wanted to say hello. Kennedy, still stunned, said she would pass on the message and hung up.
Kennedy later told her mother that despite the call being "off-putting," Monroe’s voice had a "sad" and "ethereal, little-girl-lost quality," which she found "disturbing."
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Taraborrelli said it was March 24, 1962, when John and the "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" star were "together sexually." He insisted the affair lasted "for just one weekend" at the Palm Springs home of Bing Crosby.
"Jack and I talked about her," recalled Sen. George Smathers, as quoted in Taraborrelli’s book. "He thought she was beautiful, but maybe not the smartest girl in the world. He liked her sense of humor and her playfulness." He noted that the first lady was "more serious," so it was fun being with a woman who was "just… not."
At the time of the two-night affair, Kennedy was traveling abroad with her sister Lee Radziwill and pal Joan Braden. The president had received a telegram from his wife while he was entertaining Monroe.
Kennedy began hearing rumors about the weekend. Radziwill, who knew Monroe socially, told her there was also "a lot of chatter" about Monroe and the president’s brother, Robert Kennedy. Radizwill also warned her sibling that Monroe "was addicted to certain medications and seeing a psychiatrist almost daily." Kennedy told her wandering-eyed husband she didn’t want him to continue whatever relationship he had with Monroe. While John said he and Monroe were just friends, he agreed.
"Then the telephone call happened," wrote Taraborrelli.
"Jackie would never be the type to tell Marilyn, ‘How dare you called here,’" he explained. "She was not that kind of personality. She was more the type to be polite and hang up, which is exactly what she did… Had it been Elizabeth Taylor or any other movie star, there wouldn’t have been much intrigue to it. Even if it was one of the other women JFK was having an affair with, there still wouldn’t have been much intrigue. Anything that Marilyn touched has always created a point of interest."
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According to Taraborrelli’s book, the number Monroe called was private. The Secret Service also had the phone wired at the home in such a way that all calls went through agents who monitored them except those that were made to the Kennedy bedroom. Only a handful of Kennedys had that number.
Kennedy was perplexed by how Monroe managed to get through the private line. She even wondered if her half-brother Jamie Auchincloss, a known prankster, pranked her.
Auchincloss, now 76, told Taraborrelli that he never imitated Monroe. He would have been 14 at the time of the incident.
As for the rumors that Monroe moved on with Robert, Taraborrelli said he found no evidence to confirm the pair were ever together. And his sources don’t believe it, either.
"Marilyn [would] exaggerate her relationships with people, especially with the Kennedys," he claimed. "In Marilyn’s head, she had blown up her relationship with JFK to the point where it was a full-blown affair. And she also had sort of reasoned in her head that she had something going on with Bobby as well."
"I’ve never been able to confirm that she ever did," he shared. "Lee was privy to the fact that Marilyn was telling people that she and JFK were having this relationship, but they really weren’t. So it stands to reason that Jackie probably heard a lot of lies and half-truths about Marilyn. She just wished that JFK hadn’t played with her."
"But it was really just a weekend," he continued. "JFK had so many affairs that Jackie likely thought it was more than just a weekend. But we should understand that Jackie really didn’t know the extent of JFK’s relationship with Marilyn."
One thing Kennedy knew was that in May, her husband’s alleged mistress was invited to sing at the president’s 45th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden.
Joseph Paolella, one of John’s Secret Service agents, believed that if the first lady didn’t attend the bash, it would fuel rumors and "the lie becomes the truth." Kennedy’s mother also believed her daughter should attend and "rise above it."
But Kennedy’s mind was made up. She wasn’t going. While the celebrations took place in New York City, Kennedy was in Glen Ora, the couple’s rented country estate home, located outside Middleburg, Virginia. She enjoyed a family cookout while the president was serenaded "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" by the actress.
"When Jackie learned that Marilyn was going to be singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her husband, she put her foot down and said she was not going," said Taraborrelli. "If you think about this today, how scandalous it would have been? But that’s what happened. Jackie said she wasn’t going… And she had a barbecue with her family. She turned it into a family get-together. She chose to do that instead of being present that night. Marilyn was a sore topic for a lot of people back then."
For her performance, Monroe wore a flesh-colored Jean Louis dress made with 1,200 rhinestone beads. It created the illusion that she was nude.
Kennedy later received another shocking phone call at Hyannis Port. This time, it was from her social secretary Letitia Baldridge. It was to inform her that Monroe had died from an apparent overdose.
The blonde bombshell passed away on Aug. 4, 1962. She was 36.
Taraborrelli said Kennedy felt Monroe was "a disaster waiting to happen."
"Jackie felt Marilyn was too vulnerable, too weak to be played with by JFK or by anybody else for that matter," he said. "But her main concern was JFK. She knew what it took to be with a very powerful man. And great men like JFK have great flaws."
"But after Marilyn died, Jackie was very bereft by it," he shared. "She was deeply disturbed by it. She was unsettled by it. She had a vacation planned with her sister to go to Italy, and she very much wanted to cancel it. [Her son] John Jr. also had the flu, so she wasn’t in a vacation state of mind.
"It was Lee who convinced her she should get away. Over the years, their trip had been painted as this happy-go-lucky excursion. But based on my research and the people I spoke to who were there at the time, Jackie was very much depressed during the entire time. It was a difficult vacation because she just wasn’t in a place where she felt like celebrating anything."
"I think Marilyn’s death hit her on some level," he added.
The president was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. He was 46. Kennedy remarried in 1968 to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
It was during the ‘70s that Kennedy had begun sessions with psychoanalyst Dr. Marianne Kris. At the time, her second marriage had become tumultuous, and she was faced with "ongoing PTSD" following her first husband’s death.
Kennedy’s stepbrother, Hugh D. "Yusha" Auchincloss, discovered from several phone calls that Kris was once Monroe’s psychiatrist. In February 1961, she institutionalized the actress at the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic. Her ex-husband, Joe DiMaggio, released her against the doctor’s will. Monroe then fired Kris.
Kennedy was "hurt and angry."
"Everyone on the planet knows what I went through with Jack and Marilyn," she reportedly said.
Taraborrelli said Kennedy confronted Kris about the revelation. The doctor asked, "How is this relevant?" to which Kennedy replied, "How is it not relevant?" Kris allegedly argued that if Monroe had completed her treatment, she might have still been alive.
Despite Kris’ past, Kennedy stayed as her patient. She even told her about that mysterious phone call from years ago.
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Kris, "violating her earlier stated code of ethics," told Kennedy that she felt "fairly certain" that the call had been from Monroe. She said Monroe herself told her that she did call.
The doctor later told Dawn Morris, a student who assisted her in research, that she was "fascinated" by how moved Kennedy was by that phone call.
"But she told me Marilyn had that effect on people," said Morris. "’If you’d ever been touched by her or had any interaction with her, no matter how distant, it somehow never left you,’ she said."
