What was the fate of Bernice, Marilyn Monroe's older sister
For many years, Norma Jean Mortenson, whom we know better as Marilyn Monroe, did not even suspect that she had a sister. When they met, it immediately changed her life. How did it happen that the sisters lived in ignorance of each other's existence and how did their meeting happen?
Marilyn Monroe's mother Gladys Pearl Baker was married twice. In her first marriage, she gave birth to her husband John's son Robert and daughter Bernice. But the couple broke up, so much so that the husband expelled his wife, taking away her children. He categorically forbade his son and daughter to communicate with Gladys, whom he considered mentally ill.
Having lost everything she had, Gladys Baker went to California to start life from scratch. Soon she meets a man named Edward and marries him. But the marriage was short—lived - her husband left Baker a few months later, a couple of days before the birth of their common child. So Norma Jean was born — the most famous blonde in history.
Gladys Baker was a very strange woman, and this left an imprint on many events. In her daughter's birth certificate, she indicated that Norma was her third and only surviving child. Perhaps that is why the actress has been absolutely sure for a long time that she has no one but her mother in this world.
As a child, Norma Baker hardly thought about her family. Since her mother often lost touch with reality and ended up in psychiatric clinics, she grew up in shelters, then in foster homes. However, her older brother Robert, who lived with his father and sister Bernice, was even less lucky. As a child, because of a prank with a firecracker, he was left without an eye, and at the age of 15 he died of kidney failure. Of all the children, Bernice Baker was the only one who was relatively lucky in life.
Two years after Robert's death, Gladys Baker finally lost touch with reality. She was admitted to the clinic with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, which deprived her of any hope of recovery. By this time, the youngest daughter of Norma Jean had almost forgotten that she had a mother, and did not seek to communicate with her at all. While in the hospital, Gladys decided to write a letter to her eldest daughter, whom she had not seen for many years.
Bernice quoted this letter in her memoirs. She wrote that her father, into whose hands the envelope fell, at first did not want to give her a message from her mother. But then I thought that at the age of 19, his daughter has the right to make her own decisions. Bernice learned from the letter that she had a younger sister, and received her coordinates. Gladys didn't forget about herself either. At the end of the letter, she asked her eldest daughter to get her out of the mental hospital.
Poor Bernice, who grew up without a mother, was strongly hooked by a letter written by a native person. She didn't have any grievances and claims left for her — everything was in the past. So a correspondence began between them. The daughter could not help Gladys get out of the clinic, but she supported her mentally. Communicating with her mother, Bernice plucked up the courage to engage in communication with her younger half-sister.
In a letter to her sister, Bernice described the main events of her life. She also put her photo in the envelope. The answer came surprisingly quickly — Norma Jean was friendly and very open. The stepsisters struck up a friendship by correspondence. Bernice later said that Norma, who was still a teenager, shared important childhood events with her. All the letters ended with the same signature: "Your sister."
The correspondence continued for several years, until Norma decided in 1944 to come to her sister in Detroit. Bernice met her at the train station and there they saw each other for the first time. The older sister was a little embarrassed — she lived in a tiny apartment, which she was very shy about. But Norma quickly relieved her of her complexes by telling the story of how she slept in a drawer as a child, since there was nowhere to put a crib.
Bernice really wanted to talk about her mother, because Norma had seen her relatively recently. But the younger sister was taciturn and reluctant to talk about the woman whose psyche was broken by the disease. She admitted that at the same time she loves her mother, but at the same time she is afraid because of the unpredictability of her character
After the first meeting, the sisters again communicated in letters. Their next meeting took place again in Detroit, on a very exciting occasion. The fact is that Gladys was finally allowed to leave the clinic and Bernice took her to herself. Norma decided to meet with her mother and sister, although she did not know what would come of it. Communication with her mother did not bring her pleasure. When she told Gladys that she was planning to become an actress, she ridiculed her dreams.
Because of this, a conflict broke out, which subsided only thanks to the delicate intervention of Bernice. After this incident, Norma no longer sought to communicate with her mother on personal topics. But the trust in the older sister, on the contrary, has only grown stronger. Even after becoming a world-class star, Marilyn Monroe did not forget about her and their friendship continued. They saw each other very rarely, but their exchange of letters was regular until Monroe's death in 1962.
For Bernice, the death of her sister was a real blow. Over the years, women have managed to get closer and become truly family people. In 1984, after the death of her mother, she decided to write a memoir. 10 years later, the book "My Sister Marilyn: Memoirs of Marilyn Monroe" appeared in bookstores. The co-author of Bernice Baker Miracle was her daughter Mona, who at that time was already a well-known writer in the USA.
Bernice died in 2014 at the age of 95. She did not want to earn money from her sister's memory and tried not to advertise her relationship with the film star. She spent the last years of her life in seclusion, among old photographs, letters and memories.