Marilyn Monroe’s Secret Passion: Who Would Have Guessed? (11 photos)

Everyone knows Marilyn Monroe as Hollywood's legendary blonde and the defining sex symbol of an era. But what was really lurking behind that bubbly, airheaded facade?





For die-hard Monroe fans, it might come as a surprise that she wasn't a natural blonde at all, but a brunette. On top of that, she possessed a razor-sharp mind—her Hollywood screen image simply required her to play a dizzy bombshell with a killer body. After all, U.S. presidents don't fall for just anyone. Marilyn was a savvy businesswoman who launched her own production house (Marilyn Monroe Productions Inc.), followed politics closely, and harbored a deep passion for literature and poetry.



Marilyn understood that the public only saw a fraction of who she truly was—a disconnect that likely contributed to her severe bouts of depression.





She once opened up during an interview with French journalist Georges Belmont:

“I may not have gone to college, but I’ve never stopped educating myself. I’ve taken history courses and read the works of many legendary writers,” Monroe revealed.





Most photos capture Monroe striking sultry poses or wearing revealing outfits, and she certainly looked stunning. But there was another side to the actress that only a few photographers managed to catch on film.



One of the most authentic portraits of Monroe was snapped by photographer Eve Arnold, who caught Marilyn lost in a book. When asked what she was reading, it turned out to be James Joyce’s *Ulysses*—one of the most notoriously complex works in modern literature.



“She told me she kept *Ulysses* in her car and had been reading it for a long time,” Eve Arnold recalled. “She said she loved the sound of it and would read it aloud to herself to try to make sense of it, but found it hard going. She couldn’t read it straight through. When we stopped at a local playground to take pictures, she got out the book and started reading while I loaded film. So, of course, I photographed her.”





A stunning woman engrossed in a great book is a truly captivating sight.



It completely shatters the stereotype. At first glance, you see a glamorous icon, but looking closer reveals so much more.



Marilyn’s personal library contained roughly four hundred books. Her collection included classics by John Milton, Gustave Flaubert, and Kahlil Gibran, alongside modern icons like Ernest Hemingway, Samuel Beckett, and Jack Kerouac. Her shelves were also packed with history books, including a six-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln.