The silver screen goddess known as Marilyn Monroe began life as mild mannered Norma Jeane Mortenson, which her mother quickly changed to Baker, and like the story behind her name the story of her life was rather complicated.
Despite growing up in foster homes, suffering with mental illness and searching for a new identity to help leave her old one behind, Marilyn became one of the most famous and enduring people in Hollywood.
Marilyn is so famous, in fact, that it’s easy to believe you’ve seen every picture ever taken of Marilyn during her all too brief life.
But there's a treasure trove of rare images from Marilyn's pre-Hollywood movie modeling career with the Blue Book Modeling Agency that are about to be released in a book called Before Marilyn: The Blue Book Modelling Years by Astrid Franse and Michelle Morgan.
These images reveal the real girl behind the platinum blonde bombshell, the girl who once claimed to have no ambitions to become an actress and was just happy having a slice of the spotlight.
