- On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead inside her Los Angeles home at the age of 36.
- Marilyn Monroe was discovered lying on her bed while holding a telephone and several empty pill bottles.
- While the official explanation closed the case decades ago, rumours and conspiracy theories about Marilyn Monroe have never disappeare
The death of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe remains one of the most talked about mysteries in entertainment history. On August 5, 1962, the actress was found dead inside her Los Angeles home at the age of 36. Monroe was discovered lying on her bed while holding a telephone and several empty pill bottles.
Authorities quickly launched an investigation and later concluded that she died from an overdose of drugs. Her death was officially ruled as a suicide. Even after all these years, many continue to question what really happened that night. While the official explanation closed the case decades ago, rumours and conspiracy theories have never disappeared.
Author James Patterson, who wrote The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2025 that he personally believes Marilyn Monroe may have been murdered.
He said, “I think that she was treading in very dangerous waters. She had these incredible relationships with President Kennedy, and with Robert Kennedy, and with Sinatra, and with Mafia figures. They told her stuff, and she kept track of it. She had information that was kind of dangerous. A lot of people don't know the story. There's a lot of stuff I didn't know.”
Discussing his research, James Patterson said he learned many details about Monroe's life that were not known. He pointed to her difficult childhood, including the time she spent moving to multiple foster homes and revealed that she struggled with a severe stutter when she was young.
Patterson also said he found information about Monroe's death that raised questions for him, like one detective involved in the case believed the scene may have been arranged to look a certain way.
Joyce Carol Oates, who wrote Blonde, which was adapted into a movie, said in a 2022 Telegraph interview that she never presented her novel as a factual account of Marilyn Monroe's life, the book includes a fictional version of Monroe's death.
In the story, Monroe takes an overdose, but another person later enters her home and gives her a deadly injection of Nembutal. The character then removes items from the house that might connect Monroe to an unnamed individual.
Oates explained that she wanted her novel to leave room for different possibilities about Monroe's death. She also pointed to reports that some items were removed from the artist's home and certain phone records were no longer available before police arrived.
At the same time, Joyce Carol Oates believed Marilyn Monroe was struggling with many personal problems. She felt the actress was on a difficult path and was dealing with emotional pain that was hard to escape. In Oates' view, Monroe's fame, public image and the pressures that came with being a major star played a large role in her tragic life.