Marilyn Monroe Kept Her Sister a Secret for a Reason

Back When Marilyn Was Still Norma Jeane

For the first 19 years of her life, Berniece was in the dark about her younger half-sister’s existence. This was back in the 1930s when Marilyn wasn’t Marilyn yet. She was born with the name Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926 in Los Angeles. Her mother, Gladys Baker, was 24.

An early photo of Marilyn by the beach.

Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Marilyn, like Berniece, was in the dark about her family. All she knew was that she had no one, other than her mother Gladys. She lived with her mother periodically until she was ten years old. Shortly after her birth, she was placed into a foster home.

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