Acclaimed writer and former actor John Gilmore details his experiences with the most celebrated movie star of the 20th century—Marilyn Monroe. From Hollywood to New York and back, spanning over a decade, Monroe’s role in Gilmore’s life climaxed when they were about to star in a movie together before tragedy struck in Marilyn's life. This haunting, highly personal memoir reveals a treasure-trove of facets of Marilyn's life previously unknown: an unloved, lonely and desperate goddess, ricocheting in a make-believe realm fueled by alcohol and pills, emotionally tortured and in constant physical and psychological pain, imprisoned by an industry that discounts and disparages her ambitions.

Gilmore’s background as a fellow emotionally-deprived Hollywood native, and an actor, fused a powerful connection to the inner Marilyn which this memoir explores with emotionally gripping results as we are at last introduced to the human being hidden beneath the most iconic image of our times. This new e-book edition includes an extended, revealing interview with John Gilmore on his friendship with Marilyn Monroe and many photographs made public for the first time.

“This is the crème de la crème of Marilyn Monroe biographies. It's more than the ultimate Marilyn Monroe experience—it’s an awakening!”

— Ian Ayres, French Connection Press

“John Gilmore is one of America’s natural-born gifts to literature. His books aren’t just inspiring and wicked by-products of genius: they’re miracles . . . . He’s the best ever.” — Gary Indiana

About the Author

John Gilmore was born in the Charity Ward of the Los Angeles General Hospital, the same as Marilyn Monroe. A child actor, later a young leading man, Gilmore worked with major stars in pictures, television and on the stage. He has been involved in the motion picture industry most of his life, is now one of today's most controversial literary figures whose acclaimed non-fiction works include Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia, Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip, and L.A. Despair: A Landscape of Crimes & Bad Times.

For more info, go to www.johngilmore.com.