Yet they each might have appreciated knowing someone who could understand some of that pain. Monroe was more open about her early life than Fitzgerald, who never wanted to discuss that period. The reformatory's last superintendent told The New York Times that during Fitzgerald's time there "she had been held in the basement of one of the cottages once and all but tortured." Her truancy led to Fitzgerald being placed in a segregated reform school in upstate New York, where staff didn't hesitate to brutalize residents. She left school to earn money, taking jobs, like brothel lookout, that skirted the law. Her stepfather became abusive, so she went to live with an aunt in Harlem. Reflecting on her upbringing for a 1956 interview with Time magazine, she wondered, "How did I get through it?"įitzgerald was 15 when her mother's death in 1932 upended her world. She was moved among many different homes and was subjected to sexual abuse. Monroe grew up during the Great Depression unaware of who her father was and coping with a birth mother who was mentally unstable. One reason for the connection between Monroe and Fitzgerald may have been the number of life experiences they had in common, beginning with their traumatic childhoods. Monroe and Fitzgerald had many things in common, including traumatic childhoods And even after Monroe had died, Fitzgerald remained grateful for the support the star had provided during her lifetime. Their friendship would last until Monroe's untimely death. When once asked about her favorite singers, Marilyn Monroe answered, "Well, my very favorite person, and I love her as a person as well as a singer, I think she's the greatest, and that's Ella Fitzgerald." Not only was Monroe a Fitzgerald fan, but she was also a friend who used her status as a Hollywood star to boost Fitzgerald's career.
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