Their rumoured affair may have happened over 60 years ago, however salacious details about their alleged romance between Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy are still being uncovered today. Whilst it has always been hotly contested how aware JFK’s wife, Jackie, was of the affair, new information suggests the two women had a close encounter right in the thick of the entanglement.
Watch The Last Thing Jackie Kennedy Said To JFK Before He Died. Post continues after the video.
In a new tell-all book Jackie: Public, Private, Secret, author J. Randy Taraborrelli claims an ominous phone conversation took place between Jackie and Marilyn in 1962. According to Taraborrelli, Marilyn dialled through to the Kennedy’s private bedroom phone line in their Hyannis Port, Massachusetts home.
When the phone rang, it was Jackie who answered. Taraborrelli suggests Marilyn asked Jackie, “Is Jack home?” which prompted his wife to ask who was on the line. Marilyn then allegedly responded with, “Marilyn Monroe. Is this Jackie?” When Jackie inquired as to what she was calling for apparently Marilyn told her she just “wanted to say hello.”
The brief phone call apparently had quite an effect on Jackie. In an interview with Fox News, Taraborrelli told interviewers how haunted she had been by it all. "There was something about that phone call," he said. "She later told family members that there was a haunting quality to Marilyn's voice that really stuck with her. And it's not like they even had any kind of deep conversation. But it was 10 years of wondering, was it really Marilyn Monroe? And that buzz stayed with the family."
Elsewhere in the biography the author says Jackie had remarked how "sad" and "disturbing" she found Marilyn to be following the awkward run-in.
Perhaps the conversation between the two women was a dark foreshadowing of the tragedy that would unfold just a few short months later. In May the affair rumours heated up further when Marilyn sang 'Happy Birthday' to the US president on his 45th birthday celebrations at Madison Square Garden.
At the time her performance caused a stir amongst the media with one outlet remarking, “It seemed like Marilyn was making love to the president in front of 40 million Americans.”
Amidst the furore, three months later Marilyn Monroe was found dead after a drug overdose.
In the wake of her death, Taraborelli told Fox News he believed Jackie was "bereft" over Marilyn’s passing however felt she was a "disaster waiting to happen.”
Whilst we may never know what really went down in the conversation between the two women, it marks a significant passage in a tragic tale that still holds the public captive almost half a century later.
Feature Image: Getty