Why Did Marilyn Monroe Never Have Kids?

Actress Marilyn Monroe poses for a portrait laying on the grass in 1954 in Palm Springs, California — Baron/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

What To Know

Marilyn Monroe never had children, despite deeply wanting a family, particularly during her marriage to Arthur Miller.
She suffered multiple miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, largely due to endometriosis and other health challenges that affected her fertility.
Monroe’s struggles with infertility and her untimely death at age 36 added to the tragedy and mystery surrounding her personal life.

Fans love getting a glimpse into the personal lives of famous stars as a way to feel closer to them. For many, Marilyn Monroe was always an enigma, and fans wanted to know everything about her, including whether she ever had any offspring.

Monroe never had children, but it was not for lack of wanting them. By the mid-1950s, as her career reached its peak, she began to seriously think about starting a family during her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller. Unfortunately, due to several health reasons, her dream of having a family of her own never came to fruition before her untimely death at age 36. Before Miller, she had a string of bad marriages followed by bad luck that didn’t seem to allow for motherhood.

Monroe married her first husband, James Dougherty, in 1942, just after turning 16, mainly to avoid being sent back to an orphanage when her guardians moved away, and her mother was being treated for mental health illnesses. When Dougherty was deployed during World War II, Monroe began working in a factory, which led to modeling and eventually acting. As her ambitions grew, her husband did not support her career, so they divorced in 1946.

Her second marriage to baseball legend Joe DiMaggio was intense, but short-lived. They married in 1954, and the relationship quickly became strained, in part because DiMaggio reportedly found her fame and public image uncomfortable. The marriage lasted less than a year.

HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, Marilyn Monroe, 1953.

It was during her third marriage, to Miller, that Monroe began to think more seriously about having children. The two married in 1956, and Monroe spoke openly about wanting a baby during this period and actually became pregnant more than once. However, she sadly suffered multiple miscarriages as well as an ectopic pregnancy. These repeated losses took a toll, both emotionally and physically, and were reported to be one of the factors that strained the marriage before their divorce in 1961.

According to Greg Schreiner, the president of Marilyn Remembered, “She did share with her friend, (poet) Norman Rosten, after her second pregnancy, ‘Should I do my next picture or stay at home and try to have a baby again? That’s what I want most of all: the baby, I guess. But maybe God is trying to tell me something, I mean, with all the pregnancy problems.'”

There were underlying medical reasons behind those losses. Monroe had endometriosis, a condition that can be extremely painful, interfere with fertility, and increase the likelihood of miscarriage. At the time, it was not well understood or effectively treated. On top of that, she was dealing with chronic insomnia, anxiety, and depression. She was prescribed medications that were common in that era but are now known to carry significant risks, including fertility issues. Ultimately, she died before ever having children, adding just another heartbreaking chapter to the book of her life.