A Look Back At Jackie Kennedy And Marilyn Monroe's Tense Phone Call

Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe traveled in similar circles. They shared the same hairdresser and, at different times, the same therapist. However, due to their difficult relationship, they didn't welcome these shared associations. Jackie's husband, John F. Kennedy, reportedly had numerous affairs during their marriage, and Monroe was supposed to be one of these mistresses. In his book "These Few Precious Days," Christopher Andersen claims that Jackie worried that Monroe "would obliterate her husband's reputation, destroy her marriage and hold her up to public ridicule" (via CBS News). Given this concern, it's likely Jackie would have dreaded any contact she had with Monroe.

In April 1962, a particularly unsettling phone call occurred between Jackie and Monroe. J. Randy Taraborrelli chronicled the incident in his book, "Jackie: Public, Private, Secret." Taraborrelli explained that Monroe called the Kennedy family home in Massachusetts, looking to speak to JFK. He wasn't there, and Monroe talked to Jackie instead. The actress declined to state a specific purpose for her call, and after a brief exchange with the first lady, it was over. To her dismay, Jackie found herself repeatedly revisiting the episode. "She later told family members that there was a haunting quality to Marilyn's voice that really stuck with her," Taraborrelli informed Fox News Digital. The whole experience was apparently so surreal that Jackie wasn't even sure if the caller was Monroe or someone impersonating her.

The details surrounding John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe's association are murky, with some claiming they met in 1954. In "Marilyn Monroe: The Biography," Donald Spoto asserts they didn't meet until October 1961, and that their supposed affair occurred five months later. "Marilyn told me that this night in March was the only time of her 'affair' with JFK," Monroe's friend Ralph Roberts informed Spoto. "Marilyn gave me the impression that it was not a major event for either of them: it happened once, that weekend, and that was that."

This story makes Monroe and Jackie Kennedy's April 1962 conversation even more intriguing. What was Monroe's intention in phoning? Although author Christopher Andersen claimed Jackie worried about Monroe's ability to keep the affair discrete, J. Randy Taraborrelli writes in "Jackie: Public, Private, Secret" that Marilyn chose the only phone number free from Secret Service interventions. It was so super-secret that many of their family members didn't know it.

Jackie was already incredulous about the experience, and JFK reinforced her view after she informed him about the call. The then-president denied sharing the digits with Monroe and dismissed the whole scenario. As for Jackie's mindset during the call, Taraborrelli believes that she might have felt some sympathy for Marilyn amid her dismay and concern. "Jackie felt Marilyn was too vulnerable, too weak to be played with by JFK or by anybody else for that matter," Taraborrelli explained to Fox News Digital. Tragically, Monroe died in August 1962, and her final words purportedly included a goodbye message for JFK.