Zero self-esteem: Marilyn Monroe

How can that be? "Marilyn Monroe" and "feelings of inferiority" - how does that fit together? Not really, right? She was a legend in her lifetime, but deep down she was full of self-doubt.

How can this be? Let’s give Marilyn Monroe herself the opportunity to explain:

"But there was a period when I responded too much to flattery and slept around too much, thinking it would help my career, though I always liked the guy at the time. They were always so full of self-confidence, and I had none at all and they made me feel better."

(W. J. Weatherby: Conversations with Marilyn, London 1976, 144.)


No self-assurance? None of that? Really? Really! This is not her only remark regarding her low self-esteem. This is what Monroe says about her acting teacher Michael Chekhov:

"He gave me some confidence in myself, I had none at all."

(Ebenda, 190.)


Well, you could say that this applies to the beginning of her career, that she must have become more confident with growing success, right? Not at all! Looking back on her career, Monroe says:

"I could have got so much more done if I had more self-confidence."

(Ebenda, 151.)

Well, I have no choice but to believe her words: Marilyn Monroe was insecure - all her life.

Why am I addressing her feelings of inferiority here? I do not know if it is the main cause, nobody knows, Marilyn Monroe herself will not have known - but I think being pushed back and forth in her childhood will have contributed a lot: care - home - care, etc. etc.

It’s one of those things about self-confidence. After talking to many, many people, I got the impression that no one really sits firmly in the saddle. My impression is that everyone is struggling with feelings of inferiority.

But with us adoptive and foster children, I think, a big shovel on top of it. If you are given away by the person closest to you, the person for whom you should be the most valuable, how can you still feel valuable?

And no matter what you achieve and will be, this insult to your self-esteem cannot be compensated by anything. Even if you’re such a legend like Marilyn Monroe.