Elizabeth Taylor on Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn captured by Milton Greene

From Elizabeth Taylor: The Complete Divinity

Some people don't really want to be helped, you know. They want the help; they need the attention; they enjoy the comfort. I felt that Marilyn was this way. She was terribly sweet: I liked her. But Marilyn couldn't do anything--I mean, anything--without the approval or the consent of this persistent group that was around her. I had a group, too, you know, but they were moving children and dogs and luggage and getting me from one sound stage to another. Marilyn's people were analyzing her; berating her; grooming her. I really think she'd be with us today if she had allowed herself some time alone to learn how to open a can or deal with loneliness or just talk to someone for the sake of conversation.

She over-analyzed a life she never had the chance to live.

© 2013 James Grissom