Marilyn Monroe (left); Jackie Kennedy.Photo:Getty (2)
Getty (2)
The relationship betweenMarilyn MonroeandJohn F. Kennedyis now the stuff of legend— but forJacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the affair was almost inescapable. So much so that in the 1970s, the former first lady was shocked to discover her therapist had once treated Monroe.
Patricia Atwood, Kris’ secretary from 1972 to 1974, told Taraborrelli in an email, “Dr. Kris would never discuss Mrs. Onassis, citing doctor-patient confidentiality."
But in notes, the therapist detailed some of her sessions with Jackie.
“They addressed Mrs. Onassis’s ongoing PTSD over the assassination, as well as certain nagging issues about their marriage. He went out in a blaze of glory, Mrs. Onassis said, according to one of the notes I read,” Atwood shared. “The way he died had completely robbed her of the right to hate him, she said. Next to that entry, Dr. Kris wrote that her grief was anything but, as she put it, ‘tidy.’”
At one point, Jackie was informed that Dr. Kris had once treated Monroe — long believed to have had an affair with her first husband, JFK, one of his many infidelities.
Writes Taraborrelli: “When Jackie confronted her, [Dr.] Kris said she felt no responsibility to inform her about any former patients in the same way she’d never reveal that she’d ever treated Jackie. Marianne asked, ‘How is this relevant?’ to which Jackie responded, ‘How is thatnotrelevant?'”
In the years that followed, accounts of Monroe’s affairs with both the late president and his brother, the late Sen.Robert F. Kennedy, have been explored in countless news reports, books and interviews.
Jackie Kennedy on the cover of PEOPLE, July 2023.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer.
She would go on to marry Onassis in 1968, and in her later years, she found companionship with diamond merchant Maurice Tempelsman.
In early 1994, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and died on May 19 of that year. Until the end, she always remained private about her personal life,
source: people.com
