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It is widely believed that Jackie Kennedy was no stranger to President John F. Kennedy’s infidelities. But when it came to Marilyn Monroe, it was different, which is why she allegedly confronted her husband.
The claim was made by J. Randy Taraborrelli, who has written a new biography about the 35th president, “JFK: Private, Public Secret.” It’s a follow-up to his 2023 book on the late first lady, “Jackie: Public, Private, Secret.” For his latest book, Taraborrelli drew from hundreds of interviews conducted over 25 years.
“Jackie cared [about Monroe],” Taraborrelli told Fox News Digital. “Jackie said to him, ‘This one’s different. This one could be trouble.’ But JFK was the President of the United States. He was dealing with Khrushchev, communism and the potential of an atomic war. . . . I don’t think Marilyn Monroe was really on his radar, to be honest, other than having her sing ‘Happy Birthday’ at Madison Square Garden.”
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Author J. Randy Taraborrelli claimed to Fox News Digital that Jackie Kennedy (right) confronted her husband, President John F. Kennedy (center) about Marilyn Monroe (left). (Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images ; Getty Images)
Taraborrelli claimed the conversation in question took place before Kennedy’s birthday bash on May 19, 1962. Monroe, who had already established herself as a Hollywood sex symbol, gave a breathless rendition of “Happy Birthday” while wearing a nude-hued, skin-tight beaded gown.
Jackie was not present at the festivities. Instead, she participated in the Loudoun Hunt Horse Show in Leesburg, Virginia. It was a decision Jackie’s mother didn’t approve of, the book claimed.
Jackie Kennedy did not attend her husband John F. Kennedy’s birthday bash in Madison Square Garden where Marilyn Monroe gave her breathless rendition of “Happy Birthday.” (Getty Images)
“It’s selfish,” the matriarch told her, as quoted in the book. “Remember who you are. You are the first lady of the United States. She’s just an actress.”
J. Randy Taraborrelli’s biography, “JFK: Public, Private, Secret,” is out now. (St. Martin’s Press)
But Jackie’s mind was made up.
“I think the reason for her concern was because she knew her husband well, and it made sense to her, I think, that he was having an affair with Marilyn,” Taraborrelli explained to Fox News Digital.
Marilyn Monroe performing “Happy Birthday” to U.S. President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden, New York City, circa 1962. (Cecil Stoughton, White House Photographs / ALAMY)
Taraborrelli said Jackie “singled Marilyn out from all the others,” feeling that the screen siren “could be a bigger problem.”
“JFK’s response to that, though, was that he told her nothing was going on between him and Marilyn,” said Taraborrelli.
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President John F. Kennedy reportedly told Jackie Kennedy there was nothing going on with Marilyn Monroe. (National Archive/Newsmakers/Getty Images)
“But did she believe him? Could she believe him? Why would she believe him?” Tararborrelli continued. “… Why would she take his word for it? Jackie thinks maybe JFK is lying, but she doesn’t know.”
Taraborrelli admitted there’s “so much gray” in the story because “everyone knew a different version of events.”
J. Randy Taraborrelli’s book on the late first lady, “Jackie: Public, Private, Secret,” came out in 2023. (St. Martin’s Press)
“What we do know is that Marilyn shows up at Madison Square Garden, she sings ‘Happy Birthday’ to him. Jackie decides not to attend because she doesn’t want to endorse it.”
Actress Marilyn Monroe sings “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden. (Bettmann / Contributor Getty Images)
For decades, it’s been rumored that the president and the movie star had an affair. According to Hollywood lore, it’s long been claimed that the pair spent a weekend at Bing Crosby’s house in early 1962.
For his book, Taraborrelli spoke to Pat Newcomb, who was Monroe’s publicist and close friend. She told him that no meeting had ever taken place at Crosby’s home.
It’s long been rumored that John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe spent a weekend at Bing Crosby’s house. Monroe’s publicist, Pat Newcomb, doubted the claim. (Gene Lester/Getty Images)
“Pat Newcomb said Marilyn Monroe told everybody all kinds of things, but she never told everybody the same thing,” Taraborrelli explained.
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For his new book, J. Randy Taraborrelli spoke to Pat Newcomb, Marilyn Monroe’s friend and publicist. (Getty Images)
“She just did not believe that JFK and Marilyn were having an affair. And as I wrote in the book, she doesn’t strike me as a person who would lie about it, not at the age of 95. I think that’s what happens with people as they get older, and many of my sources for this book were in their 90s and 100s. They have a lot less reason [to lie]. Why protect Marilyn about 65 years after the fact? There’s nothing that I got from Pat that made me feel like she was interested in some kind of mythology.”
“She said, ‘Look, I don’t even know where Bing Crosby lived,’” Taraborrelli shared. “… You don’t think about what your friends were doing 65 years ago. But if your friend was having an affair with John F. Kennedy, the president, I think it’s something that you’d remember, right? She’s also Marilyn’s publicist. She would’ve been the one to set up Marilyn going to Palm Springs to be with JFK at Bing Crosby’s house.”
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Taraborrelli said he had spoken to several sources to learn whether Monroe and Kennedy had ever had a tryst. He concluded that there isn’t enough evidence to support that theory.
Marilyn Monroe is seen here with Bobby Kennedy and John F. Kennedy. It is the only known photo of the trio together. (ALAMY)
“[Pat] was pretty adamant that … it could have just been a figment of Marilyn’s imagination,” Taraborrelli claimed. “And here’s the thing that people need to understand – Marilyn Monroe was the best narrator of her own life. . . . She often imagined a life for herself that wasn’t really true. . . . And I think that’s a big part of how all of this has evolved over the years.”
“When it came to that weekend at Bing Crosby’s house, Pat Newcomb didn’t know anything about that,” Taraborrelli shared. “She said if it had happened, she would’ve known, because she was her best friend. We also looked at other sources who’ve told that story over the years, and we were able to debunk them.”
According to J. Randy Taraborrelli’s book, Jackie Kennedy told her husband about Marilyn Monroe, “This one’s different Jack. This one worries me.” (Getty Images)
Taraborrelli does believe that at one point, Monroe called the Kennedy home in Hyannis Port in 1962 before the Madison Square Garden event. It’s a claim that was previously shared in his book about Jackie. But he was adamant that despite Jackie’s reported worries about the blonde bombshell, “we don’t have enough evidence to support that Marilyn and JFK had an affair.”
Steve Smith (brother-in-law of President John F. Kennedy) visits Marilyn Monroe during an evening reception at the residence of Arthur B. Krim and Dr. Mathilde Krim in New York City. (ALAMY)
According to the book, Louise “Fifi” Fell, a socialite and friend of the Kennedys, hosted a black-tie party at her New York City pad in 1962. It was there, Taraborrelli claimed, that Kennedy met Monroe.
“It was a cocktail party, and Peter Lawford [actor and Rat Pack member] invited both Marilyn and JFK,” Taraborrelli told Fox News Digital. “Marilyn was very, very late in getting there. JFK almost left without having met her.”
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Marilyn Monroe died in 1962 at age 36. (Frank Povolny/Twentieth Century Fox/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
Six months earlier, Monroe was at a Frank Sinatra concert in Las Vegas. Kennedy’s sisters, Jean and Pat, were also present. Lawford then invited Monroe to dinner at the couple’s Santa Monica home in honor of Bobby and Ethel Kennedy, said Taraborrelli. An excited Monroe allegedly told close friends that it was “a date” with Bobby. It was really a get-together with “at least a dozen others,” Taraborrelli pointed out.
From left: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop in publicity portrait for the film “Ocean’s Eleven,” 1960. (Warner Brothers/Getty Images)
Monroe died in August 1962 from a barbiturate overdose. She was 36. According to Taraborrelli, Jackie was said to be saddened by the news.
“It was tragic and awful,” Taraborrelli reflected. “People were just very sad that an overdose ended her life. It was a terrible, terrible thing.”
While Taraborrelli couldn’t verify the rumor surrounding the star, he did make a surprising discovery about Kennedy.
Jackie Kennedy was said to be saddened by Marilyn Monroe’s sudden death. (Getty Images)
“What surprised me were the complexities of his story,” Taraborrelli explained. “In this book, I didn’t want to defend him … but I think you can understand him better. Towards the end of the book, he takes total accountability on his part when he tells his sister-in-law, ‘The way that I treated Jackie was very painful, and by painful, I mean shameful.’ That accountability surprised me. He became a man who understood the hurt caused by his actions [in their marriage]. He did everything he could to rectify it before his death.”
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963. (Getty Images)
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“Jackie and JFK were getting ready to renew their wedding vows,” he said. “Her mother even remarked how Jackie was still so in love with JFK. And then he was murdered. It’s a terrible story, but it’s one of accountability and forgiveness.”