One of the most famous actresses and recognized beauty of the twentieth century - Marilyn Monroe, it turns out, also resorted to the services of plastic surgeons. What did the actress really change, and what is only a myth, and what is a real fact, and what did she look like before and after the operations?
Carier start
Norma Jean Baker-Mortenson - that is what the future great actress truly was called, was born on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles (USA). The girl’s childhood and youth were very difficult - the madness of her mother, the change of several adoptive families, ridicule at school - all this gave rise to the Norman Jin complexes that accompanied her all her life. The future of Marilyn Monroe before plastic surgery - the photo is presented below.
From the age of 19, Norma Jeane worked as a pin-up model, posing for calendars, men's magazines and postcards. During this period, she believed in herself, and became less critical of her appearance. However, after three years of working as a model, in 1948, Norma Jeane signed her acting contract at a Hollywood studio.
Doctors Documents
Everyone knows that with the beginning of work in the cinema, the girl changed her name and hair color, turning from Norma Jean Baker with long brown curls to Marilyn Monroe with short curly curls of the color of platinum. However, many, comparing photographs of the actress of different years, noticed other changes in appearance. But until 2013, all talk of plastic surgery remained nothing more than rumors.
But now, in November 2013, at the Julien's auction, X-ray images of the actress, which showed obvious differences, and the records of plastic surgeon Michael Gurdin, who, as it turned out, worked with the actress, were sold. In the photo below, one of Dr. Gurdin's medical documents confirming the operation Marilyn Miller (the name of the actress is her third husband).
Secret smile
Before filming in the musical “Chorus Girls” of 1948, which became the first film in the career of the actress, a record was made about her describing height, weight, eye color and so on. About the actress’s teeth, it was said: “Ideal in terms of whiteness, color and shape, but correction of the bite is necessary.”
Fred Karger, a vocal teacher at Columbia Pictures Studios, with whom Monroe was in a relationship at that time, paid her to correct the bite of the orthodontist, as well as correct the shape of her front teeth (they protruded slightly forward, as they were very large), from a Hollywood doctor Walter Taylor Cosmetic Surgery. An X-ray of Marilyn Monroe's teeth before and after surgery is presented below.
You can also notice the differences in the photographs of the actress below: the first photo was taken during the period of work as a model, the second during the first acting work.
Classic Nose Marilyn Monroe
In the early 50s, Marilyn was in a romantic relationship with major Hollywood authority Johnny Hyde. When the studio Columbia Pictures decided not to renew the contract with the aspiring actress, she was desperate, considering her appearance to be the fault of everything. A special object of her anger was a nose - long and round. "This is not a nose, but a potato disaster!" - the actress exclaimed endlessly, looking in the mirror.
Johnny Hyde, trying to please his young protégé in everything, paid for the first plastic surgery of Marilyn Monroe with a surgeon, whose name is not known today, and the nose of the actress took on a more neat shape.
Marilyn did repeated rhinoplasty with Michael Gourdin in 1958. For that time, the work can be called jewelry - the actress's nose looked perfect, and it was impossible to notice a single trace of the operation. In modern plastic surgery, this form is called the "Classic nose of Marilyn Monroe." In the photo below you can trace the "evolution" of the nose of the actress.
Chin shape
Through the efforts of Johnny Hyde, at about the same time, Marilyn changed the shape of her chin. In the early photos you can see that the chin of the actress is wide, with a barely noticeable dimple. During the operation, Marilyn Monroe implanted an implant from a sea sponge, softening the shape of the chin and giving it an elegant crescent shape. Due to this, the face of the actress visually lengthened.
Turning to Michael Gurdin in 1958 about rhinoplasty, the actress also consulted with him about the "chin deformity." Marilyn thought this was due to her recent fall during filming - she hit her face and worried about the consequences of her operations. But it turned out that after eight years, the implant was almost completely dissolved.
Despite rumors, Marilyn Monroe did not repeat such plastic surgeries, and her chin visually changed due to the fact that the actress was either losing weight or getting better. It was said that in the last years of her life, Marilyn made a pronounced fossa on the chin with the help of the operation, but in fact she lost a lot of weight, from which the natural dimple simply came out. In the photo below, Marilyn Monroe plastic surgery before and after chin changes, as well as the photo after the implant is dissolved.
Chest
There are no documents proving that Marilyn Monroe has had breast augmentation surgery. One of Hollywood's famous plastic surgeons, Norman Leaf, claims that Michael Gourdin told him about the actress’s breast surgery she did in 1950, at the same time that she changed her chin and nose. There are no such entries in the documents of Gurdin himself, which means that the reliability of such information remains unreliable and was provided solely in the words of Norman Leaf.
The actress's breast size has changed throughout her career, which again is associated with weight changes. Even in the modeling period, Marilyn’s chest sometimes looks very large, then quite small, but at that time she had nowhere to get money for such an operation. And even more so, I do not believe that by the beginning of the 60s Marilyn Monroe's plastic surgery could be aimed at breast reduction.
Such a rumor circulated during the life of the actress: as if she decided to go to a serious movie, and for this she reduced the size of the bust - in fact, the actress simply lost weight amid protracted depression.
Other operations
Not only plastic surgery was done by Marilyn Monroe. In April 1961, the actress underwent surgery to remove the gallbladder. After that, a large scar remained on Marilyn’s stomach, which she preferred to hide.
But at a photo shoot hosted by Bert Stern in 1962 (just six weeks before the actress's death), she was naked, not hiding the scar. As if anticipating that the photo session would be the last, Marilyn decided to show herself absolutely naturally, not hiding a single feature of her body.
Makeup Secrets
You can often hear that Marilyn Monroe's plastic surgery involves the practice of regular lip augmentation. This is absolutely untrue, since at the time such operations were not practiced, and even from the early photos of the actress, you can see that the size of her lips remained the same throughout her life.
A similar rumor could have arisen due to the skillful use of various tricks in the field of makeup - even while working as a model, when Marilyn had to paint without the help of professionals, she successfully mixed several shades of lipstick, covering her lips with a thin layer of petroleum jelly, which visually enlarged her lips - this technique she used all my life.
Also, Marilyn Monroe was one of the first celebrities who actively used face contouring - it took up to two hours for the actress to do independent makeup, since it included several layers of petroleum jelly and powder, after which Marilyn literally “painted” herself a new face, improving her shape nose, cheekbones and chin.