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The little-known first husband of Marilyn Monroe — then known as Norma Jeane Baker — was a factory worker in her native Los Angeles, five years her senior, named James Dougherty. As many fans of Monroe may know, she did not grow up with her parents; her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker, was not prepared to raise a child — both financially and emotionally (she was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia) — and as a result had to give up her baby to foster parents. Monroe was raised in numerous foster homes and orphanages, culminating with the home her mother’s friend, Grace Goddard and her husband Erwin “Doc” Goddard during high school, per Netflix Life.
However, in mid-1942, right as Monroe was turning 16, Doc Goddard’s job relocated him out-of-state, and, due to California’s child protection laws, he wouldn’t have been able to bring Monroe along. This would have forced her to go back to the orphanage. As a result, Monroe settled by marrying her neighbor, 21-year-old Dougherty.
As Schani Krug, producer of “Marilyn’s Man” — a documentary about Dougherty, told NPR in 2005, Monroe — who would eventually become famous for her femininity — was initially a “tomboy” when they first met, and Dougherty helped to “feminize her.” “He was a bon vivant,” Krug said, “great sense of humor, and he brought that out in her, really refined her, even kind of showed her how to walk and be sexy.”
