Joshua Greene, the son of the late photographer Milton Greene, has revealed that his babysitter was none other than the most famous sex bomb in showbiz – Marilyn Monroe. Joshua’s father was Monroe’s one-time confidant and business partner. “I have wonderful childhood memories of being tickled, having pillow fights,” the New York Post quoted Greene as saying.
“Marilyn Monroe was my babysitter, and she gave me bubble baths!” he said. He threw up his hands in mock horror at the thought of being bathed and diapered by the most famous sex bomb in showbiz. “I was lucky, what could I say?” Greene said. The domesticity played out during a little-known period in the life of Monroe, who died 50 years ago on Aug. 6, when she lodged with the Greene family in Weston, Conn. It was a rural retreat where she intermittently dodged the limelight for more than two years.
Devastated by her divorce from Joe DiMaggio and disillusioned by Hollywood, Monroe fled Los Angeles for the relative tranquility of the East Coast. It was the winter of 1954-’55, and for weeks, nobody knew about her hideout.
There were wild rumours that she was having affairs with Frank Sinatra and Clark Gable. The press was in a frenzy of speculation. But, much to the chagrin of Monroe’s studio, 20th Century Fox, she had simply transferred her business affairs to New York City. Her goal was to reassess her career and seek fulfillment as a serious actress by enrolling at the Actors Studio in Manhattan, run by Lee Strasburg. It took eight months, but Milton Greene helped forge an agreement with Fox that allowed Monroe more freedom to take opportunities and control her image. The duo founded their own company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, which paired with Fox to make “Bus Stop” in 1956 and Warner for “The Prince and the Showgirl” later that year. But the machinations of the film industry went way over young Joshua’s head. “I was too young to have any realization of who Marilyn was,” Greene said. “She was just a friend of the family – safe, nurturing and playful. Those years were the happiest of her life because she had the safe, family environment,” he said. According to Joshua, the late screen icon treated him like a favourite nephew. “It wasn’t about drugs or the negative things which made her insecure. “My father worked doubly hard to make her feel more secure,” he added.
