A new book by biographer Christopher Anderson reveals that Jacqueline Kennedy knew all about her husband’s affair with Marilyn Monroe – because Marilyn told her. The book,These Few Precious Days:The Final Year of Jack with Jackie, gives an insight into John Kennedy’s various love affairs and new information about his dependence on medication.
Excerpts from the book were published in the Sunday edition of the New York Daily News. Among the revelations is a report of a phone call from Marilyn to Jackie, in which Marilyn explained that she was in love with the president.
Jackie’s response, as reported verbatim by the late Peter Lawford, was,”Marilyn, you’ll marry Jack, that’s great. And you’ll move into the White House and you’ll assume the responsibilities of first lady, and I’ll move out and you’ll have all the problems.”
In fact, it was her husband’s relationship with Marilyn – out all the other infidelities that she knew about – which bothered her the most. The Mail Online reports that she was afraid that a high profile celebrity like Marilyn was more likely to bring her public humiliation and create a scandal that would give the press a field day. Marilyn supposedly said to her friend, Jeanne Carmen, “Can’t you just see me as First Lady.”
The Kennedy’s always maintained a formal and dignified relationship in public and inside the White House. Jackie once said,”He would never hold hands in public or put his arm around me — that was naturally just distasteful to him.”
The problem for readers of the new JFK book is to try to judge the reliability of reported statements and actions so many years after they allegedly occurred.
