She belonged to no one and never placed too much trust in a sense of security or family after the Bolenders left for England. Gladys and Norma Jeane lived there with the child for perhaps three months then poor Gladys had to return to the hospital, vanishing forever behind the dark curtain of mental illness. So used to abandonment was Norma Jeane that when Gladys finally announced Norma Jeane was leaving with a new family the little girl simply went and packed her belongings, without any reaction whatsoever, The child was used to a transient lifestyle. The most prized furnishing in the house was a white baby grand piano. Gladys actually managed to purchase a small white house for herself and Norma Jean near Hollywood Bowl. She must have been unable to completely part with her daughter even though she couldn’t mother the child herself.Īfter the Bolenders left Norma Jeane entered a succession of foster homes, rarely living with Gladys. From inside the mental institution, Gladys said no. In spite of denying Norma Jeane’s relation to them, the Bolenders offered to adopt Norma Jeane and return with her to England. They were extremely strict with Norma Jeane and their adopted son Lester, because they believed that a strong moral and religious background would benefit the impressionable little girl throughout her life. The Bolenders were Christian Scientists and devoutly religious, like Norma’s mother. Strangely, neither Gladys nor the Bolenders told the child that Gladys was her mother. She took the child on outings but remained a disturbing figure in Norma Jeane’s life. Norma Jean saw her mother mostly on the weekends. Gladys dutifully paid $25.00 a month for her baby’s care. Norma Jeane began her stay with the Bolenders when Gladys began working full-time shortly after Norma Jeane’s birth in an effort to make ends meet. Clearly the pain of Ida’s rejection still stung in her memory. Marilyn repeated this story to an interviewer and it was a story she told to friends many times. Imagine little Norma Jeane’s feelings about being disowned by the people she’d thought were her family. Was he her father? The answer again was “no”. She claimed that one day she called Ida”mommy” to which the woman snarled, “ don’t you call me mother! I’m not your mothery!” Since Ida Bolender was the only mother the child had ever known, this surely must have confused and nearly destroyed the little girl. They provided a safe haven for Norma Jean but Marilyn recalled a very sad incident with Ida. She lived for seven years with an English couple named the Ida and Albert Bolender.
Norma Jeane entered several foster homes beginning with her first year of life. Sadly her mental illness left her utterly unable to care for the little girl. She was born in 1902 in Mexico to American parents. Gladys Pearl Monroe Baker, a pretty, fragile divorcee , was Norma Jeane’s mother.
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