Marilyn Monroe wanted to be a mother more than almost anything else in her life. That dream, however, never came to be. Before losing this pregnancy, she had already suffered three miscarriages — all of them public. This set of rare photographs captures her during what would become yet another heartbreaking chapter in her personal life.
The photos were taken on July 8, 1960, by Monroe’s close friend Frieda Hull. The location was outside Fox Studios in New York, right after Monroe had completed costume and hair tests for her upcoming film, The Misfits. The movie starred Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift alongside Monroe and would go on to be one of her most celebrated performances.
Frieda Hull wasn’t just a casual acquaintance — she was one of Monroe’s trusted confidantes. Monroe told her directly that Yves Montand, her co-star on the film Let’s Make Love, was the father of the child. This was a significant revelation, as Monroe was still legally married to playwright Arthur Miller at the time.
Monroe and Montand had filmed Let’s Make Love together earlier that same year. Their on-set relationship became widely talked about in Hollywood circles. Monroe’s marriage to Miller was already under serious strain, and the pregnancy added another deeply personal layer to an already turbulent period in her life.
In the photos, Monroe appears composed despite everything happening around her. She had just wrapped a long day of production preparation for The Misfits — a film that would later be known as the last completed movie for both her and Clark Gable. These candid shots captured outside the studio offer a glimpse into a private moment rarely seen by the public.
Monroe lost this pregnancy, as she had the others before it. Her repeated miscarriages were linked to her endometriosis, a condition she had been diagnosed with years earlier. Each loss was covered by the press, leaving very little of her grief private. These photographs, taken by a friend rather than a press photographer, stand apart from the usual media coverage of her life.
