"My so-called death scene is always described the same: My housekeeper, Eunice Murray, finds my wasted, naked body tangled in a sheet, wet from secretions better left unexplained. I am face down with one hand hanging over the telephone. This detail is discussed often; am I answering a call or making one and if I am calling, then whom? But it did not happen that way. I cheated death. Eunice Murray administered an enema of chloral hydrate on the orders of my psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson. My psychiatrist wanted me dead because he could no longer contain me. Eunice Murray wanted me dead because I had fired her and this was her last day on the job. But they didn't succeed, and the reported sightings of Marilyn Monroe still walking the earth are absolutely true. Because here's what happened." Advance Praise for THE MEMOIR OF MARILYN MONROE "In her new memoir, Marilyn Monroe, and her 'editor, ' Sandi Gelles-Cole, sweep away the ruthlessly exploited icon that haS, it turns out been living among us all these years. She leads us through her post-'death' life: how she survived a murder attempt, who was behind it, the struggle for sanity, relief from multiple addictions, and the reawakening of her need to love and be loved. Ultimately, Marilyn teaches us what it means to live a life that is beautiful precisely because it is 'ordinary.'" --Ron Nyswaner Author of original screenplay PHILADELPHIA and the memoir BLUE DAYS, BLACK NIGHTS "The book casts a spell. I was sorry it was over. It puts me in a certain mood and that mood survives the book. The way Sandi Gelles-Cole evokes the hollowness and terror of recovery I haven't quite seen before. And the incredible irony that Marilyn was hollow and terrified, yet she created something more real than any of us " --Lucia Nevai Author of the novels SERIOUSLY, SALVATION "Sandi Gelles-Cole not only gives us Marilyn Monroe alive and well today, she also gives us Monroe as she might have been without the booze and the pills. With equal parts wit and gravitas, Gelles-Cole breathes life into a fully-fledged Monroe." --Susan Richards New York Times bestselling author of CHOSEN BY A HORSE