The affair between President John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe has long been documented, but now Shirley MacLaine has made a shocking claim about Marilyn's relationship with John's brother Bobby.
In her new coffee table book, The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories from this Marvelous Lifetime, the 90-year-old actress claims that she once saw the then-President leaving a bedroom that Marilyn Monroe was in, only for his brother Bobby to walk in and close the door.
© Cecil Stoughton/White house/ZUMA Wire/Shutterstock"In 1962, at the famous celebration for John F Kennedy’s 45th birthday at Madison Square Garden, Jimmy Durante and I performed for the president and the crowd, but what most people remember is Marilyn Monroe singing 'Happy Birthday' to him," she wrote.
Shirley goes on to reveal that everyone went to a party at the home of finance chairman for the Democratic Party Arthur Krim afterwards, and in a caption for a black-and-white picture which has John, known as Jack, in the background, she writes: "Jack Kennedy had just walked out of the bedroom behind me, and Bobby Kennedy had just walked in. Marilyn was in the bedroom."
© BettmannIn a later caption for a picture of Shirley with the Kennedy brothers' brother Teddy, taken in 1984, she wrote: "Here I’m telling Teddy Kennedy that story… and he’s laughing about how the boys got away with it all the time."
© Mariette Pathy AllenThe night of John's 45th birthday on May 29, 1962, led to the now famous performance of Marilyn giving a breathy performance of "Happy birthday," and it was reported that the moment led to John's wife Jackie finally giving him an ultimatum that saw him end the affair.
Marilyn died less than three months later on August 4, 1962. John was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and Bobby on June 6, 1968.
© BettmannShirley is already one of Hollywood's greats, but her new memoir and photo album The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories from this Marvelous Lifetime, has cemented that status. The memoir marks the first time she'll be sharing a deeper look inside her childhood and years on the screen with several unseen family photos from her personal archives, a departure from her previous memoirs that have also focused heavily on her spiritual beliefs.
Her brother was Warren Beatty; both Shirley and Warren have won Oscars.
Elsewhere in the book Shirley reveals she once "propositioned" Morgan Freeman but he turned her down, and that the only two co-stars she didn't fall in love with were Jack Lemmon, who she said was "like a brother to me," and Jack Nicholson.
