Exploiting her popularity following her marriage
After their marriage DiMaggio and Monroe traveled to Japan, he to meet commitments previously made to train and evaluate Japanese baseball teams and players. Marilyn took the opportunity to remind Zanuck and other studio executives of her immense popularity. She embarked on a tour to entertain American troops in Japan and Korea. By the time she returned to the United States she was among the most popular entertainers in the world. That spring, Photoplay Magazine named her its Most Popular Female Star.
Marilyn leveraged her popularity to receive a more favorable contract with Zanuck and Fox, which included a $100,000 (about $1.03 million today) bonus and more control over her film roles. In many ways it was revenge for Zanuck forcing her to appear in dumb blonde roles, as well as his despicable use of the “casting couch”. In exchange, she agreed to appear in the film There’s No Business Like Show Business, a role she despised but Zanuck demanded she do for having refused to appear in The Girl in Pink Tights. She also received a role in The Seven Year Itch, which led to one of the most iconic images of her career.