Marilyn’s short and troubled marriage to DiMaggio
By mid-1954 the marriage of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe was in trouble. DiMaggio resented the constant press coverage and the demands of her career on his wife, and was deemed by Marilyn’s friends in the industry to be controlling and possibly abusive. While filming The Seven Year Itch in September, Monroe used the famous scene where the subway trains blow up her skirt as a publicity event. Among the fans and photographers who were present for the scene’s filming was a seething DiMaggio.
It was the last straw, though it was Marilyn who filed for divorce the following month, after just nine months of marriage to the former Yankee’s superstar. Their relationship remained cordial, though Marilyn dated several other men, among them New York playwright Arthur Miller. With Miller’s encouragement and support, Marilyn teamed with Milton Greene, a photographer, and formed a production company named Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP). The new company put her into a legal conflict with 20th Century Fox which began in early 1955 and increased the pressures on the star.