"I was passing his room when his door opened and he said quietly, 'Please come in here, Norma.' I thought he wanted me to run an errand. He closed the door behind me. He smiled at me and turned the key in the lock. 'Now you can't get out.' he said, as if we were playing a game."

"I stood staring at him. I was frightened, but I didn't dare yell. I knew if I yelled, I would be sent back to the orphanage in disgrace again. Mr. Kimmel knew this too." "When he put his arms around me, I kicked and fought as hard as I could but I didn't make any sound. He was stronger than I was and wouldn't let me go. He kept whispering to me to be a good girl."

"When he unlocked the door and let me out, I ran to tell my aunt what Mr. Kimmel had done."

"I want to tell you something," I stammered, "about Mr. Kimmel. He- he-"

"My aunt interrupted, 'Don't you dare say anything against Mr. Kimmel. Mr. Kimmel's a fine man. He's my star boarder.'"

"This is different," I said. "This is something I have to tell. Mr. Kimmel-" I started stammering again and couldn't finish. Mr. Kimmel came out of his room and handed me a nickel. 'Go buy yourself some ice cream,' he said. I threw the nickel in Mr. Kimmel's face and ran out. I cried in bed that night and wanted to die."

The incident did not leave Marilyn without its share of scars -- many of which, we may never know. It undermined her trust in those she had learned to trust: her mother and guardians.

It became clearer and clearer that Marilyn's mother was becoming mentally unstable. Marilyn Monroe remembered: "One morning the English couple and I were having breakfast in the kitchen. Suddenly, there was a terrible noise on the stairway outside the kitchen. It was the most frightening noise I had ever heard. Bangs and thuds kept on as if they would never stop. "

"The Englishwoman held me from going to see. Her husband went out and after a time came back into the kitchen. 'I've sent for the police and an ambulance,' he said. I asked if it was my mother. 'Yes,' he said. 'But you can't see her.' I stayed in the kitchen and heard people come and try to take my mother away. Nobody wanted me to see her. But I went out and looked in the hall. My mother was on her feet. She was screaming and laughing. They took her away to Norwalk Mental Hospital."

Grace McKee, whom Marilyn referred to as Aunt Grace, had Marilyn's mother legally declared insane and was appointed Marilyn's guardian. Through the bad times, Aunt Grace would tell her,