Marilyn Monroe Seduced Women: New Books

Was Marilyn Monroe a lesbian? Two new books allege that the iconic sex symbol had affairs with women:

• Radar talks to Tony Jerris, author of Marilyn Monroe: My Little Secret. Jerris claims Monroe met Jane Lawrence when the girl was just 12 years old and Monroe was 26. They bonded over the similarities in their troubled pasts, and Jane ended up running Monroe’s fan club. When Lawrence was 16, Monroe seduced her at the actress' home, and the pair had five more encounters, says Jerris, who is close to Lawrence. He also claims Monroe admitted to sexual encounters with Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich, and Elizabeth Taylor. Radar has some spicy quotes.

• In Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox, author Lois Banner says that Marilyn "desired women, had affairs with them, and worried that she might be lesbian by nature." The feelings confused her, Banner writes: "How could she be the world’s heterosexual goddess and desire women?" An excerpt was published in the Guardian last weekend.

Click for never-before-published photos of Monroe from yet another new book. (More Marilyn Monroe stories.)