Marilyn Monroe has been dead since August 5, 1962. Honestly, though, you wouldn't know it from looking at a magazine rack or scrolling through your feed. She’s everywhere.
It’s kinda wild when you think about it. When she died at 36, her bank account was nowhere near the legendary status she has now. She had about $800,000 to her name—which is roughly $7 million today if you adjust for inflation—but a lot of that was tied up in physical stuff and potential royalties. She wasn't some billionaire mogul. She was a woman who died in a rented house, alone, with a telephone in her hand.
But the story of Marilyn Monroe after death isn't just about a tragic end in a Brentwood bedroom. It’s a decades-long saga of legal fistfights, accidental heirs, and a branding machine that turned a human being into a permanent, high-earning ghost.
The Will That Changed Everything (and Not in the Way She Planned)
Marilyn’s will was surprisingly simple for someone whose face would eventually launch a thousand perfumes. She left her personal effects and 75% of her intellectual property rights to her acting coach, Lee Strasberg. The other 25% went to her therapist, Dr. Marianne Kris.
She probably thought she was taking care of her "family" of choice. Lee and Paula Strasberg had been her anchors. But here’s the kicker: Marilyn didn't have a "succession plan" for what happened after Lee died.
When Lee passed away in 1982, his share of Marilyn’s entire legacy didn't go to some film foundation or a charity for orphans, which Marilyn had always cared about. It went to his third wife, Anna Mizrahi Strasberg.
Anna Strasberg had never even met Marilyn Monroe.
Let that sink in for a second. The woman who ended up controlling Marilyn’s image, her diaries, and her very likeness for nearly thirty years was a complete stranger to her. Anna was savvy, though. She realized that "Marilyn Monroe" wasn't just a dead actress; she was a global brand. She hired CMG Worldwide to manage the licensing, and suddenly, Marilyn’s face was on everything from wine bottles to slot machines.
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Why Marilyn Monroe After Death Became a Legal Nightmare
You might think that once you’re gone, your "rights" stay with your family. Law is rarely that clean. For years, there was a massive legal war over whether "right of publicity" even existed for dead people.
In 2005, the estate (run by Anna Strasberg) sued the families of legendary photographers like Milton Greene. They wanted a cut of every photo sold. The photographers fought back with a genius, if slightly cold, legal argument.
They looked at Marilyn’s own residency.
- If Marilyn died a resident of California, the estate could claim "post-mortem" publicity rights thanks to specific state laws.
- If she died a resident of New York, those rights basically vanished the moment she took her last breath.
For forty years, the estate had claimed she was a New York resident to avoid California’s hefty inheritance taxes. You can't have it both ways. The court basically told the estate: "You said she lived in New York for tax reasons, so she lives in New York for publicity reasons too."
They lost. For a while, it looked like Marilyn belonged to everyone—and no one. Eventually, the California legislature actually changed the law (often called the "Marilyn Act") to try and fix this, but the battle proved one thing: Marilyn Monroe after death became a commodity that lawyers fought over like hungry wolves.
The Business of Being Dead
In 2011, Anna Strasberg finally cashed out. She sold her stake in the estate to Authentic Brands Group (ABG) for an estimated $20 million to $30 million.
ABG is the same company that manages Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. They moved away from the "cheap trinket" era of Marilyn merch and started aiming for high-end luxury. We're talking Chanel No. 5 ads and digital "resurrections."
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The Money Breakdown
Today, Marilyn consistently ranks on the Forbes list of highest-paid dead celebrities. In some years, she brings in $8 million to $15 million in licensing fees alone.
It’s a weird irony. In life, Marilyn fought the "studio system" for pennies and better roles. In death, she’s the ultimate employee. She never gets tired, she never misses a mark, and she never asks for a raise.
Westwood Village: The Eternal Neighborhood
If you go to Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park in LA, you’ll find her. It’s a small, quiet cemetery tucked behind some office buildings. Her crypt is simple: "Marilyn Monroe 1926–1962."
But even her burial spot is part of the "after death" circus.
- Joe DiMaggio sent roses to her grave three times a week for 20 years. He never married again.
- Hugh Hefner bought the crypt right next to her in 1992 for $75,000. He wanted to be buried there "to be near the woman who helped start Playboy," even though he used her nude photos in the first issue without ever meeting her or paying her a dime while she was alive.
- The "Pink" Stain: Fans kiss the marble so often that the lipstick oils actually stain the stone. The cemetery has to replace the front of her crypt every few years because the granite gets "worn out" by love.
Just recently, in 2024, a crypt near hers sold at auction for nearly $300,000. People are literally paying the price of a house just to spend eternity in her shadow.
The "Blonde" Problem and Her Psychological Legacy
We can't talk about Marilyn Monroe after death without talking about the movies about her. From My Week with Marilyn to the controversial Netflix film Blonde, we are obsessed with "solving" her.
Most of these films focus on the "Victim Marilyn." They lean into the trauma, the pills, and the men. But if you read her actual notes—published in the 2010 book Fragments—you see a woman who was reading James Joyce and Walt Whitman. She was sharp. She was self-aware.
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The public perception of her has shifted. In the 60s, she was a cautionary tale about Hollywood excess. In the 90s, she was a pop-art icon thanks to Andy Warhol. Today, she’s often viewed through the lens of mental health and the #MeToo movement—a woman who was gaslit by an entire industry.
What Most People Get Wrong
People think she was "unlucky" with her estate. Honestly? She was just human. She didn't expect to die at 36. She didn't expect her acting coach's wife to inherit her bras and diaries.
There’s also this myth that she died broke. She didn't. She had a production company (Marilyn Monroe Productions) and was Negotiating a massive new contract with Fox. She was actually on the verge of the biggest comeback in history when she died.
Practical Lessons from the Marilyn Saga
If you’re looking for the "so what" in all this, it’s actually about how we handle our own legacies.
- Update your beneficiaries. Marilyn left everything to people she trusted, but she didn't think about who they would leave it to.
- The "Digital Ghost" is real. Even if you aren't a movie star, your data and "image" live on. Most social platforms now have a "legacy contact" feature. Use it.
- Publicity vs. Privacy. Once you're gone, your "secrets" (like Marilyn's private poems) are no longer yours. If you want something burned, burn it while you’re breathing.
Marilyn once said she belonged to the public because she "never belonged to anything or anyone else." It’s a heartbreaking quote that turned out to be a legal prophecy. Decades later, she still belongs to the world—a $200 million ghost that won't ever truly be allowed to rest.
To really understand her impact, look at how we treat her today. We don't just watch her movies; we wear her face. We've turned a complicated, brilliant, suffering woman into a logo. That is the true, messy reality of being Marilyn Monroe after the credits roll.