Marilyn Monroe Would Have Turned 100 In 2026 — This Health Issue May Have Been Left Out Of Her Story

Marilyn Monroe's seemingly glamorous life was punctuated by numerous health struggles that flew under people's radars. During a 2026 chat with People, Bryan Johns, President and CEO of the ICON Collection, said that through the years, the Hollywood icon had privately struggled with endometriosis, a painful condition defined by tissue that resembles the inner lining of the uterus growing outside the organ. Per Johns, although Monroe had been hospitalized for the condition at several points, industry folks generally did not believe she was being truthful about her health. 

In Anthony Summers' 1985 book "Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe," he claimed that there weren't many viable treatments for endometriosis at the time, and Monroe had to subsequently rely on various painkillers to ease her pains. The condition, which can cause infertility, likely gravely affected the "Some Like It Hot" star's personal life. "The condition was so severe that it destroyed her marriages, her wish for children, her career and ultimately her life," he penned.

According to the 2022 documentary "The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes" (via Yahoo!), the iconic actor had been through three pregnancy losses in her first marriage to Arthur Miller. Her second pregnancy is believed to have been ectopic, a condition caused by the fertilized egg implanting itself outside the uterus. Moreover, in Summers' book, he claimed that Monroe had vehemently refused to undergo a hysterectomy, which is one of the few treatments available for endometriosis, because she wanted to have kids.

There's no denying that in today's day and age, endometriosis can be better explained through its causes, symptoms, and treatments than when Marilyn Monroe was diagnosed with it. However, research has indicated that we still might have a long way to go to fully understanding the condition. According to a 2026 study in Sage Open Medicine, 46.87% people referred to a hospital in Indonesia between 2020 and 2024 received a misdiagnosis before their health condition was correctly identified as endometriosis. 

Meanwhile, a 2020 study in Diagnosis (Berlin) found that 75.2% people were diagnosed with a different mental or physical problem, usually by their gynecologist or general practitioner, before receiving an endometriosis diagnosis. On average, the delay to receiving the right diagnosis was 8.5 years. Kathy Huang, MD, director of NYU Langone Health's Endometriosis Center, said that one of the main reasons  the condition was misdiagnosed was that its symptoms were similar to other conditions and that it might exist along with other health problems. Dr. Huang believed that it was important to find a healthcare provider who wanted to look into the pain that came with endometriosis rather than brushing it off.

Unfortunately, misdiagnoses are only one of the many other factors that make endometriosis so hard to treat. According to the World Health Organization, the cause of the condition remains unknown, even though an estimated 190 million women of reproductive age have been diagnosed with it. Although treatment can help the symptoms and the infertility brought on by endometriosis, the condition itself doesn't have a cure.