Carl Rollyson Quote

May 9: The London tabloid Empire News publishes Marilyn’s account via Ben Hecht of child abuse. What happened exactly is not clear, although apparently she was fondled, and then stammered when she tried to tell a foster mother what happened and was not believed. Journalist Jack Rosenstein, in Hollywood Closeup (May 17, 1974), quotes Marilyn saying later, It did happen. But I didn’t run out of the room crying or screaming. . . . I knew it was wrong, but to tell the truth I think I was more curious than anything else. . . . [N]obody ever told me about sex, and frankly, I never did think it was all that important or that it was wrong.

Carl Rollyson

May 9: The London tabloid Empire News publishes Marilyn’s account via Ben Hecht of child abuse. What happened exactly is not clear, although apparently she was fondled, and then stammered when she tried to tell a foster mother what happened and was not believed. Journalist Jack Rosenstein, in Hollywood Closeup (May 17, 1974), quotes Marilyn saying later, It did happen. But I didn’t run out of the room crying or screaming. . . . I knew it was wrong, but to tell the truth I think I was more curious than anything else. . . . [N]obody ever told me about sex, and frankly, I never did think it was all that important or that it was wrong.

Related Quotes

About Carl Rollyson

Carl E. Rollyson is an American biographer and professor of journalism at Baruch College, City University of New York.