Berniece Baker Miracle first met her half-sister Norma Jeane, better known as Marilyn Monroe, in 1944 and later wrote a memoir about their relationship titledMy Sister Marilyn.
TwitterBerniece Baker Miracle and her sister Marilyn Monroe .
When she was 19 years old , Berniece Baker Miracle receive a missive from Gladys Baker , the mother she had just be intimate . In that letter , Gladys revealed that Berniece had a babe : 12 - class - old Norma Jeane , who would one Clarence Day be known as Marilyn Monroe .
That letter changed both their life sentence . From that moment on , the two half - sisters begin to build a relationship that would thrive until Monroe ’s untimely last in 1962 .
TwitterBerniece Baker Miracle and her sister Marilyn Monroe.
Then , it was Berniece Baker Miracle who picked out the picture star ’s casket and burial clothes .
Berniece Baker Miracle’s Early Life
Like her half - sister , Berniece Baker Miracle had a roiling puerility . Born on July 30 , 1919 , she spend just a few scant class with her female parent , Gladys Pearl Baker . After her parent divorced in the 1920s , her Father of the Church took Miracle and her brother from California to his aboriginal Kentucky .
Gladys later on claim that her husband had been abusive and that he ’d kidnapped her fry .
But Miracle was ignorant to all that . She grew up in Kentucky with her father , stepmother , and brother , who tragically died when he was just 15 . Miracle did n’t even know if her mother was alert .
Public DomainNorma Jeane Mortenson posing on a beach in the 1940s, before becoming Marilyn Monroe.
All that modify one day in 1938 when Miracle received a varsity letter from her nascency mother . Gladys recite 19 - yr - previous Miracle that she had a 12 - year - old baby , just as Norma Jeane learned the same from a family friend .
“ It change everything for Norma Jeane,”a Monroe relative remember . “ She wanted to know Berniece , everything about her . ”
The two sisters hoped dearly to meet one day . And in 1944 , they eventually did .
Sotheby’s/NewsmakersA letter from Norma Jeane to Berniece Baker Miracle after their meeting in 1944.
Berniece Baker Miracle Meets Marilyn Monroe
Public DomainNorma Jeane Mortenson stupefy on a beach in the 1940s , before becoming Marilyn Monroe .
In the autumn of 1944 , Norma Jeane — not yet call Marilyn Monroe — travel to Detroit , where Berniece Baker Miracle hold out with her hubby , Paris .
“ Norma Jeane had pen to tell me what variety of rig she would be tire and what color it would be,”Miracle wrote inMy Sister Marilyn : A Memoir of Marilyn Monroe .
Remi BENALI/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesBerniece Baker Miracle holds a photo of her half sister in 1994.
Yet Miracle fuss over who would recognize the other first , or even if they ’d even spot each other at all . Then she saw her sis .
“ There was no fortune of escape her , ” Miracle recall . “ None of the passengers await anything like [ her ] : tall , so pretty and fresh , and wearing what she had draw , a atomic number 27 wool suit and a chapeau with a nerve shape fall in the brim . ”
Their connection was instant . Miracle marvel at their physical resemblance — both had glum blonde hair’s-breadth and the same mouth , though Monroe had blue eyes and Miracle had brown — and feel forthwith close to her .
“ We sat there like two the great unwashed who had just hang in love , I guess , ” Miracle said . “ We were overwhelmed at finally getting to see each other . ”
Sotheby’s / NewsmakersA letter from Norma Jeane to Berniece Baker Miracle after their coming together in 1944 .
In 1946 , Norma Jeane espouse her famed stage name and her whiz rocket . But the sister stayed faithful .
When Monroe had an mathematical operation in 1961 , Miracle fly to New York to see her . “ last ! We ’re together again ! ” Monroe exclaimed . On that trip , Miracle expressed concern about the number of pills the movie star took . Monroe , however , brush aside her , saying : “ I need my quietus . ”
And when Monroe ’s marriage with Arthur Miller hit the sway , she called her half - sisterto talk it through .
Sadly , their kinship would be cut short . On August 4 , 1962 , Marilyn Monroe break down at the age of 36 , officially by suicide .
Berniece Baker Miracle After Marilyn Monroe’s Death
Remi BENALI / Gamma - Rapho via Getty ImagesBerniece Baker Miracle take for a pic of her half sister in 1994 .
“ I help [ Monroe ’s ex - husband ] Joe DiMaggio arrange her funeral , ” Miracle explained . “ I pick out her casket and decide on the pale green dress she wore . ”
But Miracle does n’t remember that her sister kill herself .
“ It could have been an accident , because I had just talked to her a short clip before,”Miracle saidduring a rarefied interview .
“ She told me what she had planned to do , she had just corrupt a new house and she was work out on the curtain of the window . She had so many thing to appear forth to and she was so happy . ”
And in the result years , Miracle struggled with how to narrate her sister ’s story .
“ Many writers approached my mother , ” her girl , Mona Rae explained . “ [ But ] she did n’t trust their motive and could n’t eff whether the hours she devote to the labor would only work more grief . ”
Berniece Baker Miracle and Mona Rae finally decided to write the story themselves . They did so , in the 1994 bookMy Sister Marilyn : A Memoir of Marilyn Monroe .
In the end , Marilyn Monroe is many things to many people . But to Berniece Baker Miracle , Monroe was simply a loved one lost too presently .
“ She was a wondrous sis , ” Miracle tell . She die in 2014 , 52 eld after her half - baby .
After reading about Berniece Baker Miracle , Marilyn Monroe ’s half - sister , look through theseMarilyn Monroe quotes . Or , check out these 44 candidMarilyn Monroe photographs .
