EXCLUSIVE: Intimate photos of Marilyn Monroe taken by woman who helped ‘create’ Hollywood icon’s famous persona

The grandson of a photographer who helped ‘create’ Marilyn Monroe’s famous persona has lifted a lid on what the star was really like behind the scenes.

Photojournalist Eve Arnold, who hailed from the UK, met Marilyn long before she was the iconic sex symbol that we all knew and loved.

She started photographing Marilyn when she was just a young woman determined to make it in Hollywood, and was behind some of the most famous shots of her – ultimately helping to transform her into one of the biggest stars in history.

Eve worked closely with the actress for nearly a decade, up until Marilyn tragically died in 1962 at age 36, and the two women formed an extremely close relationship behind the scenes.

According to Eve’s grandson Michael Arnold, the photographer, who passed away herself in 2012 at age 99, got to see a side of Marilyn that very few got to see.

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The grandson of a photographer who helped ‘create’ Marilyn Monroe’s famous persona has lifted a lid on what the star was really like behind the scenes

He spoke exclusively to DailyMail.com about everything his grandmother told him about what Marilyn was like when she wasn’t dazzling in front of a camera or wowing an audience – and he claimed she was a lot more ‘vulnerable’ and ‘self conscious’ than some may think.

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Photojournalist Eve Arnold (seen in 2005), who hailed from the UK, met Marilyn long before she was the iconic sex symbol that we all knew and loved

Michael explained that his grandmother and Marilyn first crossed paths in 1952 at a ‘Hollywood party.’

He said the blonde beauty approached Eve because she had seen some shots that she had taken of German-American actress Marlene Dietrich and was impressed.

‘The first thing Marilyn Monroe said to her was, “I saw your piece on Dietrich, if you could do that with her imagine what you could do with me,”‘ he revealed.

‘Eve thought that was quite wonderful, the energy that Marilyn had. She had this vision of what was possible for her.’

Soon, Marilyn enlisted Eve to help turn her into a star.

‘Monroe would say to Eve, “Let’s make Marilyn.” She was very clear on the vision that she had and what she wanted to look like,’ he continued.

‘Marilyn realized Eve was someone who could help her get to where she wanted to get to.’

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She was behind some of the most famous shots of Marilyn – ultimately helping to transform her into one of the biggest stars in history

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Eve worked closely with the actress for nearly a decade, up until Marilyn tragically died in 1962 at age 36, and the two women formed an extremely close relationship behind the scenes

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According to Eve’s grandson Michael Arnold, the photographer, who passed away herself in 2012 at age 99, got to see a side of Marilyn that very few got to see

He explained that the two women quickly formed a close friendship that went beyond their working relationship.

‘Marilyn came to really trust Eve. Because of that, Eve was able to get pictures of her that were more candid, more real than some of the other photographers who perhaps weren’t able to get under the surface of the persona she had created,’ he said.

‘Eve loved working with her because she’d always want to come up with new ways of working, new ideas… She always wanted to push the boundary and try new things.’

He said Marilyn would ‘confide’ in Eve about her deepest insecurities and her growing mental health issues as her career flourished.

‘There was a vulnerable side to Marilyn,’ he shared. ‘Eve said she had created this fantasy of what she had wanted to be, but she had realized that actually when she got there, it wasn’t going to fulfill her in the way she thought it would. She was starting to become quite depressed.’

He recalled his grandmother telling him that Marilyn struggled immensely on set of the 1961 film The Misfits.

‘The film was intended to be her [move] into more serious acting and her childhood hero, Clark Gable, was one of the actors in it,’ he explained.

‘She felt quite intimidated because quite often they would change the lines in the scene she was about to play.

‘And the other actor would seamlessly learn the new lines and rattle them off but she felt very nervous and self-conscious about that.’

Marilyn passed away from acute barbiturate poisoning in 1962, one year after the film came out, and her death was ruled as a probable suicide.

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He spoke exclusively to DailyMail.com about everything his grandmother told him about what Marilyn was like when she wasn’t dazzling in front of a camera or wowing an audience

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He claimed she was a lot more ‘vulnerable’ and ‘self conscious’ than she seemed in public. Eve is seen with Marilyn during a photoshoot

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He shared, ‘Eve said she had created this fantasy of what she had wanted to be, but she had realized that actually when she got there, it wasn’t going to fulfill her’

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He recalled his grandmother telling him that Marilyn struggled immensely on set of the 1961 film The Misfits. Marilyn is pictured behind the scenes of The Misfits

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‘The film was intended to be her [move] into more serious acting and her hero Clark Gable was in it,’ he explained. ‘She felt quite intimidated.’ She’s seen with Clark and Montgomery Clift

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He said she ‘was starting to become quite depressed.’ She passed away one year after and it was ruled as a probable suicide. She’s seen on set of Misfits with husband Arthur Miller

Michael said that after her passing, his grandmother spent years making sure that the images she took of Marilyn couldn’t be used in the press.

But eventually, she decided she wanted to share the ‘Marilyn that she knew’ with the rest of the world.

Michael recently re-published a book that Eve wrote about her time with Marilyn, entitled Monroe, which features over 100 images that she took of the actress

‘Eve wanted to show the savvy businesswoman that Marilyn was as well. She was often seen as just a sex symbol but she was actually so clear and focused,’ he added.

‘And while she wasn’t traditionally educated, she read a lot of books and she really knew what she wanted.

‘She had studied other actresses and how they walked and talk, she had spent hours and hours cultivating this way of being and coming up with ways to propel herself to the heights that she got to.’

Michael recently re-published a book that Eve wrote about her time with Marilyn, entitled Monroe, which features more than 100 images that she took of the actress.

In addition, there will also be an Eve Arnold exhibition in London that will run from November 7 until November 20 and feature the best of her snaps of Marilyn, as well as some of the other iconic photos she took of stars like Queen Elizabeth II and Malcolm X.