Due to her mother's mental instability and the fact that she was unmarried at the time, Norma Jeane was placed in the foster home of Albert and Ida Bolender. It was here she lived the first 7 years of her life.
"They were terribly strict...they didn't mean any harm...it was their religion. They brought me up harshly."
In 1933, Norma Jeane lived briefly with her mother. Gladys begin to show
signs of mental depression and in 1934 was admitted to a rest home in
Santa Monica. Grace McKee, a close friend of her mother took over the
care of Norma Jeane. "Grace loved and adored her", recalled one of her
co-workers. Grace, telling her..."Don't worry, Norma Jeane. You're going
to be a beautiful girl when you get big...an important woman, a movie
star." Grace was captivated by Jean Harlow, a superstar of the twenties,
and Marilyn would later say..."and so Jean Harlow was my idol."Grace was to marry in 1935 and due to financial difficulties, Norma Jeane was placed in an orphanage from September 1935 to June 1937. Grace frequently visited her, taking her to the movies, buying clothes and teaching her how to apply makeup at her young age. Norma Jeane was to later live with several of Grace's relatives.
"The world around me then was kind of grim. I had to learn to pretend in order to...I don't know...block the grimness. The whole world seemed sort of closed to me...(I felt) on the outside of everything, and all I could do was to dream up any kind of pretend-game."
In September 1941 Norma Jeane was again living with Grace when she met Jim Dougherty, 5 years her senior. Grace encouraged the relationship and on learning that she and her husband would be moving to the East Coast, set in motion plans for Norma Jeane to marry Dougherty on June 19, 1942.
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