“I guess I have always been deeply terrified to really be someone’s wife since I know from life one cannot love another, ever, really.”
- June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962
- American
- Actress, Singer, Model, Pop Culture Icon
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Quote
“I guess I have always been deeply terrified to really be someone’s wife since I know from life one cannot love another, ever, really.”
Explanation
In this haunting and deeply introspective quote, Marilyn Monroe exposes a profound fear of intimacy and a bleak view of love shaped by personal experience and emotional pain. Her words—“terrified to really be someone’s wife”—reveal that marriage, often idealized as a union of love and security, was for her a source of anxiety and vulnerability, tied to a fear of losing herself or being hurt. The final statement—“one cannot love another, ever, really”—is especially stark, suggesting a belief that true love is ultimately impossible, a sentiment born perhaps from betrayal, abandonment, and disappointment in her own life.
Monroe’s childhood was marked by instability and emotional neglect, and her adult relationships were often tumultuous and unfulfilling. This quote captures how those early wounds shaped her adult fears, leaving her uncertain about whether love, as most people imagine it, could ever be real or lasting. It’s a view filled with emotional fatigue and disillusionment, spoken not with cynicism, but with quiet resignation.
Today, her words continue to resonate with those who have faced similar fears—those who long for love but carry deep doubts about its reality or endurance. Monroe’s quote reminds us that fame and beauty cannot shield one from loneliness or emotional trauma, and that behind public personas often lie private truths of heartbreak, fear, and yearning. It stands as a powerful testament to the complexity of love and the fragile hope that still clings to it, even in the face of despair.
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