A romance for the ages

last updated 10 January 2015

Long before celebrities whittled wedding bliss down to days and hours there was Marilyn and Joe. Sure, a marriage between the original bombshell and the Yankee Clipper might have been doomed from the start, but when Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio wed on January 14, 1954, they appeared nothing short of utterly thrilled.

Nine months later, Monroe filed for divorce on the grounds of "mental cruelty" by DiMaggio.

Later, when Monroe's third marriage (DiMaggio was her second husband) ended, the baseball player returned to her, even proposing again. But their second chance at love wasn't to be as the troubled star died on August 4, 1962. DiMaggio was the first person called after Monroe's body was found and he single-handedly orchestrated her funeral, during which he reportedly broke down in sobs saying, "I love you. I love you." For two decades, DiMaggio sent flowers to Monroe's grave twice a week and, despite being in his early 40s at the time, never remarried.

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Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.