Sad but true: Marilyn Monroe did not have six toes on her left foot. Or on her right foot, either. She was a ten-toed beauty.
We were unaware of the “Marilyn Monroe had six toes” rumor until discovering it on Danamo’s Marilyn Monroe Pages, an excellent fan site for all things Monroe. Here’s the photo by fashion photographer Joe Jasgur that started it all:
(1946 photo by Joe Jasgur)
Well, it does look a bit like six toes on her left foot at that. Snopes.com has tackled the question and says it’s just an optical illusion:
The appearance of a “sixth toe” in Jasgur’s photos is merely an artifact of the blending of shadows and light, making the natural bulge that appears at the base of one’s small toe (where the digit joins the outer edge of the foot) look somewhat like an extra toe.
As Snopes points out, the original rumor got twisted at some point to say that Marilyn Monroe had her secret sixth toe surgically removed, which is why later photos showed her with only five. But in truth, she only had the five to begin with.
We’ll take their word for it. But in truth, it *is* hard to see exactly where these “shadows and light” are coming into play. The big toe and the next two toes are pretty clear. But is it the fourth two that then looks like two toes, with the pinky toe on the outside? Or are they saying that what looks like the whole pinky toe is just a bulge on the foot? Why is it separated by a crack, then?
We aren’t doubting the fact that Marilyn Monroe had five toes only. But the explanation doesn’t make that photo much more comprehensible.
The better way to prove her five toed-ness is to look at some other images.
It’s not hard to find photos with a ten-toed Marilyn Monroe. Here’s one from 1951, when she was performing for American troops in Korea.
It’s a little like blowing up the Zapruder film, but this grainy image shows pretty clearly only the five toes on Marilyn Monroe’s left foot.
So Anne Boleyn didn’t have six fingers on one hand, and Marilyn Monroe didn’t have six toes on one foot. Sometimes history is just so boring.
Now see more photos of ten-toed Marilyn Monroe »