The U.S. does not have royalty – but it has produced celebrities who have become legendary icons whose fame and celebrity can sometimes surpass the impact of monarchs.

And when two such icons unite in marriage, it is bigger than any royal wedding imaginable.

Today would have been the 85th birthday of movie starlet, Marilyn Monroe, who is widely regarded as the greatest sex symbol that Hollywood ever produced.

When she married Joe DiMaggio, the greatest athlete of his era, it was like the stars had realigned, the waters parted and the sea had changed.

The most beautiful, glamorous woman from the entertainment industry married the most handsome, elegant and charismatic athlete – it was an incredible and magical pairing.

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There is no one comparable to Joe and Marilyn today, not even close. They didn’t necessarily need each other to guarantee their everlasting fame, but since they were indeed united they have entered the realms of myth. Reuters
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And as with most legendary love stories, the pairing of Joe and Marilyn was infused with sorrow and tragedy. They were only married for nine months (in 1954) and by all accounts it was a marriage full of turmoil. Joe was insanely jealous of Marilyn’s movie career (not to mention the constant attention she received from men). He wanted her to be a dutiful stay-at-home wife – an utter impossibility for her. Creative Common
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Aside from Joe, Marilyn was married several times and she included some of the moist famous men of her time among her friends, lovers and husbands -- including Arthur Miller, Frank Sinatra, Sam Giancana, John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. Creative Common
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And it was the Kennedys whom DiMaggio most hated. He reportedly blamed them for the premature death of Marilyn in 1962 – ostensibly by a drug overdose (although some have speculated she killed herself). "They murdered the one person I loved," DiMaggio allegedly said to his attorney, Morris Engelberg. Creative Common
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Indeed, though they had been divorced for eight years, DiMaggio organized Marilyn’s funeral and forbade the Kennedys from appearing at the ceremony. For the next two decades, he had white roses delivered to her grave twice a week. Creative Common
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DiMaggio apparently never got over Marilyn because he never remarried and he refused offers of millions of dollars from publishers to discuss his relationship with her. He even ended friendships with people if they dared talk about Marilyn or criticize her in any way. Joe spent the last 37 years of his life mourning her. Creative Common
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