ALIVE! Marilyn Monroe, 81, spotted in Hawaii just days ago

By DEREK CLONTZ
Your World Report

Plus, in a special report, our expert tells why Marilyn would fake her death and go into hiding - like Elvis Presley - at the height of her career

DOZENS of sane and rational eyewitnesses who spotted her on a beach in Hawaii can’t be wrong - screen idol Marilyn Monroe didn’t overdose on sleeping pills in 1962, nor did John and Bobby Kennedy have her killed … she’s alive and puttering around like any other senior citizen at the ripe old age of 81.

“As God is my witness, I saw Marilyn Monroe - and she is alive,” Jenny Navar, 53, told teams of wild-eyed celebrity reporters and photographers who converged on Honolulu after news of the sighting got out.

“She was wrinkled and a little hump-backed like any other little old lady. What was left of her hair was cut very short and it was white and thin. But Marilyn is Marilyn - there‘s no mistaking that smile, those lips, and that face.

“Was I shocked? Yes. Was I stunned? Yes. Was I speechless? Yes. And so was everybody else who saw her.“

Navar, who owns a string of 17 wireless-phone franchises in Los Angeles, and 25 other locals and tourists are said to have seen Monroe - or her spitting-image double - at private and secluded Papohaku Beach, Molokai on the morning of September 20.

The spot is accessible only by airplane or boat. And as Navar later told me in an exclusive interview, when Marilyn stepped off a twin-engine runabout with the help of two muscular young men, one wearing a brown shoulder holster over his white button-down shirt, nobody “had the guts” to approach her - even though “we all knew who it was and we were missing the chance of a lifetime.”

But another tourist, Sally Matine, says that while everybody else stood around slack-jawed or whispering, “It‘s Marilyn! It‘s Marilyn Monroe!”, she “took a deep breath and called out her name as loud as I could.”

“Marilyn stopped dead in her tracks and hesitated, like she couldn’t make up her mind whether to acknowledge me,“ says the 42-year-old investment banker from Seattle, Washington.

“She started to turn toward me, and as she did, she raised her hand about chest-high like she was going to wave. But the man with the gun started shaking his head very dramatically, very emphatically, and he stopped her.

“Then she turned and started walking away from all of us who were staring at her. I was about 50 feet away, but I’ve got 20-20 vision and eyes like a hawk.

“There’s no doubt in my mind who it was. It was Marilyn Monroe.“

The idea that Monroe might have faked her death and gone into hiding at the age of 36 isn’t as farfetched as some might think.

By all accounts, she was wildly successful - but deeply troubled - when she abruptly “vanished” from public view on Aug. 5, 1962.

In addition to her addiction to doctor-prescribed downer drugs, she struggled with a severe drinking problem, crippling esteem issues - and the physical and psychological aftermath of having had at least 21 abortions to get rid of babies she didn‘t feel like she was ready to have.

Circumstances surrounding her alleged “death” have been shrouded in mystery from the outset.

Official claims that she committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills have always been suspect, with more people believing that President John F. Kennedy and his brother Bobby, both of whom were sexually involved with the sexpot actress, had her murdered when she threatened to reveal personal and political secrets that would have destroyed their careers.

Erik Romane, who has written over 100 magazine articles on Monroe as well as a book, The Short Life and Hard Times of Marilyn Monroe (Long Pier Press, Los Angeles, $27.95), says he “has always entertained the idea” that the actress faked her death.

“Ironically, I think the Kennedy brothers, instead of killing her, could have helped her pull it off,” he continues.

“They had the ways and means - and the smarts - to make something like that happen for her.

“Marilyn had access to money, but let’s face it: she wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Faking your death and going into hiding is extremely difficult for anyone, much less a celebrity with one of the most recognizable faces in the world.

“It’s doubtful she could have done it alone - but she certainly could have done it with help.“

Romane, of Watkins Glen, New York, says he can understand why Monroe might choose to appear in public — even for just a moment in a secluded spot — now.

“At the age of 81, she’s in the twilight of her life,” he explains. “Maybe she wanted to find out if people still recognize her how they would react.

“There‘s no better place to test the water than Papohaku Beach. There are times when you can go out there and have the whole beach to yourself. The fact that a couple of dozen people were out there when she arrived is a miracle.

“She probably expected to see five or six.”

Matine thinks Romane’s explanation makes sense, especially since Monroe and her companions, once they realized she had been seen and recognized, walked only about 50 yards down the beach before they returned to their speedboat - and left.

“It might not seem like much to some people, but I feel privileged to have seen her,” says Matine. “Marilyn Monroe is an American icon. This is a memory I’ll cherish forever.”

NOTE TO derekclontz.com READERS

Skeptical? Don’t be - because Marilyn Monroe had at least four good reasons to fake her death and go into hiding on Aug. 5, 1962, when many felt the screen goddess was at the height of her career.

Among those compiled by author Erik Romane:

1. The pressures of superstardom and demands of Hollywood were taking a terrible toll on Monroe, who fought back by gobbling prescription sleeping pills and painkillers and drinking heavily. Like rock giant Elvis Presley, who vanished from public view in 1977, the actress there may have had only two ways out: suicide - or a faked death, which would have enabled her to escape the glare of celebrity and reclaim her life.

2. Monroe might have wanted to “get back” at her former husband and “on-again” lover, baseball great Joe DiMaggio, who reportedly telephoned on the morning of her “death” and told her they were through. Romane points out that Monroe, though a major talent, was extremely immature.

“Would she cut off her nose to spite her face? Would she throw away her career to make DiMaggio feel bad?“ he asks. “I certainly wouldn’t put it past her.“ Pride and childishness, he adds, would have kept Monroe from coming back out of hiding and revealing the truth.

3. Monroe’s love affairs with John and Bobby Kennedy weighed heavily on the actress, especially when it occurred to her that they may have been less interested in her as a human being than they were in her ability to sizzle in bed.

Friends agree that if nothing else, her love sessions with the Kennedys launched Monroe on a wild emotional roller coaster - and she seriously considered going public to embarrass the brothers. Based on that threat, Romane says a couple of scenarios could have come into play.

“It’s possible the Kennedys threatened her, which may have scared her into faking her death to escape their wrath,” says the author. “It’s also possible that to keep her from going public, they gently ‘persuaded’ her to go into hiding - and helped her do it.”

4. Two months before she “died” Monroe had been fired by Fox Productions for repeatedly failing to turn up on the set of the film Something’s Got to Give. The production was never completed, even though Monroe was re-hired by the film company on August 1 - just four days before she disappeared.

“There was a lot of talk among friends that Marilyn didn’t feel she could fulfill her obligations in her current state of mind,“ says Romane. “It’s entirely possible that she got scared and faked her death to get out of the contract.

That might sound crazy to you and me, but at the time, Marilyn was so hopped up on booze and drugs that it may have sounded reasonable to her. And once she vanished, she might very well have found that she liked her private life.”

Question? Comment? What do you think? Write Your World Report Editor Derek Clontz . He reads and responds personally to every letter, often within minutes and always within one business day.

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