There are people we admire. There are people we respect. And then there are the rare souls we somehow carry with us long before we fully understand why. For me, that person has always been Marilyn Monroe. Or perhaps I should say… Norma Jeane Baker. From the time I was in middle school until I graduated from high school, every June 1st I bought Marilyn a birthday cake. My family would indulge me and gather around and sing “Happy Birthday” to a woman who had been gone for years

And Why Their Beauty Was Never the Most Interesting Thing About Them There have been billions of women throughout human history. Many were beautiful. Some were likely every bit as beautiful as the women whose names we know today. Yet somehow only a handful became legends. Why? The answer isn't symmetry. It isn't perfect skin. It isn't measurements. It isn't youth. It is story. Helen became the woman for whom kingdoms went to war. Cleopatra became the queen whose intellect res