"James Dougherty was 21 years old when he married a teenage Norma Jeane Baker — who would go on to become one of the most famous women in modern history. At the time, however, Baker was just 16 and set to return to an orphanage unless she found a husband quickly. Her foster mother set her up with Dougherty, but though their relationship began as one of convenience, the pair soon "loved each other madly." Just two years after they wed on June 19, 1942, Dougherty was deployed to the Pacific Theater of World War II. While he was gone, a photographer discovered Norma Jeane Baker working in a factory — and soon, Marilyn Monroe was born. ⁠

Dougherty was on a ship in the Yangtze River outside of Shanghai when he was served with divorce papers. Monroe wanted to sign a contract with 20th Century Fox, and it stipulated that she couldn't be married, because the executives didn't want her to get pregnant. Their divorce was finalized in 1946, and Dougherty remarried shortly after to a woman who wouldn't let him watch any of his ex-wife's films. Although Monroe moved on as well, famously marrying Joe DiMaggio and then Arthur Miller, Dougherty was still devastated when she died in 1962. "She was too gentle to be an actress," he later lamented. "She wasn't tough enough for Hollywood." ⁠"