Recently I came across a fascinating story about Norma Jean Mortenson, as told by Father John Powell, a Jesuit priest, and author.
Norma Jean Mortenson. Remember that name? Norma Jean’s mother, Mrs. Gladys Baker, was periodically committed to a mental institution, and Norma Jean spent much of her childhood in foster homes. In one of those foster homes, when she was eight years old, one of the boarders raped her and gave her a nickel. He said, ‘Here, Honey. Take this and don’t ever tell anyone what I did to you.’ When little Norma Jean went to her foster mother to tell her what had happened, she was beaten badly. She was told, ‘Our boarder pays good rent. Don’t ever say anything bad about him!’ Norma Jean, at the age of eight, had learned what it was to be used and given a nickel and beaten for trying to express the hurt that was in her.