The couple met actually met on a blind date at the Hollywood Restaurant, Villa Nova, but it is rumored that Monroe originally did not want to meet DiMaggio, fearing he would be a stereo-typical athlete.
Nonetheless, the two hit it off and were married at City Hall on January 14, 1954, and although it is said that there were over 100 photographers outside waiting to capture their first moment as man and wife, only six witnesses attended the ceremony inside, including DiMaggio’s brother.
Despite her sultry siren screen image, Monroe wore a demure dark brown suit embellished with ermine, and DiMaggio wore a navy blue suit with the polka dot tie he was wearing on their first date. The marriage was contentious and lasted only 274 days.
Their story did not end there though, as the two remained friends and is said to have found their way back to each other after Monroe’s divorce from her third husband, playwright Arthur Miller. Distraught over the mental and emotional decline in the movie star, DiMaggio secured her release from the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, where she was being treated for emotional issues, and brought her to his home in Florida where he was working as a batting coach for the Yankees in 1961.
Over the next year the couple claimed to be no more than just friends but many didn’t buy it, believing that the couple was planning to remarry. According to Maury Allen, a sportswriter and former columnist for The New York Times, DiMaggio quit his job on August 1st 1962 and planned to remarry Monroe on the 6th.
Her body was discovered on August 5th, and a heartbroken DiMaggio made arrangements for her funeral on what was to be their wedding day instead. He sent half a dozen roses to her grave, three times a week for the next 20 years, and unlike her other two ex-husbands, he never spoke of her publically and he never remarried.
Christie’s held an auction of Monroe’s belongings in 1999, and surprisingly, for the girl who once famously sang “diamonds are a girl’s best friend” in the movie “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” the only two jewelry items of value that she owned were wedding gifts from DiMaggio: a strand of pearls from Japan, and their wedding ring.
The eternity style wedding ring, which consisted of 35 rectangular shaped baguette diamonds, was sold for $772,500, was missing a diamond, and some still believe it to be the perfect symbol of their love story.