‘Blonde’ Ending Explained: Netflix’s Marilyn Monroe Movie Comes With a Depressing Twist

Blonde, which is now streaming on Netflix, is not easy to watch.

Actually, that may be the understatement of the year. The new Marilyn Monroe movie—which is based on the 2000 Joyce Carol Oates novel which fictionalized the Hollywood star’s life—is downright excruciating to watch.

Written and directed by Andrew Dominik, and starring Ana de Armas as Monroe, Blonde delves deep into the star’s trauma, from her childhood as an unwanted, abused, and abandoned little girl to her career as a Hollywood actress where she was used, exploited, and violated. With an NC-17 rating, there are disturbing depictions of sexual assault, abortion, miscarriages, and more.

To top it off, Blonde, like the novel it’s based on, comes with a twist ending that you might miss if you’re not paying attention. If you’re confused—or if you want to spare yourself the pain of watching this one, but still want to know what happens—read on for the Blonde plot summary and the Blonde ending, explained.

WHAT IS THE BLONDE PLOT SUMMARY?

We open in Los Angeles in 1933, where a 7-year-old Norma Jeane is living with her emotionally unstable, abusive mother (played by Julianne Nicholson). Norma Jeane’s mother has her daughter look at a photo of her father. She tells her that he is a very important man, and she can’t tell her his name. Later, it’s revealed he lives in Hollywood. After an incident in which Norma’s mother attempts to drown Norma in the bathtub, Norma is taken to an orphanage. Her mother is taken to a psychiatric hospital.

Many years later, Norma Jeane (now played by Ana de Armas)—recently given the stage name Marilyn Monroe—has an audition with studio executive Darryl F. Zanuck. While she is reading, Zanuck turns her over and rapes her. She gets the part. Her career begins to take off, but she is clearly reeling from the trauma of her childhood and sexual assault.

At an LA Actor’s Circle meet-up in 1952, Marilyn meets Charles “Cass” Chaplin Jr. (played by Xavier Samuel) and Edward “Eddy” G. Robinson Jr. (played by Evan Williams), the sons of Charlie Chaplin and Edward G. Robinson, respectively. They have a threesome and fall into a sexual, polyamorous relationship. Marilyn ends up pregnant and is ecstatic at the idea of being a mother. She finds an abandoned, stuffed tiger in the street, and decides it’s destined to be a gift for her unborn child. But she senses that Cass and Eddy aren’t as happy about the baby as she is.

After a traumatic visit to a mother in the psychiatric hospital, which makes Marilyn scared that her mother’s psychosis may be genetic, Marilyn decides to have an abortion. On the drive to her appointment, she changes her mind, but her team forces her to have the abortion nonetheless.

Marilyn is set up on a date with American baseball star Joe DiMaggio (played by Bobby Cannavale). Shortly after, she receives a letter claiming to be from her estranged father. In the letter, her father says he saw her speaking about him in an interview, and plans to visit her soon. The letter is signed, “Your Tearful Father.”

Marilyn’s career continues to take off, and she keeps getting letters from her father, though he never shows up in person. After ending her physically abusive marriage with Joe DiMaggio, her father writes a letter telling her he is disappointed she let down “such a stellar athlete” and berates her for her sexually suggestive photos and movie roles.

At a reading for his play After the Fall, Marilyn meets acclaimed playwright Arthur Miller (played by Adrien Brody). They fall in love and get married, and Marilyn once again becomes pregnant. This time, she loses the baby when she stumbles, falls, and has a miscarriage. In the grief that follows, she starts abusing barbiturate drugs and alcohol.

She’s at the height of her career, and she’s falling apart. She starts seeing her father everywhere. She begins a sexual relationship with U.S. President John F. Kennedy and has yet another miscarriage—or possibly, another forced abortion. It’s hard to know reality from drug-induced dreams. She receives yet another letter from her “tearful father,” who apologizes for toying with her emotions. He tells her he has been “incapacitated by illness.” He promises to contact her soon.

WHAT IS THE BLONDE ENDING EXPLAINED?

Marilyn receives a call from Eddy telling her that Cass died from a drug overdose and that he left a “memento” for her. Marilyn receives the memento in the mail: It’s the stuffed tiger that they found on the side of the road, all those years ago.

There’s also a card, addressed “To My Daughter.” The inside reads, “There was never a tearful father. Love, Cass.”

Marilyn realizes it was never her father writing to her, but Cass, her ex-lover. Why did he do it? Perhaps it was jealously, at her fame, or a messed-up sense of love and possession. Whatever the reason, Marilyn is clearly heartbroken that she never had a parent that loved her. The destruction of this final, false hope is what finally breaks her.

Devastated, she—purposefully, it seems—takes an overdose of barbituates with alcohol. She collapses on the bed, and we see her legs go still. The light in her room slowly dims. We understand that this is the moment of her death.

With that, the movie ends. Phew. Group therapy, anyone?