That’s the trouble, a sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing.
Genuine
Yes. In Marilyn Monroe, interview with Richard Meryman, “Marilyn Monroe lets her hair down about being famous: ‘Fame will go by and—so long, I’ve had you’,” LIFE 53, no. 5, 3 August 1962, beginning p. 31; full interview reprinted with Meryman’s letter by The Marilyn Monroe Collection, p. 36, column 3 (locator from Quote Investigator).
Checked against Marilyn Monroe, interview with Richard Meryman, “Marilyn Monroe lets her hair down about being famous: ‘Fame will go by and—so long, I’ve had you’,” LIFE 53, no. 5, 3 August 1962, beginning p. 31; full interview reprinted with Meryman’s letter by The Marilyn Monroe Collection, p. 36, column 3 (locator from Quote Investigator), in a full-text transcription.
- Where
- Richard Meryman interview, LIFE, 3 August 1962, p. 36, column 3
- Source
- Marilyn Monroe, interview with Richard Meryman, “Marilyn Monroe lets her hair down about being famous: ‘Fame will go by and—so long, I’ve had you’,” LIFE 53, no. 5, 3 August 1962, beginning p. 31; full interview reprinted with Meryman’s letter by The Marilyn Monroe Collection, p. 36, column 3 (locator from Quote Investigator)
- Checked
- In a full-text transcription
Researched by AI. Entry updated 23 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
About this quote
The scene
In Meryman’s interview, edited into a first-person magazine article, Monroe describes the burden that accompanies glamour and sexual fame. She defends natural sexuality, jokes about confusing symbols with cymbals, and objects to becoming an object rather than a person. Immediately afterward she adds that, if she must symbolize something, she would prefer sex to certain alternatives.
What it means
She objects to being reduced to an impersonal sexual emblem rather than being seen as a person.
Often misread
This is not a rejection of sexuality itself. The surrounding passage explicitly defends natural sexuality, while distinguishing it from manufactured glamour and objectification.
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- An actor is not a machine.
- People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. Steve Jobs
- Choosing seemed to me not so much selecting as rejecting what I did not select. André Gide
Sources
Cite it
Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe, interview with Richard Meryman, “Marilyn Monroe lets her hair down about being famous: ‘Fame will go by and—so long, I’ve had you’,” LIFE 53, no. 5, 3 August 1962, beginning p. 31; full interview reprinted with Meryman’s letter by The Marilyn Monroe Collection, p. 36, column 3 (locator from Quote Investigator). Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/a-sex-symbol-becomes-a-thing/ (23 October 2026).
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