Marilyn’s weight fluctuated, but her normal weight was 118 pounds (53.5 kilograms). Her weight went up and down so dramatically during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl
Although Marilyn’s weight and dimensions are similar to current high fashion models, she was too short by current day standards at 5′ 5½” (166.62 centimeters); the cutoff today at the Blue Book Model Agency where Norma started is 5′ 8″. Her height would have made her seem wide. Her dress size was 12.
While Marilyn certainly was not overweight, these numbers go to prove that you do not have to be super thin to be sexy.
By the Numbers…
Measurements (studio’s claim): 37-23-36 (inches), 93.9 – 58.4 – 91.4 (centimeters)
Measurements (dressmaker’s claim): 35-22-35 (inches), 88.9 – 55.8 – 88.9 (centimeters)
Height: 5 feet, 5½ inches, 166.62 (centimeters)
Weight: 118 pounds, 53.5 kilograms
Dress size: 12 / Pant Size: 8 / Bra Size: 36
Shoe Size: 7AA (US), 38-39 (European)
For more Marilyn information, please check out our facts page. For a write up on her diet, please go to the diet page.
For anyone who is interested, Marilyn herself gave her measurements twice in different Magazine articles once in 1952 and another in 1956. I feel as though they are probably the most accurate as it came from her. You can find them by copy and pasting the quotes below in google.
——–
1956
“I’ve read that your measurements are 37-23-34,” I told her.
Marilyn:”If you’re talking about my lower hips, they’re thirty-seven inches,” she said. “If you’re talking about my upper hips, they’re thirty-four.”
——–
1954:
What are your measurements?
Marilyn: Bust 37, waist 23.5, hips 37.5 – or so they tell me.
Crazy. I’m a 0-2 in US sizes and wear a Small or X-Small.
My bust is similar to Marilyn’s, waist is the same size, and my hips are actually a little wider! It’s crazy to think I could fit into her clothing because people make fun of me for being skinny but hail vintage icons like Marilyn Monroe as being some kind of curvy sex symbol. I don’t think most people realize how much skinnier people used to be back in the day. They throw around the fact that she was a 12 without realizing that that’s like, a US size 4 nowadays. Curvier than the typical A-list actress nowadays, but not by much…
I think it’s all subjective but I can see the beauty in someone who is really small or more curvaceous. You are small and I agree with you, Marilyn was really small as well. Just by looking at her measurements I know she was gracefully thin. I think what confuses people is that she had an hourglass figure but you can have a smaller wise and wider hips at any size. It’s often more prominent when you are thinner. She was no bigger than well known models are now whose waist is usually about 24 inches. I think it’s because she emphasised her figure with her clothes wait hips and and upper body.
In “Some Like It Hot” she was FFAATT – I mean cow size!!
Well she was pregnant while filming ‘some like it hot’ so maybe that’s why she was fat like a ‘cow’
A lot bigger than in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes!
She was pregnant !
If you think Marilyn Monroe was fat he was absolutely Exquisite no matter what show she was in and if he was a fat count makes you an ugly old bull take that
Lol. Well. I’m a 26 year old prettyboy very cute. I adore Marilyn. I’m not sure what size pants and stuff in girl size I am. But I am 5’6 and a half inches tall weigh 120. 33-28-34. Ha ha. I’m tiny I guess I’m a male. Oh well. Out of curiosity I once tried on a pair of size 8 ladies jeans but they was too big on me. Haha. Just curious. I’m a private prettyboy fetish model.
Sizes have certainly changed. In my teens and twenties in the UK, in the 1960’s and 1970’s I was 37-22-34 ( 5ft 4) and could not find dresses that fitted. Tops had to be size 12-14. Skirts or trousers, size10/12. ( legs were sturdy!). Waists were always too big. So I think that Marilyn was a UK size 10/12, according to sizes then. 12 for her bust, 10 for skirts because she, didn’t have heavy legs. She wouldn’t have fitted a size 10 due to her bust. I think she had a fabulus figure. Having clothes made for her must have been a great help because standard size, she was not.
I love you marlilyn, RIP
YOUR THE EPITOME OF PERFECTION
i want even in your generation and I have so much adoration and tallest for you it’s crazy. I know that they killed you. Everyone knows, everyone is to afraid to speak about it, the government is the most crooked, ugly thing in the world, and your lucky you didn’t have to see it get any worse. You are an angel in heaven. . the government fucks little boys at the white house. It’s all twisted and disgusting, please know that your life was never and will never be forgotten. You will go down in history mama<3 forever love!
Agreed,i love you Norma Jean Baker. I dated your great niece for over a year. I miss her and you to. Happy Birthday tho you…….
Her dress size was actually in the 2-6 range.
Every woman’s weight can fluctuate due to numerous factors( hello hormones). The point is given her hour glass figure, even at 140 lbs she was HEALTHY, not overweight. Like age, clothing size is just a number, so we all need to embrace our inner MM…
I wish this was still the standard today–this is almost my EXACT height and weight. I am a little self conscious because I was very thin my entire life (under 110 lbs) without having to try, being able to eat whatever I wanted, but when I hit my twenties I started to fill out more. Even with diet and exercise I can never seem to get down to my high school weight. But this makes me feel better–so I have hips and thighs and breasts now. My boyfriend definitely isn’t complaining! I hope Hollywood changes its standards and starts to idolize normal, healthy women!
Sounds like you look great Lyn, so what do care what the crazies do or think?
AMEN!!! Women are beautiful, all shapes and sizes!!!
I am the same as you I was always thin 45-46 kg and 5’2 until about 20 then I started to fill out a lot as well. I have to be more careful about what I am eating now where as before I could eat a lot and still be smaller and hope I would gain a little weight hehe but it may be because I started developing late. I didn’t really have any figure at all until 15. You still seem really small though, but shapely too :)
Her measurements would have her in a size 4 to 6! Maybe an 8. The sizing today very different.
sorry to say but someone who had the almost exact measurements of Marilyn and it’s similar to her 36-D bust line 24 – 25 inch waist and 36 inch hips would wear anywhere from a size 8 to size 12 whether or not you had to do alternations or added a few pounds here or there.
There is Smyth perpetuated by Garry’s who are too lazy to lose weight that mm was a size 14 (australian). Obviously at 168 cam and 52-53 kg she is more like an Aussie size 8. Maybe a 10. Sorry girls.
Trust me, that makes us still happy!
I also have to say that the fact that she was between 118-140 is awesome!! This really makes us girls feel good! There’s definitely nothing to be sorry about, this boosted our confidence.
I adore Marilyn ♥ & I am close to her measurements I’m 5 foot 6 & weigh 118-120 pounds and I wear a size 3-5 in pants 3 is pretty tight on me sometimes or with dresses I pick a smaller size if i want them fitted sometimes I have to sew in the waist with my clothes my measurements are 34-22-34 ♥
It’s not the size of a pant….it’s NOT how the pant fits you. …it’s how u r body fills out that pant.
If u want to know what her figure looked like go on the sites where they have auctioned her clothes. The Today Show had many gowns not long ago. It’s funny to hear women say..oh I must look like MM….what made her unique is the fact NO ONE THEN AND NOW looked or looks like her figure. It’s not your measurements. …it’s where every ounce is placed. That is called heridity. I am 5’7…weigh 120….but no one had her waist correct if u look at those gowns. Let MM stand alone as the beautiful sex symbol she still is. If u think u look like that girls……go to Hollywood! !!!!
Do most women know their thigh and calf measurements also???? MM loved Capri pants because they accentuated both of those!!!!…..people she was MM the star for a reason. ..live with that.
So glad to hear this! I’m so tired of people telling me I’m too skinny… These are almost my exact measurements too.
Just goes to show you weight is meaningless in the scheme of things. She had such a tiny waist and huge boobs and bigger hips in comparison to me but I’m 5’5 118 lbs too! And sizes vary so much today and probably even more in comparison to what they were back then that size numbers are pretty meaningless too; I can range anywhere from a size 2 all the way to size 6 in women’s or a size 3-7 in juniors. Who knows what she’d be today.
I’m so glad I found this website! It makes me feel better about my self and like the sentence says you don’t have to be tall and skinny to be sexy. I’m only about 5’4 and skinny also but the makes me feel better about it. So thank you to who ever created this website
She actually wasn’t a size 12, she is what you would call a modern day size 8. :)
This makes so much sense! I was reading it like… 118 pounds no way was she 12-14! More like 8!
Hey Daniel – they were simply converting from English to metric- she wasn’t measured in Metric its called conversion for you anal types who don’t have a life and need to nitpick :D
Thanks, someone needed to say it !
5’5″, 118 pounds is my size. No way she wore a size 12 dress or size 8 pant!!!! Size 4 dress and size 4 to 6 pant!!!!!
She had big hips… I have a friend who is a size 8 and she’s 120 pounds tops. Also this says her weight fluctuated between 118-140.
I’m the 50’s sizes were far different. A 12 then is equivalent to about a 6 today.
No one’s height is so precise that it can be measure to the tenth of a millimetre. Heights are always stated to the nearest whole centimetre.
The mass is correct, since you have three digits in pounds and numeracy would dictate only three digits be displayed for kilograms. Rounding to the nearest 500 g would be sufficient to cover the uncertainty of the original measurement.
Centimetres and kilograms do not need to be spelled out. It is perfectly normal to use approved symbols. The symbol for centimetre is cm and for kilogram it is kg. All small letters.
Please correct these errors!
This is ridiculous and shows a high degree of innumeracy and ignorance. There is no way, even on the day she was measured that it worked out to an exact number of inches. With only whole inches stated, metric values would more correctly be rounded either to the nearest whole centimetre or the nearest 5 cm.
So, in the first example it would be more correct to state as either 94-58-91 or 95-60-90
The second example would be 89-56-89 or 90-55-90.
No one’s height is so precise that it can be measure to the tenth of a millimetre. Heights are always stated to the nearest whole centimetre.
The mass is correct, since you have three digits in pounds and numeracy would dictate only three digits be displayed for kilograms. Rounding to the nearest 500 g would be sufficient to cover the uncertainty of the original measurement.
Centimetres and kilograms do not need to be spelled out. It is perfectly normal to use approved symbols. The symbol for centimetre is cm and for kilogram it is kg. All small letters.
Please correct these errors!
erm.. my height, weight, circumference of my body and all my arms, legs etc (bodybuilder) has always been perfectly on the inch mark, so its not impossible lol