Celebrity News May 01, 2025
‘Climbing in Heels’ Author Drops Bombshell Claim About Marilyn Monroe’s Death
Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas is spilling Hollywood secrets in her new novel “Climbing in Heels.”
The book is inspired by her own Hollywood history. She told us, “I was a secretary at William Morris in the 1980s and the hair was big, and the shoulder pads were big, and the phones were big, and the egos were big.”
The book is a semi-autobiographical story about her rise through the ranks at William Morris, where she worked with stars like Julia Roberts and Nicolas Cage, eventually becoming a senior vice president.
She also went on to become a film producer, and has worked alongside Jennifer Lopez for decades. Goldsmith-Thomas told “Extra’s” Terri Seymour, “Jennifer leads by example and then encourages you to fly alongside her, and I am forever in her debt for that.”
While dishing on her book, Elaine explained, “It's loosely based on me… It's based on some things I saw, some things I heard, and some things I imagined.”
She went on, “There may be a few people where it's going to look a little recognizable, but I didn't use their names and I changed facts, but there are some things in the book that are absolutely accurate.”
The author said one of those stories is about Marilyn Monroe.
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Back when Elaine was a secretary, an older man came into her office looking for her boss and dropped a Marilyn Monroe bombshell claim out of nowhere.
She told Terri, “He said, ‘You know they killed Marilyn.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I mean I didn't want them to, she was a good kid, but she was going off the rails. She was threatening to call Jackie.’ I thought he was nuts.”
The man was Milton Ebbins, an old school Hollywood power player and John F. Kennedy’s brother-in-law. When Elaine spoke with her boss about the conversation, Elaine’s boss confirmed Milton “would know.”
The book is full of wild stories and is already being adapted into a series for Peacock with “Sex and the City” creator Darren Starr.
Goldsmith-Thomas wants Lucy Hale, who served as a moderator at a reading of the book, to step in as one of the three women featured the story.
Lucy told “Extra,” “I literally see myself in all of the women in the book because they all have big dreams and big ambitions.”
Elaine added, “I see her in two of the characters, and so does Darren.”
The series should be out next year, and the book is in stores now.
