Had to Be a Mummy’s Girl
Marlene was born in 1901, and when she became six, her father, a police lieutenant, fell from a horse and died as a result of sustained injuries. As custom demanded, her mother remarried shortly after, but her stepfather, a soldier in Kaiser’s army, was slain in World War I.
Source: The National Portrait Gallery
As a child, handling such big losses is no laughing matter. Some have speculated that Marlene’s distant behavior and recklessness down the line were linked to all of these losses. It’s uncertain, yet people took pleasure in thinking around this idea. We can never know.