Marriage Quote by Simone Signoret

Jealousy is the expected script; Simone Signoret flips it into a cool, almost glamorous admission of reality. On the surface, the line is a disarming compliment to Marilyn Monroe: if Marilyn wants her husband, she must be discerning. Underneath, it is a public act of triage, a way of draining scandal of its oxygen by refusing to perform humiliation on demand.

The intent is less saintly than strategic. Signoret redirects the gaze away from rivalry between women, the tabloid-friendly catfight, and onto something more adult: desire doesn’t become illegitimate just because it’s inconvenient. By anchoring the sentence in her own love for him, she claims the emotional high ground without pretending she’s immune to pain. It’s poise as a defensive architecture.

The subtext also carries a sly comment on celebrity economics. Marilyn isn’t just “a woman”; she’s Marilyn, a symbol of men’s fantasies and the industry’s appetite for turning private mess into public entertainment. Signoret’s response refuses that marketplace. She won’t audition for the role of wronged wife, nor will she demonize the blonde icon Hollywood loves to both worship and punish.

Context matters: Signoret, a French actress with an image of intelligence and gravitas, was married to Yves Montand, whose rumored or real entanglement with Monroe during Let’s Make Love became a story bigger than any of their performances. The line works because it’s both generous and barbed: it flatters Marilyn, shields Montand, and quietly asserts Signoret’s own authority. Not denial. Not surrender. Control.