Recently, Moments in Time, a memorabilia company, announced that they would be selling three rare photos of Marilyn Monroe, taken by her close friend, Frieda Hull, in 1960.

The photos are being sold with the claim that they show the actress pregnant with French film star Yves Montand’s child.

This long-simmering rumor has never been proven, and some fans are disputing the idea that Monroe was pregnant with Montand’s baby.

Before Frieda Hull passed away in 2014, she claimed to a neighbor and friend that Monroe confided in her that she had become pregnant during her affair with Montand.

Hull said she snapped the “pregnant slides” when Monroe visited her in New York City in 1960.

That same year, Monroe’s romantic comedy with Montand, “Let’s Make Love,” was released.

If Monroe was carrying Montand’s baby in 1960, the timing would be inconvenient because of her troubled marriage to her third husband, playwright Arthur Miller.

Miller apparently knew about the affair but didn’t object, though the dalliance was “another nail in the coffin” of the couple’s already shaky marriage.

A pregnancy with Montand would have been an issue, especially because out-of-wedlock births were much frowned upon in the early 1960s.

Monroe had idolized Miller as one of America’s great intellectual thinkers when she married him in 1956.

But while filming “The Prince and the Showgirl” with Laurence Olivier, the actress came across notes Miller had made about her, possibly for a new play, in which Miller expressed disappointment in the marriage and said he sometimes found her to be embarrassing.

Monroe was also disappointed that Miller took work in Hollywood, which she thought was beneath his talent. She was especially put out when he did a lackluster rewrite for the script of “Let’s Make Love.”

The film managed to be a modest box-office success, after 20th Century Fox’s PR department played up Monroe and Montand’s affair, which had been covered feverishly in the gossip magazines.

The film ended up receiving mixed reviews, including for Monroe, whom New York Times critic Bosley Crowther called “untidy” and lacking “in her old Monroe dynamism.”

Still, a pregnancy with Montand would have been an issue, especially because out-of-wedlock births were much frowned upon in the early 1960s.

Monroe also very much wanted to have a baby with Miller, but it’s well-documented that she suffered two miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy.

It’s alleged that Monroe also lost Montand’s baby, according to the memorabilia company.

Tony Michaels, a friend and neighbor of Hull, said she told him the pregnancy ended, though it was never made clear whether Monroe lost the baby by way of a miscarriage or abortion.

Fans dispute the idea that Monroe became pregnant with Montand’s baby.

A blog post on the Marilyn Monroe Collection site, which boasts ownership of the largest trove of the actress’ personal property, said “there is no evidence whatsoever” that she became pregnant as a result of her affair with Montand.

“Had Marilyn Monroe been pregnant in 1960 fans would know,” the blog post said.

One reason to doubt the pregnancy claim is that Monroe was very concerned about her public image, so she never would have allowed photos to be taken of her pregnant with the baby of someone who was not her husband, the post says.

Moreover, another friend of Hull’s, who initially inherited the photos and the rest of her estate, was never told the photos showed Monroe pregnant with Montand’s baby.

The photos have been authenticated by Hull’s estate and the memorabilia company says that they show the actress with a noticeable baby bump.

The photos are being sold for $95,000.

The three black and white photos were taken at Frieda Hull’s home in New York City in 1960.

Hull was a close friend of Monroe’s and the photos have been in her possession since they were taken.

The memorabilia company has not revealed who the buyer is.

Monroe’s short and tragic life is well-known.

She struggled with being a famous blonde sex symbol and had ill-fated romances with some of the most well-known men of the mid-20th century, including Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller, and allegedly, President John F. Kennedy.

Her death in 1962 at the age of 36, reportedly from a barbiturate overdose, is still the topic of literary inquiries and conspiracy theories, including the wild idea that she was killed because she threatened to go public about her secret affair with JFK’s younger and equally politically ambitious brother, Robert F. Kennedy.

The rumor that Monroe became pregnant with Montand’s child while she was married to Miller has been around for decades.

The story goes that Montand and Monroe had an affair while filming “Let’s Make Love” in 1960, and that she became pregnant with his child.

The story has been debated but never proven.

However, in recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the story.

In 2016, a French documentary about Montand’s life included an interview with a former secretary of Montand’s who claimed that Monroe had told Montand she was pregnant with his child.

The secretary, Carole Amiel, said that Montand told her about the affair and the pregnancy.

She said that Montand was excited about the prospect of having a child with Monroe but that she eventually lost the baby.

Amiel said that Montand never spoke about the affair again.

The authenticity of the photos has been questioned by some fans, who argue that Monroe would not have allowed photos to be taken of her pregnant with another man’s child.

They also point out that Monroe was known to gain and lose weight easily and that she could have simply been bloated or gained weight for a film role.

Despite the doubts about the photos, the rumor that Monroe was pregnant with Montand’s child continues to intrigue fans of the iconic actress.

The story adds another layer to Monroe’s already complicated life and legacy.