Gary Vitacco-Robles

Gary Vitacco-Robles is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in practice in the Tampa Bay Area. He holds a master's degree in Counselor Education from the University of South Florida. Since 1994, Gary has worked with children and families who have survived sexual/physical abuse or neglect and youth with sexual behavior problems. He is also a founding member of a sexual abuse intervention network and has served as an advocate for both survivors of trauma and individuals managing their major psychiatric disorders since 1986. Gary is currently employed by a behavioral health organization where he previously served as a program coordinator for both child & adult outpatient services & currently serves as a program manager for community-based services. In 2015, he was the recipient of the Florida Council on Mental Health's Provider of the Year Award. Gary is the author of the meticulously researched 2-volume ICON: The Life, Times, & Films of Marilyn Monroe, acclaimed as the definitive biography of the actress, redefining her for the 21st century, written from a trauma-informed & mental health perspective. Gary presents Monroe as a resilient survivor of adverse childhood experiences & intergenerational mental illness who achieved greatness despite limited treatment options of her era. His long-awaited follow-up 2-volume series, ICON: What Killed Marilyn Monroe, is an explosive takedown of decades of outlandish conspiracy theories and an evidence-based investigation into the actress's death. These 2 volumes contain previously unreleased information from the 1982 probe & updated evidence overlooked in the decades of rumors, disinformation & misinformation. Gary also wrote a fan favorite, Cursum Perficio: Marilyn Monroe's Brentwood Hacienda, humanizing Monroe as a woman grounding herself by restoring & settling in a Spanish Colonial residence during her last months. Gary is the writer, co-producer, & commentator of the dramatized, multi-season podcast Marilyn: Behind the Icon, adapted from his two-volume biography, at BehindTheIcon.com. The highly rated podcast honors Monroe's legacy and offers a backstory companion series (Norma Jeane Discovering Truths) & a third series debunking outlandish & improbable theories related to her death (The Investigation). Gary is co-producer of the short film Marilyn's Dark Paradise (2024), directed by Remi Gangarossa. The film is a celebration of resilience and strength as a human, capturing Monroe's rise above her challenges while integrating fantasy of time travel scheduled for a 2024 premiere at film festivals. Gary has appeared on Fox News Channel & is a media personality. Currently, he writes the blog Tampa Bay Author's Social Diary, serves as historian of his hometown, New Port Richey, Florida, & creates documentaries related to its local history. Gary's next book is about the area’s rich history as a community for silent screen stars and prominent literati in the early twentieth century. Born in New York to a warm Italian family, Gary has resided on Florida's Gulf Coast since 1975 and has been happily married since 1990.