Jackie Kennedy is said to have been left "haunted" when Marilyn Monroe called asking to speak to her husband.

The late former First Lady was married to President John F Kennedy until he was assassinated in November 1963, and more than a year earlier, she received a phone call supposedly from late Hollywood starlet Monroe - whom he is rumoured to have had an affair with - which stuck with her for years after the 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' star died herself in August 1962 aged 36.

J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of 'Jackie: Public, Private, Secret', told Fox News Digital: "There was something about that phone call. She later told family members that there was a haunting quality to Marilyn’s voice that really stuck with her… And it’s not like they even had any kind of deep conversation… But it was 10 years of wondering, was it really Marilyn Monroe? And that buzz stayed with the family."

According to the tome, Monroe asked, "Is Jack home?"

Kennedy said he wasn’t and then asked who was calling, "Marilyn Monroe," the caller replied. Before asking: "Is this Jackie?"

When Jackie confirmed it was her, Marilyn is said to have asked if she’d tell the president that she called but when she asked what it was regarding, Monroe is thought to have said it was nothing in particular and that she just wanted to say hello.

The book went on to claim that Jackie took the message, agreed to pass it on to her husband and then hung up.

Years later, Jackie - who died in 1994 at the age of 64 - is said to have described the mystery telephone call as "off-putting" and was left "disturbed" by the "ethereal, little-girl-lost quality" she thought the 'Some Like It Hot' star had displayed.