Her first husband, John Bowers, committed suicide by drowning at age 50 on November 17, 1936 after 12 years of marriage.
She was best friends with actress and dancer Barbara La Marr who died from tuberculosis at age 29 on January 30, 1926.
When she was 16 her parents were killed in a car crash. Producer J.L. Frothingham, for whom she was working at the time, assumed guardianship of both Marguerite and her younger brother.