Kim Kardashian has responded to the widespread criticism that she allegedly ruined Marilyn Monroe’s famous “Happy Birthday” garment.
The celebrity mogul discussed why she accepted the opportunity to wear the gown in an interview with the Today Show, as well as the meticulous care needed to keep it in good condition.
At the MET Gala two months ago, Kardashian, 41, donned the dress that Marilyn Monroe had on when she sang for President John F. Kennedy on his birthday in 1962.
She told Today that she and Ripley’s Believe it or Not — who owns the iconic gown — “worked together so well.” “It was such a process,” she said. “There were handlers in gloves that put it on me.”
“I showed up to the red carpet in a robe and slippers, and I put the dress on the bottom of the carpet, went up the stairs. I probably had it on for three minutes, four minutes, and then I changed right at the top of the stairs,” she continued.
Kardashian said she felt the iconic dress fit the MET Gala’s theme of “Gilded Glamour” perfectly.
“I understand how much this dress means to American history, and with the theme being American, I thought, ‘What is more American than Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to the president of the United States?’” she said.
A Monroe collector uploaded before-and-after photos of the dress in the days after the MET Gala, stating that the garment had stretched and buckled fabric, as well as missing crystals or crystals that were “left hanging by a thread.”
