Kim Kardashian dubbed herself a “shapeshifter” as she took fans behind the scenes of her prep for the Met Gala 2022.
In May, the reality star stepped out on the red carpet of the iconic event wearing Marilyn Monroe’s iconic 1962 “Happy Birthday Mr. President” dress.
The mom-of-four later revealed she had lost 16 pounds in three weeks in order to fit into the figure-hugging outfit, which she only wore for a few minutes on the red carpet.
In Thursday’s episode of Hulu’s The Kardashians, Kim showed took fans behind the scenes of her Met Gala prep.
The SKIMS founder admitted she feared that she wouldn’t fit into the iconic gown, as she eye up a replica.
“If this does not fit me, like, I can’t even try the original,” the reality star told her stylist, Danielle Levi.
Although Kim’s measurement don’t match the late Marilyn’s, she explained: “The width of my shoulders and my body makes me a shapeshifter. I can squeeze into anything.”
“I can squeeze into anything, but no one trusted us for years,” Kim continued.
“[Designers] would never send samples, and then once I would get to Paris and try on the samples, they would be like, ‘Oh wait, she actually fits into our stuff.’”
“I don’t know how to convince the guy who owns the original Marilyn dress that I am a shapeshifter.”
Later in the episode, it was revealed that Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum pulled out of lending the original dress to Kim when it wouldn’t go over her hips.
“I was just devastated,” she told her sister Kourtney and Khloe, adding that she would only go to the Met Gala if she was allowed wear the gown.
“If they don’t let me wear the dress, then no, [I’m not going],” she said. “I wrote them like a grovelling, begging email, but they were very firm.”
Kim documented the workouts and diet she began to lose weight to fit into the dress.
She said: “I have about three weeks to fit into this dress. I am going to do every last thing that I can to try to make this happen.”
“It’s gonna be really hard and I’m gonna have to eat so clean and so perfect and cut out sugar which is so hard for me and please let me try it on again. I’m not going to take no for an answer.”
Back in June, Pop Culture shared photos of the dress, allegedly from before and after Kim wore it to the Met Gala, and accused her of damaging it.
The latter showed signs of damage to the dress, including tearing and missing crystals, particularly around the dress’ back closure.
When the dress was returned to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Museum, they stated that “no damage” had occurred to the garment.
However, the museum has since released a further statement on their website, addressing accusations Kim damaged the dress.
The statement reads: “Kim Kardashian wearing the ‘Happy Birthday’ dress has been hotly contested, but the fact remains that she did not, in any way, damage the garment in the short amount of time it was worn at the Met Gala.”
“From the bottom of the Met steps, where Kim got into the dress, to the top where it was returned, the dress was in the same condition it started in,” said Amanda Joiner, Ripley’s Vice President of Publishing and Licensing, who looked after the dress on the day.
Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Museum bought the dress at auction in 2016 for $4.8 million.
In 2017, a report of the dress’ condition said: “A number of the seams are pulled and worn. This is not surprising given how delicate the material is.”
At that time, there was already “puckering at the back by the hooks and eyes,” the museum’s website said.
Speaking to Vogue ahead of the Met Gala party, Kim stated: “I’m extremely respectful to the dress and what it means to American history.”
“I would never want to sit in it or eat in it or have any risk of any damage to it and I won’t be wearing the kind of body makeup I usually do.”
