Kim Kardashian is accused of damaging Marilyn Monroe’s dress

Marilyn Monroe’s famous dress appears to be damaged after Kim Kardashian wore it to the 2022 Met Gala. 

Scott Fortner, a Marilyn Monroe historian, took to Instagram to share before and after images of the Jean Louis gown Monroe wore to serenade President John F. Kennedy for his birthday in 1962.

Kardashian wore the dress for a few minutes during her red-carpet appearance before changing into a replica that was worn for the rest of the night. Monroe’s dress is currently on display at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum in Hollywood, California.

A representative for Kardashian and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s Request for comment.

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ChadMichael Morrisette — who owns Oh Mannequin! and helped put on the 2016 auction were Ripley’s purchased the dress for $4.81 million — spoke with People magazine about the current status of the dress.

The “delicate silk soufflé fabric, appears to be missing crystals. It also appears to have several small rips along the zipper seam,” he shared with the outlet. Morrisette mentioned that he visited the display on June 12, 2022, and took pictures and videos of the damage. 

“I was hired by Julien’s [in 2016] to put the dress on display, and not just the dress, I put Marilyn Monroe’s entire auction on display,” he told the outlet. “I’ve handled more of her artifacts than anyone in the world. I’ve touched her driver’s license. I’ve touched her high school yearbook. I’ve touched her ID card to Korea, when she went to Korea with Joe DiMaggio. I’ve touched everything that’s ever come up for sale, including that dress.”

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He continued: “I know this dress, and the damage is so apparent. I left Ripley’s in tears. I ran out with my hand over my mouth, holding back the tears, because I could not believe the damage that they allowed to happen for a publicity stunt.”

In May, Ripley’s took to Instagram to share the measures the company took to preserve the iconic dress.

“Great care was taken to preserve this piece of pop culture history,” the account said at the time. “With input from garment conservationists, appraisers, and archivists, the garment’s condition was top priority. Believe It or Not! no alterations were to be made to the dress and Kim even changed into a replica after the red carpet!⁠”

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Kardashian echoed the Ripley’s statement, claiming she was “respectful” to the dress during her red-carpet appearance with boyfriend, Pete Davidson. 

“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,” Kardashian told Vogue at the time. “Everything had to be specifically timed and I had to practice walking up the stairs.”

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On the red-carpet, Kardashian shared that she had to lose 16 pounds in three weeks to fit into Monroe’s dress after she was unable to fit in the gown on her first attempt.