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Kim Kardashian lost 16 pounds three weeks before wearing Marilyn Monroe’s iconic “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress to the 2022 Met Gala. But now, the reality tv personality said she continued dropping pounds and has lost a total of 21 pounds ever since.
According to Kardashian, losing so much weight when she was already skinny was a no-brainer. “I looked at it like a role, and I really wanted to wear this dress,” she told Today’s co-anchors, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb. “It was really important to me.”
Kardashian said she has more energy now and doesn’t want to drop more pounds. “Since then, afterward, I continued to eat really healthy,” the 41-year-old mom of four said. “I’m down 21 lbs. now. I’m not trying to lose any more weight, but I have more energy than ever. I cut out so much sugar — a lot of junk food I was eating, I didn’t realize, like a lot of fried foods. And I just completely changed my lifestyle.”
“It actually taught me a lot about my lifestyle and my health,” she assures.
In addition to receiving backlash for losing so much weight in a short amount of time, Kim also faced criticism for wearing the historic gown and allegedly damaging the zipper and stones.
However, Ripley’s Believe it or Not! denied that Kim Kardashian damaged the dress. “The dress was in the same condition it started in,” Ripley’s VP of Publishing and Licensing Amanda Joiner said in a statement.
During her appearance on Today, Kardashian addressed the allegations. “Ripley’s, we worked together so well,” she said. “There were handlers with gloves who put it on me.”
“It was such a process,” she recalled. “I showed up to the red carpet in a robe and slippers, and I put the dress on the bottom of the carpet. I went up the stairs — I probably had it on for 3 minutes, 4 minutes. And then I changed [into a replica of the gown] right at the top of the stairs.”
Kardashian said her intention was also to introduce Monroe to the new generations. “I was so happy to have that opportunity and that Ripley’s gave me the opportunity to share this moment so that it could live on,” she said. “I respect her, I understand how much this dress means to American history, and the theme being American, I thought, ‘What is more American than Marlyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to the President of the United States?’”