Kim Kardashian stunned the world last night as she walked through the steps of the Met in Marilyn Monroe’s infamous ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’ dress.
The $4.8M number, complete with 6,000 crystals was a loan from Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Orlando, with the reality star shedding 16lbs in two weeks to squeeze into the number.
But the dress isn’t the only thing the two bombshells have in common.
Kim could be considered a modern day Marilyn. Both women have been married three times, are the most famous person from their era and have become known for their curves, sex scandals and forays into politics.
Incredibly, the pair’s three marriages even mirror each other. The first, before fame and in their teens to and older man, the second, highly publicised and to a New York sports star and the last two a very famous creative of their eta.
Both women were also shunned by the A-list, before eventually being accepted and even made an impression in the White House, albeit in very different ways.
Here, FEMAIL reveals the similarities between the pair from highly publicised love lives to tumultuous divorces and Playboy centrefolds…
Kim Kardashian stunned the world last night as she walked through the steps of the Met in Marilyn Monroe’s infamous ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’ dress. The $4.8M number, complete with 6,000 crystals was a loan from Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Orlando, with the reality star shedding 16lbs in two weeks to squeeze into the number. Here, FEMAIL reveals the similarities between the pair from highly publicised love lives to tumultuous divorces and Playboy centrefolds…
THREE HUSBANDS: A teenage marriage, highly publicised wedding to a sports star, and a third divorce from creative visionary
Just like Marilyn, Kim has been married three times – and the similarities don’t stop there.
Both super stars married older men while teenagers, their second husbands were sports stars and their third marriages were to hugely famous creatives of their era.
Marilyn was just 16 when she married factory worker turned police officer James Dougherty, who was 21.
Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, the future star had an unstable childhood splitting her time between her mother’s home, family friends houses and group foster homes.
Marilyn moved in with a family friend when she was 12. Three years later her foster father’s job relocated to West Virginia but California child protection laws stopped them from taking her out the state meaning she would be placed back into an orphanage.
Her foster mother suggested she married James – her neighbour’s son.
‘I thought she was awful young, but I took her to a dance. She was a pretty mature girl and physically she was mature, of course. We talked and we got on pretty good,’ James said in a 1990 interview.
Both Kim and Marilyn have been married three times. Their first weddings were when they were teenagers. Marilyn is pictured with her first husband James Dougherty on their wedding day in 1942, when she was just 16. Kim married 29-year-old music producer Damon Thomas (right, now aged 51) when she was just 19, the marriage lasted three years
On June 19, 1942, just 18 days after Norma Jeane’s 16th birthday – they were married. Four years later the couple divorced after Marilyn was discovered and James wasn’t supportive of her burgeoning acting and modelling career.
Likewise, Kim was only 19 when she eloped to Las Vegas with music producer Damon Thomas, 10 years her senior.
She later revealed on an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashian’s she was high on ecstasy at the time.
Despite the reality star’s highly publicised private life, little is known about her first marriage, although Damon – who has shunned the limelight – recently said he ‘doesn’t remember’ her being high.
‘She wasn’t talking to her parents at the time,’ he said . ‘Or her mom at the time, I think.
‘I mean, it was just young love,’ he added.
Their short-lived marriage lasted only three years before she filed for divorce. Kim later claimed the marriage was quite turbulent as he allegedly subjected her to physical abuse.
The KKW Beauty mogul claimed in divorce papers he ‘punched’ her, which he has denied.
Husband number two: Kim and Marilyn’s second husbands were sports stars playing in New York. Both marriages were highly publicised. Marilyn married baseball star Joe Di Maggio (left together) while Kim married Kris Humpries, a basketball player
In 1952, Marilyn began a highly public romance with New York Yankees baseball star Joe DiMaggio, one of the most famous personalities of the era, the pair married in 1954 but divorced a year later, with Joe struggling over Marilyn’s success and sex appeal – in a similar vein to complaints made by Kim’s third husband Kanye. Pictured in 1954
Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe kiss following their marriage ceremony in a judge’s chambers in San Francisco, California.
She also accused him of slamming her against a wall and throwing ‘her across the room, leaving her bruised and battered.’ Additionally, he reportedly made her quit her job, according to their divorce papers filed at Los Angeles Superior Court back in 2003.
Kim’s next marriage was to basketball star Kris Humphries, who she started dating in October 2010.
The wedding, in Montecito, California, was highly publicised on Keeping Up with the Kardashians and the pictures were sold to People Magazine for $1.5million.
However, it didn’t last and Kim filed for divorce just 72 days later – with the episodes of the show airing their wedding after the couple had split.
While it was widely publicised that she was only married for 72 days, Kris – nicknamed ‘the Hump’ – didn’t agree to the divorce, instead asking for the marriage to be annulled. The divorce was only finalised in June 2013, just weeks before she gave birth to her first child North, with her third husband Kanye West.
Speaking to Andy Cohen during a Keeping Up with the Kardashians finale episode last year, Kim said the only legal way to get an annulment was if fraud was involved. Kris, she said, marked fraud for the annulment ‘so the whole world wondered what is this fraud.
‘Did she marry me for a show to the public and that is what the people started to say – is this really fraudulent. If I was mature, I would have wanted the annulment too,’ said Kim.
Like Kim, Marilyn’s second marriage was to a sports star playing for a New York team – and it was highly publicised too.
Both had third marriages to very famous creatives of the era. Marilyn married playwright Arthur Miller (left) while Kim was married to Kanye West (right)
While Marilyn Monroe had no children, Kim is a mother-of-four. She is pictured with ex-husband Kanye West and their children, North, Chicago, Saint and Psalm
In 1952, Marilyn began a highly public romance with New York Yankees baseball star Joe DiMaggio, one of the most famous personalities of the era, the pair married in 1954 but divorced a year later, with Joe struggling over Marilyn’s success and sex appeal – in a similar vein to complaints made by Kim’s third husband Kanye.
Marilyn and Joe had their first date at Villa Nova, an Italian restaurant which is now The Rainbow Bar And Grill on Sunset Boulevard. Marilyn, who wasn’t sure she was much interested in a baseball player, was late by two hours.
But he impressed her. Despite his quiet, almost sullen demeanour, he still managed to command the whole room. He wasn’t goodlooking: his face was all sharp angles, with teeth not only bucked but haphazardly arranged, and eyes too close together.
During the summer of 1952, Marilyn and Joe began to date more regularly. But red flags were raised by her concerned friends. He didn’t like her career, he thought women should be firmly in the home, he was jealous of the attention she generated from other men.
In July, Joe took her home to San Francisco to meet his family. Once there, she clearly saw why Joe wanted his wife to be domestic – women raised children, cooked and cleaned, and it had always been that way in the DiMaggio family.
The eighth of nine children of Sicilian immigrants, Joe was raised with strict Catholic values in a household that stressed a strong work ethic and, above all, pride in their Sicilian heritage.
At the end of summer, Joe dropped a real bombshell: he thought it would be best if Marilyn abandoned her acting. It only caused her stress, he argued, so why do it?
The final straw for Marilyn came when Joe beat her up in their hotel after he became incensed at the sexy, skirt-flying shoot for The Seven Year Itch – she filed for divorce soon after
‘Joe was sick and tired of Marilyn’s career,’ Stacy Edwards, who was a sportswriter at the time in Philadelphia and knew DiMaggio well. previously told the Mail
‘He said he wanted to get her out of the movies. ‘We’ll buy a nice home in San Francisco and just live a simpler life,’ he told me.
Then, on New Year’s Eve 1953, Joe asked her to marry him. Carried away by the moment, Marilyn said yes. On January 14, 1954, they were married in a quick civil ceremony in San Francisco.
She made a strange request though. If she died before him, would he promise to place flowers at her grave every week? He promised – and years later would fulfil this bleak pledge.
Even with his ring on her finger, Joe could not reconcile himself to Marilyn’s stardom. He turned to his friend Norman Brokaw, a Hollywood agent, for advice. ‘I want her to quit,’ he told him, ‘but she won’t do it.’
The final straw for Marilyn came when Joe beat her up in their hotel after he became incensed at the sexy, skirt-flying shoot for The Seven Year Itch.
Five thousand onlookers watched the filming of that shot, at one in the morning, with Marilyn standing over a subway grate, her accordion-pleated skirt flying. Unfortunately, DiMaggio was one of them.
Director Billy Wilder described the expression on DiMaggio’s face as ‘the look of death’. Even though Marilyn wore two pairs of pants for modesty, under the powerful Klieg lights the material became quite see-through.
He rushed back to their hotel and waited for his wife. Then he took out his rage on her, slapping her around the room. The noise was so great that other hotel guests reported it to the hotel’s management, afraid that someone was getting badly hurt.
Just a year after her divorce from Jo Di Maggio, Marliyn married playwright Arthur Miller – converting to Judaism. She also stepped back from intensive filming, and began cooking, keeping house and giving Miller more attention and affection. Kim married Kanye shortly after her split from Kris Humpries
The next day, Gladys Witten, a studio hairdresser, noticed bruises on Marilyn’s shoulders.
‘But we covered them with make-up,’ she said.
On October 27, 1954, just nine months after her wedding – Marilyn stood before a judge and detailed her reasons for her divorce petition. She said DiMaggio was ‘cold and indifferent’ to her and that days would go by when he wouldn’t speak to her. DiMaggio didn’t make an appearance and the divorce was granted.
One of the people Marilyn could turn to during this time was her friend Frank Sinatra. While her divorce was being finalised, she went to live with Sinatra for a couple of weeks to recover emotionally.
Just a year later, she married playwright Arthur Miller – converting to Judaism. She also stepped back from intensive filming, and began cooking, keeping house and giving Miller more attention and affection
The couple got married in a quiet ceremony, and Miller gave her a ring inscribed ‘now is forever.’ Monroe wrote on the back of one of her wedding photographs: ‘hope, hope, hope.’
But soon their relationship soured under the strain of Monroe’s miscarriage and inability to get pregnant. She was devastated to discover an entry in Miller’s personal diary that described his disappointment in their marriage. ‘How he thought I was some kind of angel, but now he guessed he was wrong. He’d married a woman as flawed as his previous wife had been,’ Monroe explained to her acting coach. Miller also wrote in the note that she was a ‘whore.’
Since her split with Kanye, Kim has been dating Pete Davidson – 13 years her junior. She is pictured at the Met with him last night
It was an incident that Marilyn would refer to time and again. Film director John Huston noticed the effect that drug use had on the movie star. ‘She was not the fresh little girl that I’d known originally,’ he told Summers. During the filming of The Misfits, he recalled, she was occasionally ‘non compos mentis.’
‘I remember saying to Miller one day, if she was going at the rate she was going g, why, she’d be in an institution in two or three years, or dead!’ explained Huston. ‘And I said anyone who allowed her to take the drugs ought to be shot. It was almost an accusation against him. An indictment against Miller.’
They split in 1961.
Just like Marilyn, Kim’s third marriage was to one of the most famous creative minds of the era.
In 2014, Kim married rapper, designer and entrepreneur Kanye West with the couple welcoming four children – North, Saint, Psalm, and Chicago before splitting last year.
A 21st century power couple, the pair were the first interracial couple to cover Vogue Magazine, and together built up an empire to be worth more than a billion each.
The New York Times referred to their marriage as ‘a historic blizzard of celebrity’ with their wedding in Florence seeing hundreds of A-listers in attendance.
Just like Marilyn, Kim’s third marriage was to one of the most famous creative minds of the era. In 2014, Kim married rapper, designer and entrepreneur Kanye West with the couple welcoming four children – North, Saint, Psalm, and Chicago before splitting last year.
A 21st century power couple, the pair were the first interracial couple to cover Vogue Magazine, and together built up an empire to be worth more than a billion each. The New York Times referred to their marriage as ‘a historic blizzard of celebrity’ with their wedding in Florence seeing hundreds of A-listers in attendance.
Despite a messy public feud, the couple continue to co-parent their children, with Kim telling Ellen De Generes last month she is ‘protective’ of her former partner for the sake of their children.
‘I think that’s just who I am, and I always saw such a good example in my mom and my dad in their relationship,’ Kim said.
‘So I’m always just hopeful and no matter what goes on, it’s the father of my kids. I’ll always be protective, I’ll always be protective. I always want my kids to just see the best of the best.
‘So, I just try to, as hard as it can be sometimes, I do try to ignore it and just try to do whatever’s best for the kids.’
‘Take the high road,’ she added.
Since the split, she’s been dating Pete Davidson – 13 years her junior.
UNCOVENTIONAL BODIES THAT BECAME DESIRABLE
When Kim Kardashian first rose to fame in the early 2000s, her body was seen as unconventional.
First pictured alongside BFF Paris Hilton – the biggest IT girl of the time – Kim’s curves, particularly her famed derrière, stood out among the waifs that were seen as the ultimate body type of the time.
But now, Kim – alongside her sisters – often top lists as the most desirable bodies in the world. Kim is also the most referenced celebrity asked for by plastic surgeons.
When Kim Kardashian first rose to fame in the early 2000s, her body was seen as unconventional. First pictured alongside BFF Paris Hilton – the biggest IT girl of the time – Kim’s curves, particularly her famed derrière, stood out among the waifs that were seen as the ultimate body type of the time.
But now, Kim – alongside her sisters – often top lists as the most desirable bodies in the world. Kim is also the most referenced celebrity asked for by plastic surgeons (right) Likewise, Marilyn’s curves were considered unusual at the time. While the blonde bombshell is often referenced as as a British size 16, she would wear a size six to eight in modern clothing
Likewise, Marilyn’s curves were considered unusual at the time. While the blonde bombshell is often referenced as as a British size 16, she would wear a size six to eight in modern clothing.
Accordingly to her modelling agency Blue Book in 1945 – Marilyn was 5’6″, weighed 120lbs (8st 8lbs) and her measurements were 36-24-34.
Blue Book listed her as a US size 12 (UK 16), however, due to vanity sizing and increasing body sizes this would be about US 0-2 (UK 6-8) today.
Her weight fluctuated throughout her life, her military ID card in 1954 listed her 118lbs while her coroner’s report following her death in 1962 was just 117lbs.
While this is much smaller than the average woman today – it was large for the time, when the average measurement was 33-21-33.
But the curvier look was still desired though – with Marilyn a huge sex symbol of the time.
Sex symbols! Both Kim and Marilyn are considered sex symbols, both making curvy looks incredibly popular for the era
SEX SCANDALS THAT CEMENTED THEIR FAME
While both stars have hugely successful careers, they will always be associated with her sex scandals.
Kim was on the edges of fame in 2007 when her 2002 sex tape with ex-boyfriend Ray J was released.
The film, which was released with Kim’s consent, was filmed on a handheld camera while the couple were on holiday in Cabo, Mexico.
Kim sued Vivid Entertainment for invasion of privacy and for the profits from and ownership of the tape, eventually settling for $5million. Six months later, Keeping Up With the Kardashians debuted on E! and ran for 14 years.
While both stars have hugely successful careers, they will always be associated with her sex scandals. Kim was on the edges of fame in 2007 when her 2002 sex tape with ex-boyfriend Ray J was released. She is pictured with him
Despite the tape being filmed 20 years ago, the scandal has rattled on with it going on as a central storyline of the billionaire family’s new show The Kardashians. Scenes that aired this week showed Kim’s ex Kanye West returning her sex tape as she prepared to host Saturday Night Live. The reality star, 41, cried uncontrollably after her ex husband, 44, revealed he had flown to LA and back again where he had retrieved a hard drive, computer tower and monitor from her former boyfriend Ray J, 41, featuring footage filmed in 2002.
Making his debut appearance on the family’s new reality show, the musician was lauded by Kim’s friends and family as they gathered in her hotel room to watch her unzip the bag as she tearfully proclaimed, ‘He got me all of the sex tape back.’
Despite the tape being filmed 20 years ago, the scandal has rattled on with it going on as a central storyline of the billionaire family’s new show The Kardashians.
Scenes that aired this week showed Kim’s ex Kanye West returning her sex tape as she prepared to host Saturday Night Live.
The reality star, 41, cried uncontrollably after her ex husband, 44, revealed he had flown to LA and back again where he had retrieved a hard drive, computer tower and monitor from her former boyfriend Ray J, 41, featuring footage filmed in 2002.
Making his debut appearance on the family’s new reality show, the musician was lauded by Kim’s friends and family as they gathered in her hotel room to watch her unzip the bag as she tearfully proclaimed, ‘He got me all of the sex tape back.’
The new series debuted with the SKIMS founder learning that there might be new footage from her previous sex tape with Ray J, enlisting high-powered lawyer Marty Singer to try and handle it for her.
Much more scandalously, Marilyn is famed for having an affair with President John F. Kennedy – and his brother Robert. Conspiracy theorist have for years suggested that this may have got her killed, she officially died from an accidentally overdosed aged 36.
FBI files revealed that Marilyn was considered a threat to national security for her friendships with known American left-wingers and communists, at her time of death. J. Edgar Hoover was especially concerned that Hollywood’s golden girl was disseminating state secrets gleaned through pillow talk with the country’s first and second in command.
At the height of the Cold War – when Marilyn was celebrated as America’s most famous ‘dumb blonde’ – she had also become its biggest secret-keeper.
Three months after the platinum haired sex symbol took the stage of Madison Square Garden in a sultry, skin-tight dress (borrowed by Kim) to wish President Kennedy a ‘happy birthday’ – she was found dead in her Brentwood home, at the age of 36 from a ‘probable overdose.’
The case was officially closed after a botched investigation, laden with flawed evidence, inconsistent statements and a conflicting timeline.
Monroe’s on-and-off affair with John Kennedy began in the early 1950s when he was then just a Senator from Massachusetts, and a relative unknown in Hollywood. ‘No one ever expected Jack to become the president or the nominee,’ said Marilyn’s longtime confident, Arthur James in a new Netflix documentary about Marilyn. ‘He was ‘just some smart-a** rich man’s son that became a senator.’
Marilyn was close friends with Rat Pack actor Peter Lawford and his wife, the president’s sister, Pat Kennedy Lawford. The couple’s 6,416-square-foot Mediterranean-style mansion, built and originally owned by MGM co-founder Louis B. Mayer, was a renowned party house that became the official trysting headquarters for when the brothers came to town.
‘Peter would obviously be pimping for both Kennedys,’ Dean Martin’s wife, Jeanne says in the documentary. ‘They would do it in front of anybody. Their wives could be in the other room, and many times were. I mean I’ve had a hand up my breasts. The president owned it.’
During this time, Marilyn also began a tumultuous affair with Attorney General Bobby Kennedy.
Enamoured with movies at a young age, Monroe’s aspirations to become an actress began in childhood. During WWII, she became a popular pinup model and signed a short-term contract with Twentieth Century Fox in 1946. The doc tells the story of how Monroe catapulted her career from being a relative unknown to Hollywood’s golden girl by taking advantage of the system Al Rosen, a Hollywood mega-agent told Summers in the documentary that Monroe’s name was in every casting director’s ‘Black Book’ of girls that ‘could be laid. He says: ‘You see the business has changed since then. Today it’s the buck. It used to be sex. Remember that’
Monroe was the platinum haired bombshell from the wrong side of the tracks in Los Angeles, with a sexual radiance so white hot that it catapulted her from pleasuring ageing Hollywood tycoons, on to the silver screen and into immortality
Monroe’s most complex romances were with John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert — at the time, the president of the United States and his attorney general. Monroe’s on-and-off affair with John Kennedy began in the early 1950s when he was then just a Senator from Massachusetts, and a relative unknown in Hollywood. ‘No one ever expected Jack to become the president or the nominee,’ said Monroe’s longtime confident, Arthur James in the Netflix documentary. He was ‘the raunchiest looking thing you’ve ever seen in your life’
The trysts were to have unforeseen tragic consequences. To make matters worse, Marilyn was experiencing a rapid decline in her mental health and became obsessed with the president, for him an evening with the world’s most desirable woman was simply another notch – albeit an impressive one – on his bedstead. Some close associates later alleged that she had become pregnant with the president’s child in the weeks before her death.
‘Whatever the exact nature of the Kennedy brothers’ relationship with Marilyn, they were playing with fire,’ says Summers in the doc. ‘Those who wanted to get the dirt on Jack and Bobby Kennedy.’
Meanwhile in Washington, the FBI had been receiving troubling reports about the president’s sex life, with Marilyn, in particular, who they believed was a growing security risk. At a lunch at the White House in early 1962, FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover warned Kennedy of the risks he was taking keeping Marilyn in their rotation.
Marilyn had long been on Hoover’s radar since her marriage to Arthur Miller, who they feared was an alleged communist during McCarthy’s red crusade.
An FBI report on Marilyn at the time, was listed with the subject line: ‘Marilyn Monroe SM-C, for security matter, communist.’
Only one photo of Monroe and the Kennedys exists from the night she sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to the president. All other photos were seized from at least one picture agency shortly after death by men claiming to be FBI. One person close to the investigation said that there was an effort to make their involvement ‘hush hush.’ Summers concludes: ‘If there’s any mystery about Monroe’s death, powerful and important, eminent men seemed to me, to be central’
‘Peter (Lawford) would obviously be pimping for both Kennedys,’ said Jeanne Martin (wife of Dean Martin) in the doc. ‘They would do it in front of anybody. Their wives could be in the other room, and many times were. I mean I’ve had a hand up my breasts. The president owned it’
Both Kim and Marilyn have leaned into their sexy personas though – both appearing nude on the centrefold of playboy. The very first issue of Playboy featured Monroe as the cover girl.
A March 1962 document revealed that she had spent time in Mexico with friends who were known American communists and left-wingers. ‘She told one of them, Fred Vanderbilt Field, of a talk she had with Bobby Kennedy about politics, and FBI agents had been watching,’ explained Summers.
Kim also posed for the magazine in 2007 – but later said she regretted it and was ‘made to feel uncomfortable’.
‘To the intelligence agencies – the Kennedys’ celebrity plaything was a volatile creature running to her psychiatrist every day and chattering on the telephone to all – was absolutely the wrong woman to be on intimate terms with the president and the attorney general.’
According to Douglas Thompson in his recent book, Marilyn danced five times with JFK’s brother Bobby, the U.S. Attorney-General, at the post-gala party in a New York penthouse suite after wearing the famed dress.
But she left with President Kennedy and went via a basement corridor and a private elevator to his suite at the next-door Carlyle Hotel. Next day, she returned to California
According to Thompson, the gala was to mark the end of their interactions after the actress heard from the President’s camp she would never see JFK and she must never try to contact him again.
The famous performance was one of Monroe’s last major public appearances before her death nearly three months later on August 4, 1962.
Both Kim and Marilyn have leaned into their sexy personas though – both appearing nude on the centrefold of playboy. The very first issue of Playboy featured Monroe as the cover girl.
That famous photograph by Tom Kelley, with Monroe on red velvet cloth, was purchased by Hugh Hefner, and taken years before the 1953 issue. Cementing his status as a playboy forever, Hefner was buried in the plot next to to Marilyn at the Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
Kim also posed for the magazine in 2007 – but later said she regretted it and was ‘made to feel uncomfortable’.
LACK OF ACCEPTANCE FROM THE A-LIST
While they both became the most famous women of their time – both Kim and Marilyn struggled to accepted by the A-list.
The famous dress worn by both women, was purchased by Marilyn herself for $1,440.
They were said to be concerned about her image following the emergence of nude photographs taken of the actress in 1949, when she was desperate for money after being released from contracts with both 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures.
But according to Mackie, the star ‘really didn’t care’ about their view – having recently been fired from the romantic comedy Something’s Got to Give by 20th Century Fox.
Monroe was met with gasps from the 15,000 audience when she removed her white fur coat to reveal her translucent dress at the event, which doubled as a fundraising gala for the Democratic Party.
While they both became the most famous women of their time – both Kim and Marilyn struggled to accepted by the A-list.
Anna Wintour and Kim Kardashian are pictured at Kanye West Yeezy Season 2 during New York Fashion Week in 2015
Kennedy joked after Monroe’s performance that he could ‘retire after having had ‘Happy Birthday’ sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way.’
Despite her starring role in the evening, Marilyn bought five tickets – at $1000 a head- to the gala event, because it was the only way to guarantee an invite to the private supper afterwards.
Described by one journalist as ‘making love to the President in the direct view of 40 million Americans’ – her provocative performance further increased speculation they were having an affair.
Similarly, Kim struggled to be accepted by the A-list. Her first time at the Met Gala was for PUNK: Chaos to Couture in 2013. She was pregnant with North and wore a floral print dress from Givenchy.
The California native said that she was not invited but rather was Kanye’s plus one. Sadly, after the gala she ‘cried’ because she was so insecure about everything, and saw memes comparing her to a sofa and Mrs Doubtfire.
‘2013 Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy.
‘I was Kanye’s plus one and so nervous! I didn’t know anyone and I’m sure no one wanted me there lol,’ she tweeted.
‘I did my own lipstick & the color is so off. I went home & cried after of insecurity but this is one of my fave looks now,’ said the TV vet.
There were rumours for years that Anna Wintour had banned the Kardashians from the event, but just a year later Kim and Kanye were on the cover of Vogue.
‘DUMB’ PERSONAS DESPITE HIGH IQs AND A FORAY INTO POLITICS
Despite her ‘dumb blonde’ persona Marilyn had a library with more than 400 books. She’s often quoted to have an IQ of 168 but there’s no evidence she was ever formerly tested.
The actress never graduated high school, but she did focus on self improvement and development throughout her life focusing on literature, art, drama, biography, poetry, politics, history, theology, philosophy, and psychology according to Scott Fortner, expert on Marilyn Monroe and curator of MarilynMonroeCollection.com.
This saw a foray into politics. When she married Arthur Miller in 1956 her roots as a working class girl bloomed into political fervour. In the sixties, she became a founding member of the Hollywood branch of the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy and was elected as an alternate delegate to the state’s Democratic caucus.
Despite her ‘dumb blonde’ persona Marilyn had a library with more than 400 books. She’s often quoted to have an IQ of 168 but there’s no evidence she was ever formerly tested.
Similarly, Kim Kardashian was famed for her ‘dumb’ persona in her early career, but is now praised for her business brains and is studying to become a lawyer. She is pictured at the White House
Kim has made her passion for criminal justice reform public, going to the White House to lobby former President Trump to release Alice Johnson (pictured together) a first time non-violent offender who was sentenced for life.
Her pro-Castro views on Cuba and support for the civil rights movement got the attention of the FBI who were worried about her friendships with known American left-wingers and communists.
Similarly, Kim Kardashian was famed for her ‘dumb’ persona in her early career, but is now praised for her business brains and is studying to become a lawyer.
The Kardashians star passed the ‘baby bar’ – which is officially known as the First-Year Law Students’ Examination – in December and admitted she has ‘never worked so hard’ on anything but it was worthwhile because she wants to continue following her passion for criminal justice reform.
‘The experience taught me so much and I’ve never worked so hard on something in my life,’ Kim told Vogue Hong Kong on a recent cover story.
‘I’m very passionate about Criminal Justice Reform and I want to advocate for those who I feel they were wrongfully convicted.’
Kim has made her passion for criminal justice reform public, going to the White House to lobby former President Trump to release Alice Johnson a first time non-violent offender who was sentenced for life.
She’s also worked with Cut 50 and REFORM Alliance. Kim began a four-year apprenticeship at a law firm in San Francisco in 2018. Kim’s late father Robert was a lawyer who famously joined O.J. Simpson’s defence team during his murder trial in 1995.
… BUT VERY DIFFERENT UPBRINGINGS AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH WEALTH
Despite similar paths in life, Marilyn grew up with a single mother and bounced between foster homes, while Kim grew up wealthy surrounded by many siblings.
Kim was famously close to her dad, who died in 2003 aged 59, Kim was just 23 at the time.
Marilyn however, didn’t know her father and her mother Gladys was in and out of psychiatric facilities.
Despite similar paths in life, Marilyn grew up with a single mother and bounced between foster homes, while Kim grew up wealthy surrounded by many siblings.
Kim, now with homes in Hidden Hills, Beverly Hills, Calabasas and Palm Springs is worth $1.8bn, according to Forbes.
Her wealth is mostly due to her successful businesses – KKW beauty and shapewear brand SKIMS.
And despite being one of the biggest actresses of her time, Marilyn a much more humble net worth of around $370,000 (about $3.5 million today) at the time of her death.
At her peak, she was worth about $800,000, approximately $7 million today but didn’t invest any more, and spent thousands on clothing, jewellery and homes throughout LA.
A $4.8million wisp of fabric that’s still wowing 60 years on! ‘Naked dress’ worn by Marilyn Monroe to sing Happy Birthday to JFK was taken off display at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not for Kim Kardashian to wear to the Met Gala
Six decades after Marilyn Monroe stole the show at Madison Square Gardens with her version of Happy Birthday, her legendary nude dress has been thrust back into the spotlight.
The dazzling gown, worn by Kim Kardashian at last night’s MET Gala, was last worn publicly in 1962 when Monroe took to the stage to celebrate President John F. Kennedy’s birthday.
Despite the audience of thousands at the gala, the icon’s sultry performance seemed directed only at the President, fuelling rumours of a secret affair between the two.
The mesh and marquisette dress, embellished with 6,000 crystals, remained part of Monroe’s estate until her friend Anna Strasberg enlisted Christie’s to sell it in 1999.
It was auctioned again in 2016 and was bought by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum in Florida where it’s been on display until Kim Kardashian had the idea of wearing the ‘original naked dress’ to this year’s Met Gala.
The gown was so form hugging that Marilyn had to be sewn into it, and Kim has raised eyebrows by admitting she went on a crash diet to lose 16lbs in three weeks because it didn’t fit her.
The mesh and marquisette dress, embellished with 6,000 crystals, was so form hugging that Marilyn had to be sewn into it and according to Kardashian became the ‘original naked dress’
After selling for at Julien’s, the dress was put on display by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum and was lent to Kim Kardashian – who made history by being the only person besides Marilyn to ever wear the iconic dress in 40 years
Marilyn made the choice to step out in the dress despite knowing the seductive garment wouldn’t go down well with her employers following her previous nude calendar scandal.
The first sketch of the dress was the debut project by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, who aged 21 had left Chouinard Art Institute to work for French costume designer Jean Louis.
Speaking ahead of the dress’ auction at Julien’s, Mackie said: ‘My job working with Jean Louis was my first job I booked in Hollywood when I was just out of school.
‘That was the first time I had ever been involved in a dress like that. Since then I’ve done probably millions of them.
Despite the audience of thousands at the gala, the sex icon’s sultry performance seemed directed only at the President, fuelling rumours of a secret affair between the two
‘That kind of dress, the illusion of being naked, thinking you can see something but you really can’t. It was magical and it was simple. It was simple, yet so powerful.
‘It was Marilyn, Marylin was used to being naked she didn’t care and she looked amazing. Nobody had ever seen Marilyn in person like that, it was unbelievable.’
The garment was inspired by costumes created by Louis for Marlene Dietrich and her cabaret act in the 1950s and 60s and was crafted by acclaimed designer himself.
Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions, revealed before the dress’ auction in 2016 that Monroe had asked Louis to make her something ‘truly historical’.
‘She wanted the wow factor, to show the world how good she was looking’, he said. ‘She had lost weight recently and she really was feeling good and she wanted to show that off to the world.’
Mackie, who has since found fame working with high profile clients including Judy Garland and Lucille Ball, claimed that her employers, Fox Studios, were hesitant about letting the star dress too revealingly in films.
Actress Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday at the Democratic rally for President John F. Kennedy’s birthday in 1962 three months before her death
It was auctioned again in 2016 and was bought by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum in Florida where it’s been on display until Kim Kardashian had the idea of wearing the ‘original naked dress’ to this year’s Met Gala
Monroe purchased the bespoke gown for $1,440 and from Bob Mackie told Vogue that after giving the sketch to Louis he had ‘no idea what it was for until photos of the event appeared in the newspaper’.
They were said to be concerned about her image following the emergence of nude photographs taken of the actress in 1949, when she was desperate for money after being released from contracts with both 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures.
But according to Mackie, the star ‘really didn’t care’ about their view – having recently been fired from the romantic comedy Something’s Got to Give by 20th Century Fox.
Monroe was met with gasps from the 15,000 audience when she removed her white fur coat to reveal her translucent dress at the event, which doubled as a fundraising gala for the Democratic Party.
Kennedy joked after Monroe’s performance that he could ‘retire after having had ‘Happy Birthday’ sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way.’
Despite her starring role in the evening, Marilyn bought five tickets – at $1000 a head- to the gala event, because it was the only way to guarantee an invite to the private supper afterwards.
Described by one journalist as ‘making love to the President in the direct view of 40 million Americans’ – her provocative performance further increased speculation they were having an affair.
Monroe was met with gasps from the 15,000 audience when she removed her white fur coat to reveal her translucent dress at the event, which doubled as a fundraising gala for the Democratic Party
Kennedy joked after Monroe’s performance that he could ‘retire after having had ‘Happy Birthday’ sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way’
According to Douglas Thompson in his recent book, Marilyn danced five times with JFK’s brother Bobby, the U.S. Attorney-General, at the post-gala party in a New York penthouse suite.
But she left with President Kennedy and went via a basement corridor and a private elevator to his suite at the next-door Carlyle Hotel. Next day, she returned to California
According to Thompson, the gala was to mark the end of their interactions after the actress heard from the President’s camp she would never see JFK and she must never try to contact him again.
The famous performance was one of Monroe’s last major public appearances before her death nearly three months later on August 4, 1962.
In 1999, gown was sold by Christie’s Auction in New York for $1,267,500. In 2016, California-based Julien’s Auctions sold the dress for $4.8million.
‘The dress is so much more than just an item of clothing,’ said Nolan before the dress’ auction in 2016. ‘It’s historical, it’s political, it’s a work of art. It’s Hollywood, it’s Marilyn Monroe. It’s the Kennedys.
After selling at Julien’s, the dress was put on display by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum and was lent to Kardashian – who made history by being the only person besides Marilyn to ever wear the iconic dress in 40 years
‘It’s everything wrapped up into one piece of fabric soufflé gauze … This dress, this story, this momentous occasion represents a defining moment in history.’
After selling at Julien’s, the dress was put on display by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum and was lent to Kardashian – who made history by being the only person besides Marilyn to ever wear the iconic dress in 40 years.
‘This is Marilyn Monroe’s dress. It’s sixty years old. I had this idea to put it on and try it on. They came with armed guards and gloves. I tried it on and it didn’t fit me. I had to lose 16 pounds,’ she said on the red carpet.
‘I was determined to fit it… I did it…’ adding that she hasn’t eaten carbs or sugar for three weeks and also dyed her hair blonde.
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