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Topics: Food and Drink, Kim Kardashian, Fashion, Health
Daisy Phillipson
Kim Kardashian has revealed that the diet she went on to slip into the Marilyn Monroe dress as the Met Gala gave her psoriatic arthritis.
The reality TV star admitted she lost 16 pounds in just three weeks in order to fit into the gown, which was famously worn by the late Hollywood star when she sang Happy Birthday to President John F Kennedy.
Because the dress in question is a priceless piece of American history, it couldn't be altered for Kim and so she went on a short but strict weight loss journey, which meant switching from her usual vegan diet to eating meat again.
Speaking to Allure about the event, the 41-year-old said: “It was a roller coaster of emotions. To even find the dress was a feat, and then to get them to allow me to wear the dress was another feat.
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“You have [to wear] gloves and there are guards and you had to put down special paper. I think [the dresser] was shaking because if anything rips, if anything goes wrong, you know? This is Marilyn’s dress. And it absolutely did not fit.”
“Two weeks before [the Met Gala], I was 10 pounds down and I was so proud of myself. Then I got down 15 [pounds] and it fit. I couldn’t believe it.”
But losing well over a stone in such a short space of time came with some serious consequences, causing Kim’s psoriasis to flare up.
“Psoriasis broke out over my body and I got psoriatic arthritis so I couldn’t really move my hands,” she told the outlet. “It was really painful, and I had to go to a rheumatologist who put me on a steroid. I was freaking out. I cut out the meat again, and it’s calmed down.”
Psoriatic arthritis is a condition that affects some people who have psoriasis, and it typically causes affected joints to become swollen, stiff and painful.
Addressing the backlash to the dramatic weight loss, she added: “If I was starving and doing it really unhealthy, I would say that, of course, that’s not a good message.
“But I had a nutritionist, I had a trainer. I have never drunk more water in my life. I don’t see the criticism for other people when they lost weight for roles – they are [considered] geniuses for their craft.”
However, experts have said there is no safe, healthy way to lose 16 pounds in three weeks, suggesting that people looking to diet should aim to lose no more than 1.5 to 2 pounds per week.
Alongside the diet, Kim faced backlash for wearing the dress in public, with Monroe expert Michelle Morgan roasting curators at the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum, where the dress was being kept, for allowing it to happen.
"I am extremely disappointed to see this 60-year-old, iconic dress being worn in public," the author of The Girl: Marilyn Monroe, the Seven Year Itch, and the Birth of an Unlikely Feminist told The New York Post.
"The gown is extremely fragile and has been previously kept in temperature-controlled conditions, but now here it is, not only being worn, but also in a red carpet environment, where anything could have happened to it."
Adding to this, Dr Justine De Young, professor of fashion history at the Fashion Institute of Technology, told People that Kim was 'irresponsible' for wearing it.
"She can – and did – commission a replica which would be indistinguishable from the original. Such an iconic piece of American history should not be put at risk of damage just for an ego-boost and photo-op.”
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