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Kim Kardashian faced quite a bit of controversy over her Met Gala look this year, but she was determined to wear Marilyn Monroe‘s dress no matter what.
On Thursday’s episode of The Kardashians on Hulu, Kim started her long journey to achieving her vision for fashion’s biggest night and wearing Monroe’s actual dress.
In the episode, aptly titled “What’s more American than Marilyn Monroe?,” fans got a peek at the process the reality star went through to wear the iconic dress, which Monroe originally donned in 1962 to serenade then-President John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday.
When a replica arrived at her house, Kim told her team, “If this does not fit me, I can’t even try the original. So I’ve Googled her measurements, I’m looking at my measurements.”
To the camera, the 42-year-old SKIMS founder explained that because of the width of her shoulders, she could “squeeze into anything.”
“No one trusted us; for years, they 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 in our stuff.’ So I don’t know how to convince the guy who owns the original Marilyn dress that I’m a shapeshifter,” she said.
RELATED: Kim Kardashian Defends Losing 16 Lbs. in Order to Wear Marilyn Monroe’s Dress to 2022 Met Gala
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Kim also explained that she had no other option if the dress didn’t work: “The backup plan is that I’ll be in my SKIMS pajamas, at home, eating.”
When the dress fit with room to spare, Kim said she was totally confident. “I bet the fabric shrunk a little bit over time, but like, the dress will fit,” she said. “I’m one step closer to bringing my vision to life.”
In a confessional, Kim said she learned a valuable lesson after wearing her head-to-toe black Balenciaga ensemble as she arrived in New York City ahead of the Met Gala.
“Ever since I did the Balenciaga look with the face mask and covered from head to toe, it changed the way that I feel about just looking pretty on a red carpet. Especially for the Met. It’s not just about looking pretty. It has to be a story, it has to be a whole vibe. And this dress is such a good story,” she explained.
RELATED VIDEO: Kim Kardashian Says She’s Lost 21 Lbs. Since Before Met Gala: ‘Completely Changed My Lifestyle’
At lunch with her sisters Khloé Kardashian and Kourtney Kardashian, Kim gave them an update — the real dress came, and it didn’t fit at all.
“They just pulled the whole thing from me. And I’m fuming,” she said.
Footage showed Kim trying on the actual dress, and it was a bit of a contrast to the prototype that had gotten her so excited.
“When I went to put it on it wouldn’t even go on over my hips, and I was just, like, devastated,” she told her sisters. In the clip, she talked to her team, saying, “You know what, I’ll try everything, and if I really get 10 pounds down, then we’ll try it again.”
She also told her sisters she wouldn’t attend the Met Gala at all if she couldn’t have the dress.
“I wrote them a groveling, begging email,” Kim said, referring to the owners of Monroe’s dress. “They were very firm. I just found that out today, so I’m devastated.”
RELATED: Ripley’s Denies That Kim Kardashian Caused Damage to Marilyn Monroe’s Dress at the Met Gala
Matt Baron/Shutterstock Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson at the 2022 Met Gala
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Kim’s determination to get to the Met Gala kicked into high gear once she noted that she only had “about three weeks to fit into this dress.”
“I’m gonna do every last thing that I can to try to make this happen,” Kim said over footage of her hitting the gym. “It’s gonna be really hard. I’m gonna have to eat so clean and so perfect and cut out sugar, which is so hard for me.”
Her intensity continued. “And please let me try it on again,” she said. “I’m not gonna take no for an answer.”
Kim eventually met her goal, and she wore the champagne gown to the Met Gala in May. She told Vogue on the red carpet that she’d indeed stuck to a dramatic diet to get into the dress. “I tried it on and it didn’t fit me. I said, ‘Give me three weeks.’ I had to lose 16 pounds down today,” Kim admitted.
“It was such a challenge. It was like a [movie] role. I was determined to fit [into] it. I haven’t had carbs or sugar in about three weeks. We’re having pizza and donut party back at the hotel [after the Met Gala],” she added.
But beyond criticism for the harsh diet Kim followed to fit into Monroe’s dress, she was also criticized for even wearing the piece of history in the first place. Designer Bob Mackie, who sketched the dress to be created by Jean Louis, told Entertainment Weekly that he didn’t approve of Kim wearing the dress to the gala.
“I thought it was a big mistake,” Mackie told the outlet after the Met Gala. “[Marilyn] was a goddess. A crazy goddess, but a goddess. She was just fabulous. Nobody photographs like that. And it was done for her. It was designed for her,” he argued. “Nobody else should be seen in that dress.”
Historians also complained about Kim wearing the dress on the carpet and potentially damaging such an iconic piece of history. Monroe expert and historian Scott Fortner told PEOPLE that Monroe’s dress “fit her perfectly. The gown worn by anyone else will not be a precise fit. In this case, Kim Kardashian’s measurements are somewhat different than Marilyn’s. It’s logically assumed the fabric and seams were stressed.”
