Kim Kardashian Responds to Marilyn Monroe Dress Damage Claims

Kim Kardashian has spoken up on what really happened to the supposedly damaged Marilyn Monroe dress she wore to this year's Met Gala.

"It was such a process," the SKIMS founder defended on Tuesday’s (June 21) episode of Today. "I showed up to the red carpet in a robe and slippers and I put the dress on at the bottom of the carpet, went up the stairs. I probably had it on for three minutes -- four minutes, and then I changed right at the top of the stairs."

Kardashian added, "Ripley’s [and I] worked together so well. There were handlers in gloves that put it on me."

She also defended her extreme 16-pound weight loss diet it took for her to fit into the dress, and maintains it taught her about being healthier. "I looked at it like a role and I really wanted to wear this dress. It was really important to me. It actually taught me a lot about my lifestyle and my health. Since then, I continued to eat really healthy, I'm down 21 pounds 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 even realize it -- a lot of fried foods, and I just completely changed my lifestyle."

Twitter had a field day bashing Kim Kardashian for wearing Marilyn Monroe's iconic “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress at this year's Met Gala when they saw a side-by-side comparison of the before and after.

As we earlier reported, Kim said that she struggled with getting into the dress. “I had this idea to try it on and then they came with armed guards and gloves,” Kim told Vogue at the Met Gala. “I tried it on and it didn’t fit me. I said, ‘Give me three weeks.’ I had to lose 16 pounds down today.”

“It was such a challenge. It was like a [movie] role. I was determined to fit it,” the SKIMS founder continued. “I haven’t had carbs or sugar in about three weeks. We’re having pizza and donut party back at the hotel.”

Kardashian faced backlash about her dramatic weight loss to fit in the dress last month, and now, a Marilyn Monroe collector is criticizing Kardashian and Ripley’s (where the dress was displayed), sharing pictures of the dress's fabric being stressed and missing crystals.

The Marilyn Monroe Collection wrote on an Instagram post Monday, "Ripley’s said it did try to protect the dress: 'We basically had many conversations with Kim and her team and put a lot of requirements in place with security and with the handling of the dress,' Amanda Joiner, a vice president of licensing and publishing at Ripley’s, said to the Daily Beast. 'The dress was never with Kim alone. It was always with a Ripley’s representative. We always ensured that at any time we felt that the dress was in danger of ripping or we felt uncomfortable about anything, we always had the ability to be able to say we were not going to continue with this.'"

Per Joiner, “We had to make some decisions as far as whether or not we were willing to let Kim borrow the dress. We did two different fittings with her. The first one was in L.A. in April and then the second one later in April to see whether or not the dress would fit. The biggest challenge that we had is that we really wanted to make sure that we kept the integrity of the dress and the preservation, because it’s 60 years old, and we feel that it’s such an iconic piece of fashion, both from a historical perspective, but also from a pop culture perspective.”

See what Twitter had to say about Kim Kardashian's damage to the historical dress below: