Kim Kardashian claims people ‘didn’t know’ who Marilyn Monroe was before she wore her dress

The dress was first worn in 1962

Kardashian reportedly lost 16lbs to fit into Monroe's famous "Happy Birthday Mr President" dress, which later sparked a debate about whether she had damaged it. The reality TV star denies this.

While appearing on NBC's Today Show, the 43-year-old said she was shocked at how many people knew nothing about the actress.

"We were just talking, you said you were shocked on TikTok, some people don't even know who Marilyn Monroe was," said host Savannah Guthrie.

In response, the mother of four said: "That was the most shocking thing to me and that's why I was so happy to at least have that opportunity and that Ripley's gave me the opportunity to share this moment so that it could live on."

The famous dress was worn by Monroe in Madison Square Garden in 1962, just three months before her death. While President John F. Kennedy branded her rendition of Happy Birthday as "wholesome", a large number of people thought it was inappropriate.

Kardashian has been slammed for choosing to wear the one-of-a-kind dress, with many suggesting she was only doing it for the clout. But as she told Guthrie, she understands "how much this dress means to American history."

"With the theme being American, I thought what is more American than Marilyn Monroe singing 'Happy Birthday' to the president of the United States," she explained.

Regardless of her intentions, many experts have criticised the social media maven.

"You can't even handle a dress like that without damaging it in some way, let alone wear it, so it was inevitable that there was going to be significant damage just by even wearing it on the red carpet," Dr Kate Strasdin told the BBC.

"There will have been oils in her skin, there will have been all of that chemical reaction with a silk that is fragile."