Kim Kardashian was given a lock of Marilyn Monroe’s hairby Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! as a special gift for wearing Marilyn’s iconic dress to The Met Gala, and it’s causing all kinds of drama. Mostly because a Marilyn Monroe expert is out here claiming that the lock of hair isn’t actually real.
First of all, here’s the video of Kim receiving the gift. It’s a lot!
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But Marilyn Monroe historian Scott Fortner claims the hair is fake, writing on Instagram “News Alert: Marilyn Monroe Hair Gifted to Kardashian by Ripley’s is Fake. Who styled Marilyn’s hair for the JFK gala: Robert Champion or Kenneth Battelle?”
He then shared a screenshot from Ripley’s website (they’ve since updated this page, BTW), which showed a photo Marilyn’s hair with the claim that it was cut by hairstylist Robert Champion before Marilyn’s iconic performance of “Happy Birthday Mr President.”
But as Scott wrote, “News Flash: Robert Champion did not cut and style Marilyn’s hair for the JFK gala. It was actually the one and only ‘Mr. Kenneth’ (Battelle) who had the honors. Battelle is responsible for Marilyn’s famous hairstyle from that night, as documented by a receipt from Lilly Dache Beauty Salon.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdMAlf3vnXp/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading
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Yikes! But it looks like Ripley’s is doubling down, because they released a statement to People saying “Ripley’s exhibit collection contains six different samples of Marilyn Monroe’s hair — all authenticated and truly Marylin’s. The hair gifted to Kim was given by Marilyn Monroe to Robert Champion. This clipping was authenticated by John Reznikoff, one of the most respected and trusted experts in the field of hair collecting.”
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