‘She stands for nothing’: Kim Kardashian slammed for wearing Marilyn Monroe’s iconic dress
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Kim Kardashian should not be compared to the legendary Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe because she "stands for nothing", said the late actress's renowned biographer and journalist Anthony Summers recently after the reality star wore the latter's dress to the Met Ball this year.
Summers wrote 'The Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe' which was used for a documentary on the late Hollywood star. Prior to the release of 'Blonde,' a fictionalized account of the star's life starring Ana De Armas on Netflix in September, 'The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes' has been gaining a lot of attention.
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Kim Kardashian raises eyebrows saying people didn't know MARILYN MONROE before she wore her dress
Many people think Kim was on par with Marilyn, but when she borrowed the legendary actress's "naked" dress from the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum in May, she received harsh criticism.
When asked if he believed the SKIMS founder held the same fascination as the iconic star and was the Marilyn Monroe of the millennial generation, Anthony was quick to disagree. He retorted, "I wouldn’t even breathe Kim Kardashian's name in the same sentence as Marilyn Monroe's. So far as I'm concerned, Kardashian stands for nothing worth a damn. And her bad taste in thinking it's glamorous, or something, to wear a dead woman's dress at a public event was enough to make decent people turn away in disgust."
"Marilyn was so much more – not only an increasingly good actress and comedienne but someone who broke real barriers influenced the sexual standards of her era, [she] was loved by millions," he added.
Kim, 41, has long admired the blonde bombshell, and she defended her choice to wear the same sheer dress to the Met Gala that Marilyn wore when she serenaded to JFK. In an interview, the reality star, who refuted claims that she harmed the dress, said, "I respect [Marilyn], and I understand how much this dress means to American history. And with the theme [of the Met Gala] being American, I thought, 'What's more American than Marilyn Monroe singing happy birthday to the President of the United States?'"
Anthony went on to say that he was not a fan of social media, which Kim loves, and that Marilyn, if she were alive today, would not be overly interested in it. "I myself loathe social media, [and] think that – far from bringing people together – it leaves them further apart, electronically alienated. Marilyn Monroe lived in the real world and was one of God’s gifts to it," he said.
In the meantime, the former BBC journalist claimed that regrettably, Marilyn was no longer known for her talent but was instead more of a sex symbol. He had interviewed hundreds of people for his book, which was first published in 1985.
"The notion that the appetite for things Marilyn has grown more and more voracious is true – but only in one sense," he said, adding, "Her image has become a sort of password or promise – of glamor, exotica, etc. So you'll find a Marilyn Monroe restaurant and music venue in Malaysia, an accessories shop dominated by a huge image of Marilyn's face in Turkey, smaller versions of her face on everything from women's handbags to men's ties. But she's now just a symbol – of glamor or sex perhaps. Back in the 1980s and 1990s – it's my impression – more people really knew something about her life and her movies."
"There's no useful way to sum her up. She could be an interesting, humorous, companion. She could be brooding, deeply depressed, drowning in suicidal thoughts. But I do not want to paint her too darkly. This was a different, special person. Those who really knew her loved her. She was at her best perhaps – like many actors – when she did not have to be 'Marilyn Monroe'," Summers added.
Speaking on the 'Some Like it Hot' actress's biography, which also delved into her mysterious death at the age of 36 and rumors that she was murdered, he said it proved to be "timely."
"Right after she died, in the early 1960s, a lot of people who had been close to her did not want to talk. By the 1980s, some of them were themselves getting on a bit in years – and more open to being interviewed. Over two years or more, I interviewed more than 600 people. Did I 'get to know' the real Marilyn Monroe? I'd like to say 'yes', but I'd be lying," he said.
"There were so many layers to her, the Marilyn she showed to the camera, the hardworking Marilyn, the Marilyn who consumed classical literature, wrote poetry, and read up on politics. And, always too, there was the unhappy Marilyn, the tormented creature who – over many years – depended so heavily on her psychiatrists," he said.
The Marilyn documentary delves into the star's final hours before her death at her Brentwood home in Los Angeles from an apparent overdose on sedative pills. Many conspiracy theories surround her well-publicized death on August 5, 1962, as she was thought to have argued with lover Bobby Kennedy just hours before. Researchers believe JFK's brother was present in town at the time of her death, and handlers were dispatched to remove any journals or documents relating to their relationship from her home.
Summers was adamant that she was not murdered by anyone connected to the Kennedys, as some believe, but rather died of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.
"The testimony we have does suggest she was frantic, angry with the President's brother – Attorney General Robert Kennedy – because he was severing her connection to the Kennedys. Marilyn had said she had slept badly the previous night and may have fatally overdosed by mistake. She had had brushes with death on previous occasions because she had swallowed way over the safe dosage of pills. And, more than once in her early years, she had used barbiturates in attempts to kill herself," he said.
"I hope readers of GODDESS today, following the work I’ve recently done for the new edition, will have a better sense of what happened the night Marilyn died," he concluded.