Kim Kardashian‘s prized one-of-a-kind possession — a supposed lock of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe‘s hair — may not be so one-of-a-kind after all! Or at least it may not actually be that of Monroe. But then whose hair is it?!?!
The SKIMS mogul shocked the world earlier this month when she walked the Met Gala red carpet wearing Monroe’s iconic 1962 dress from when the late Hollywood icon delivered her memorable “Happy Birthday Mr. President” performance for then-Commander in Chief John F. Kennedy.
The dress had been loaned to Kim from the folks at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!, who own it and lots of other memorabilia linked to Monroe. At the time, archivists blasted Kim for wearing such an important (and old) piece of fashion history in public, possibly risking damage to the dress at the event.
Related: Bethenny Frankel BLASTS Kim For Publicizing Infamous Met Gala Weight Loss!
Now, we’re learning more about another gift the Ripley’s folks gave Kim — an alleged lock of Marilyn’s hair from the time she was styled prior to the infamous Kennedy performance at Madison Square Garden back in 1962! Late last week, Monroe historian Scott Fortner took to Instagram to explain his suspicions that the lock of hair gifted to the KKW Beauty mogul did not, in fact, belong to Marilyn!
Alleging that “Marilyn Monroe Hair Gifted to Kardashian by Ripley’s is Fake” in the first line of his shocking IG post of the 60-year-old receipts, Fortner focused on two people: hairstylists Robert Champion and Kenneth Battelle. In a screenshot, Fortner showed a display of Monroe’s hair that had apparently been previously authenticated by University Archives founder John Reznikoff. The display claimed that the hair had been cut directly from Monroe’s head by Champion in preparation for her May 19, 1962 performance for JFK.
Fortner called bull s**t on that claim, though, and shared a snap of a decades-old receipt that would seem to indicate it was actually Battelle who styled Monroe’s hair that day! In his Insta allegation about the supposedly misattributed lock of hair, the historian 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’ 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. The receipt, dated May 25, 1962 list a ‘Hair Dress’ and references May 18 and 19, 1962. May 19th was the date of the Kennedy gala. The bottom the receipt reads, ‘Kenneth Services at home Fri + Saturday.’ Marilyn paid $150.00 for the service.”
Whoa! Shading the whole situation, Fortner added:
“So, I think we have to now wonder: Just who’s hair is [Kim] actually sleeping with?”
Ouch!
Here is the historian’s full claim (below):
Per People, reps for Ripley’s haven’t commented on the alleged misattribution yet.
Still, it’s pretty shocking to see there’s an apparently legitimate uncertainty about whether this lock of hair really belonged to Marilyn. History’s mysteries, or something! Reactions, Perezcious readers?! What do y’all think about this claim?? What do you think KIM thinks about this claim??
Sound OFF with your take down in the comments (below)…
[Image via MEGA/WENN]
