Why A Historian Thinks Marilyn Monroe's Hair Gifted To Kim Kardashian Was Fake
It seems Kim Kardashian may have gotten a 'fake' lock of Marilyn Monroe's hair.
Instagram Kim Kardashian wearing Marilyn Monroe’s dress at the 2022 Met Gala is still the topic of discussion among fans.
By now, we all know that Kardashian only wore Monroe’s dress for a couple of minutes on the red carpet. After that, she changed into a replica made by "Ripley’s Believe It Or Not" Museum.
Along with letting Kardashian wear Monroe’s dress, the museum also presented her with a lock of Monroe’s hair. "Ripley’s Believe It Or Not" Museum posted a video of Kardashian receiving a lock of Monroe’s platinum blonde hair in a tiny box.
Kardashian seemed honored to receive such a gift from the museum, however, it may not have been Monroe’s real hair.
Did Kim Kardashian receive a 'fake' lock of Marilyn Monroe's hair?
Collector, Scott Fortner thinks Marilyn Monroe’s hair that was gifted to Kim Kardashian was fake and has raised questions about "Ripley's" claims about the lock.
Fortner is a collector who often authenticates Marilyn Monroe’s items and owns the website called, 'The Marilyn Monroe Collection'.
Fortner points to a now-edited description on the "Ripley’s Believe It Or Not" website that mentioned that the hair lock cut by Robert Champion and authenticated by John Reznikoff, an expert in the field of hair collecting.
The website claims that Robert Champion cut the hair before Monroe’s performance at JFK’s birthday celebration, however, according to Fortner, that is not the case at all.
Fortner included a screenshot of a receipt that proves that Monroe’s hair was cut by Kenneth Battelle at the Lilly Dache Beauty Salon before the event.
He also revealed that Paul Fraser Collectibles sold the lock of hair that was cut by Robert Champion back in 2019 with a description.
The hair Kim Kardashian received may be from a different occasion.
Fortner wrote in his post, “One could assume the hair given to [Kim Kardashian] was part of this lot of hair that was cut by Robert Champion ‘just prior to her MSG performance’”.
In a follow-up post, Fortner explains that Batelle was famous for the hairstyling he did for Jackie Kennedy and Lucille Ball.
"He visited Marilyn in her East 57th street apartment on May 18th and May 19th, 1962, in preparation for the JFK gala," Fortner wrote. In addition to the JFK birthday celebration, Batelle did Monroe's hair on several occasions.
Monroe met Batelle in 1958 and often invited him to her house to cut and style her hair.
He also mentioned, “Kenneth is listed in both of Marilyn Monroe’s 1962 phonebooks that I own. Robert Champion, not surprisingly, is not.”
"Ripley’s Believe It Or Not" Museum addressed whether the hair given to Kim Kardashian was fake.
Ripley's shared an Instagram story to clarify that they own six different hair samples from Monroe and the one given to Kardashian was, in fact, gifted by Robert Champion.
Essentially, they are saying that Kardashian was not gift the hair lock Fortner refers to but another one.
Fortner added another updated post which stated that "Ripley’s Believe It Or Not" had removed all references to Robert Champion from their website.
Fortner wrote, “So @ripleysbelieveitornot speaks! ‘[Kim Kardashian] didn’t get THAT Marilyn Monroe hair from her dressing room. [Kim Kardashian] got hair from THIS lock of hair we own (one of six) and the hair we did give her originally came from…ROBERT CHAMPION!’”.
While "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" tried to assure the audience that it was a real piece of Monroe's hair, Fortner further mentioned in the caption that the hair was fake and doesn't belong to Monroe.
Sanika Nalgirkar is a writer who covers entertainment & news, lifestyle, and pop culture topics.