Just a Thought, Maybe We Shouldn't Be Celebrating Kim Kardashian's Rapid Weight Loss for the Met Gala

Aw, the Met Gala. My favorite night of the year. I don’t care for many of the big nights in Hollywood, but the Met is everything a melodramatic libra with a penchant for art and design could want. The theatrics, textiles, drama, culture, and history – I haven’t missed the Met Gala in years. 

One of the Met’s participants who consistently delivers is Kim Kardashian. Love her or hate her, her Mugler dress from 2019’s event still lives rent free in my mind. Her takes on the themes are always smart and fashionable, and that’s why this year I was incredibly disappointed. It’s not in what she wore, but it’s what she had to do to wear it.

ICYMI, Kim donned Marilyn Monroe’s i-con-ic “Happy Birthday Mr. President” dress originally made by Jean Louis for John F. Kennedy’s 1962 birthday fundraiser. It’s detailed with over 2,000 hand stitched crystals and it’s absolutely stunning. (Source: NBC News)

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Is the dress everything? Of course, however what disturbs me is the extreme dieting, intentional rapid weight loss, and working out she claims to have done to fit into the dress in the three weeks leading up to the Gala. This behavior sets a scary example, and is exceedingly dangerous for people who don’t have trainers, nutritionists, and a whole health team on call to make sure you’re doing the not great thing in the “best” way.

As someone with an eating disorder, this scares me for multiple reasons. 

I’ve seen people on Twitter heralding Kim for what she did, and that’s concerning, not inspiring. It’s simply bleak and I fear a part of the foreshadowing of the return of the Y2K extreme skinny diet culture, emphasized by Kim also vocalizing how unhappy she became with having a curvier body (yes, the same curvy body she intentionally bought that catapulted her to fame). Not to mention she did all that dieting just to take a photo in Marilyn’s dress before stepping into a replica of it. Not that it matters, but she didn’t even wear the dress all night. (Source: People)

Growing up in the early 2000’s means I grew up directly in overly accessible diet culture. My first experience with body dysmorphia was when I was ten years old looking in the mirror. I knew every diet rule you could think of and actively participated at a young age, obviously not knowing I was on a very dangerous path. I’m genuinely afraid for people, regardless of age, to see this and follow suit or think it’s OK. It’s not. Point blank.

Please, I beg of you. Don’t celebrate Kim’s recent diet and weight loss. Sure, she may be happy with it and it’s her body, but it sets a very negative (not to mention super triggering) example for all the people watching and listening. 

Pete looked great though. He gave “I’m just happy to be here” vibes. Love that for him.