Los Angeles, Jun 15 (IANS): Reality star Kim Kardashian is facing the heat of public ire as photos showing alleged damage to the iconic Marilyn Monroe dress that the former sported at the Met Gala on May 2 have gone viral on the Internet, reports 'Variety'.

Kardashian struck a deal with 'Ripley's Believe It or Not' to wear the gold "Happy Birthday" dress, which has been valued at nearly $5 million, to the star-studded fashion event. According to 'Variety', the decision was met with pushback, initially because of Kardashian's comments about losing weight for the event.

Professional conservators at the time also spoke out, saying it was ill-advised to wear any clothing item with so much history, no matter the reason or the person. "I'm frustrated because it sets back what is considered professional treatment for historic costume," one conservator told the 'L.A. Times'.

'Variety' further states that the new photos and videos of the dress were taken by creative director Chad Michael Christian Morrisette, who has a history of assisting in the archiving of the dress, at Ripley's Hollywood, where the dress is currently housed. Morrisette wrote on Instagram, "This dress is a piece of my life and my heart. To see what @kimkardashian did in the damaging of it is heartbreaking," adding the hashtags #nationaltreasure, #howdareyou, #ego, #greed and #thief.

The Marilyn Monroe Collection accompanied its posts about the dress with a number of quotes about the decision to let Kardashian wear it, including from Amanda Joiner, vice president of licensing and publishing at Ripley Entertainment.

Joiner said in a statement to the 'Daily Beast', "The dress was never with Kim alone. It was always with a Ripley's representative. We always ensured that at any time we felt that the dress was in danger of ripping or we felt uncomfortable about anything, we always had the ability to be able to say we were not going to continue with this."