Kim Kardashian Was More Nervous About the Met Gala Than Her Own Wedding

"I feel this sense of pressure, responsibility," Kim said.

The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes On Fashion - Arrivals
(Image credit: Karwai Tang)

You might expect Kim Kardashian, perhaps the most photographed woman in the world, to be somewhat immune to the terror of a thousand cameras snapping at every possible angle. Not so, it turns out: in a new teaser clip for Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kim revealed her extreme nerves before this year's Met Gala, an event she called even more "nerve-wracking" then her own wedding. 

The newly-released clip follows Kim plus Kendall and Kylie Jenner as they prepare for the 2019 Met Gala, as People reports. Kim, who's getting her hair done, her makeup perfected, and her dress carefully fastened over her corset all at the same time, is—unsurprisingly—feeling the stress. "It’s the morning of the Met, and I just keep on saying, 'I don’t know why I have such anxiety for the Met, I feel this sense of pressure, responsibility,'" she says in a cutaway. 

"This is like, probably as nerve-wracking as my wedding, like, I don’t know why I get so nervous for the Met," she later adds, talking to her makeup artist. "Maybe even more so, just cause there’s pictures from every single angle."

Another layer of pressure for Kim: for the gala, she wore a custom Thierry Mugler dress, the first he personally created in over two decades. "It’s like a huge responsibility for me because he, I’m sure, after not designing for 20 years, wants it to be something magical and special and new, and I just want it to be perfect," she says in the clip.

On the red carpet back in May, Kim echoed that sentiment, telling E! News' Zuri Hall, "[Mugler] hasn't designed in 20 years, so to come and design this gown for me is such an honor. This is about eight months in the making." She explained the concept behind her look: "He just envisioned me this California girl stepping out of the ocean, on the red carpet, wet, dripping, that is the vibe tonight."

One more reason for Kim to be so chewed up before the Met Gala: the dress—or more specifically, the corset underneath—caused her actual physical discomfort. "I have never felt pain like that in my life," she told the Wall Street Journal in a July feature. "I’ll have to show you pictures of the aftermath when I took it off—the indentations on my back and my stomach." 

Little wonder, then, that in the new KUWTK clip, Kim asks her glam team to say a prayer for her. "Dear God, please help Kim to breathe and be calm and to look her absolute most gorgeous she’s ever looked in her entire life this evening," they oblige. "She can breathe and she will hold her piss in, Amen." Which, coincidentally, is the exact same prayer I say every time I get on the subway in summer!

For more stories like this, including celebrity news, beauty and fashion advice, savvy political commentary, and fascinating features, sign up for the Marie Claire newsletter.

subscribe here

RELATED STORIES

2018 LACMA Art + Film Gala - Arrivals

(Image credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin)
Emily Dixon
Morning Editor

Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.