Two weeks after her showdown with a Project Runway contestant made headlines, Karlie Kloss is speaking out regarding the contestant’s now-famous clapback about her in-laws, the Kushner family.
“Well, listen, I was honored to be one of the first memes of the decade,” the model, 27, revealed on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on Thursday, January 17.
During the January 2 episode of the Bravo reality competition, the contestants were tasked with designing a look for Kloss, who also hosts the show. Fashion guru Brandon Maxwell, one of the judges, told contestant Tyler Neasloney that he couldn’t see Kloss wearing Neasloney’s design anywhere.
“Not even to dinner with the Kushners?” Neasloney, 29, fired back as the other contestants gasped and winced. Kloss, 27, is married to Joshua Kushner, younger brother of Jared Kushner, who’s a son-in-law and senior advisor of President Donald Trump.
In the episode, the comment rendered Kloss momentarily speechless. Once she recovered, she narrowed her eyes at Neasloney and told him to “keep it to the challenge.”
Neasloney was eliminated in that week’s episode, and he cleared the air with Kloss before he left. “Karlie, I want you to know that I’m not a jerk,” he told the host. “I’m professional, so what I said earlier had no hidden agenda, no meaning, no, like, nothing like that.”
On Thursday’s WWHL, Kloss, who was wearing a Victor Glemaud dress, laughed off the tense moment. “Honestly, the real tragedy of this whole thing is that nobody is talking about how terrible that dress was,” she told host Andy Cohen. “That’s why he went home. And no, I would not wear that dress to any dinner.”
When Cohen, 51, pressed the former Victoria’s Secret Angel about her in-laws, she said, “Andy, I’m sure I’m not the only person in this country who does not necessarily agree with their family on politics.”
She went on: “I met my man in 2012. I was 19 years old. It was 2012. It was a different world. And my man and I have been through a lot together, and I’m so proud that he’s my partner. It’s not been easy, but it’s worth it, and I would make that same decision a million times again.”
