Kelli Garner Talks Being Busty, Johnny Galecki, And Marilyn Monroe Role

Kelli Garner plays a glam goddess who loves to show off her curves in The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, a two-part Lifetime miniseries that begins tonight at 8 p.m. ET. However, Kelli’s closet is full of clothing that Marilyn definitely wouldn’t approve of — it’s possible that she’s even been borrowing pants from The Big Bang Theory star Johnny Galecki.

During an interview with Pret-a-Reporter, the 31-year-old Pan Am star described her style, and it’s much different than Marilyn’s. Instead of playing up her curves, Kelli Garner chooses to hide them beneath baggy, comfortable clothing. She also likes to minimize her bust by wearing sports bras, and she can’t handle wearing the large amount of makeup that Monroe piled on to transform into her sultry sex symbol persona.

“I wear a sports bra a lot,” Garner revealed. “I’m chesty so the more comfortable — high heels, beautiful — but I’m usually in a pointy-toe rocker boot and jeans. And no makeup. Because you already have to wear so much, and for Marilyn, I had to wear so much — it destroys my skin. I don’t have the skin that can handle it.”

According to Garner, she also likes to wear her boyfriend’s clothing. It’s highly unlikely that the secret life of Marilyn Monroe included wearing baggy pants.

“I’m a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl. I love the boyfriend pant. I actually love wearing my boyfriend’s clothes. I love a boy button-down with jeans. I think girls are really sexy in boy clothes, so that’s kind of how I do it.”

So does this mean that Kelli Garner is wearing Johnny Galecki’s clothes? As the Inquisitr previously reported, Johnny and Kelli broke up last August. However, they’ve definitely been spending time together since then. Back in February, Kelli shared an Instagram snapshot of herself and The Big Bang Theory star in a photo booth.

“You’d think he’d know how to ‘find the camera’ by now,” she captioned the photo above.

Garner also mentioned Galecki during a recent interview on The Talk. Johnny’s former Roseanne costar, Sara Gilbert, said that she and Kelli Garner “share a really good friend, Johnny Galecki.” Interestingly, Johnny and Sara also used to date. Sara said that Johnny was “really instrumental” in helping Kelli score the lead role in The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, and Kelli revealed that he actually knew she was up for the part before she did.

“It was funny because he called and said, ‘Hey, congratulations, dear. I hear you’re one of two for this,'” Kelli revealed. “And I hadn’t even gone out for it — I didn’t even know. So it was, like, a really funny moment.”

Kelli Garner went on to say that Johnny Galecki gave her a very Big Bang Theory compliment.

“He thinks I’m a Jedi,” she said. “My biggest fan.”

You can check out her interview below.

Garner might not be as big of a star as Marilyn was, but she’s definitely learned the same tough lesson as the late actress — fame does have its downsides. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Kelli was a victim of the massive leak of celebrity nude photos dubbed “The Fappening.” Johnny Galecki’s Big Bang Theory co-star, Kaley Cuoco, was also targeted by the hackers responsible for the leak. Kaley just so happens to be another of Johnny’s famous ex-girlfriends.

Luckily, the leaked nude photos didn’t scare Kelli Garner from pursuing one of the biggest, most challenging roles of her career. According to Yahoo! Style, Kelli wasn’t just faced with the daunting task of bringing a legend to life — she also had to endure an exhausting physical transformation. This included 99 costume changes, two-and-a-half hours in the makeup chair each day, and the use of wardrobe tricks to manipulate her body.

“To take the actress through 21 years of Monroe’s life, costume designer Gersha Phillips had to manipulate Garner’s body by raising her waist, padding her hips, and lessening her bust line.”

All the hard work was definitely worth it — many actresses would love to play Marilyn, even if it is only in a Lifetime movie. Kelli also learned some valuable lessons about how to dress her figure, and she got to keep many of the costumes that she wears in The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. Luckily, she currently has plenty of room in her closet for the new clothes.

“It taught me a lot about my own wardrobe. I actually came home and threw out half of my clothes… Marilyn taught me, for my figure, to go tight but high neck. Keep it classy, so that’s really nice.”

Kelli has also learned to embrace color and her curves.

“I just want girls to love food and love eating and be OK with who they are. Playing Marilyn taught me that as well. Superskinny is not attractive.”

Do you think Kelli Garner was the perfect pick to play Marilyn Monroe?

[Image credits: Lifetime, Kelli Garner/Instagram]