'U Know Me, Always Solving Crimes.' The True Story Behind How Kim Kardashian Solved An Egyptian Mummy Mystery With A Selfie

Kim Kardashian is known for many things by this point in the 2026 TV schedule, ranging from her SKIMS fashion line to All’s Fair getting renewed despite a horrible Rotten Tomatoes score to the diamond earring quip that she can’t escape. What you may not know her for is that time that she helped solve a mystery involving an Egyptian mummy with a selfie. She may not be trading in any dreams of becoming a lawyer to pursue an investigative career, but her claim about “solving crimes” has some merit after she helped uncover an art heist!

The Story Behind The Stolen Egyptian Mummy That Kim Kardashian Publicized

The story goes back to 2018, when Kim Kardashian wore a stunning gold gown to the Met Gala, years before she caused a stir by losing weight to fit into an iconic Marilyn Monroe dress. She posed next to a golden sarcophagus, which didn’t seem out of the ordinary for the glitzy gala taking place at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art in New York City.

But the photo going viral publicized that the coffin of Nedjemankh was at the Met, with the New York Post reporting that Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos then learned that the sarcophagus had originally been stolen courtesy of a tipster in the Middle East who saw the photo, which led to the whole story unraveling.

After the coffin was reportedly looted in 2011, it was said to be trafficked from an antiquities dealer in the United Arab Emirates to the Dionysos Gallery in German, from which it was sent to a French antiquities scholar, who then sold it to the Met for the price of $4 million in 2017. After the truth was uncovered, the coffin of Nedjemankh was returned to Cairo in 2019. The sarcophagus, dating from around the first century BC, was finally back in Egypt.

And it was all due to an unlikely turn of events started by Kim Kardashian and her golden Met Gala gown.

Kim Kardashian Celebrates Years Later

While the reality star’s unexpected involvement in cracking an art heist was several years ago now, the story went viral on TikTok again recently, and those who didn’t catch the news back in 2018 got to learn the unlikely true story. Kim Kardashian responded to the renewed interest on her Instagram account, in a Story (which has since expired) reading:

Will Kardashian be inspired to pursue a detective drama for a future collaboration with Ryan Murphy? Despite All’s Fair’s unfortunate reviews after premiering in late 2025, there was enough buzz that it scored a renewal for Season 2. Plus, the prolific TV producer only had good things to say about her after they first teamed up on American Horror Story: Delicate, and it’s hard to rule out Murphy tackling any kind of genre.

Whatever the future holds, Kim Kardashian does have the (somewhat dubious) claim to crime-solving fame after her photo at the 2018 Met Gala. If you want to see the actress/businesswoman/fashion designer in her usual sphere, however, you can find both Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Kardashians streaming with a Hulu subscription now.