Kendall Jenner claims she had to “work even harder” to become a successful model because of her reality TV background.
The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star believes it took the fashion world a long time to embrace her because she is also a reality TV star. The 18-year-old beauty said: “People think that this [success] just came to me. But it didn’t. What I have has almost worked against me. I had to work even harder to get where I wanted because people didn’t take me seriously as a model. Because of the TV show.” According to The Cut, she also told Love magazine: “I went on castings and some people weren’t feeling me because of my name. But it was great when people didn’t recognise me. I was like, ‘Thank you. Please don’t recognise me.'”
Kendall’s older half-sister, Kim Kardashian, says the teenager, who has modelled for designer brands, including Chanel, Givenchy and Marc Jacobs, has now proven she is “the real deal.”
She said: “She had to work extra hard to gain this respect and to fight for people to see she’s serious. Marc Jacobs gave her a real shot and treated her like any other model … Then Riccardo [Tisci] and Karl [Lagerfeld] gave her a chance and she has proven that she is the real deal.”
But Kendall admits she is eager to distance herself from her famous family. She said: “Kim was invited to a lot of the shows that I was in. She called me before and was like, ‘Hey, I was invited to the show, I just wanted to let you know. Do you want me to come?’ and I was like, ‘No.’ “
