In a recent interview from Love Magazine with model Kendall Jenner, Jenner reveals her place as a privileged model.
“Since the beginning, we’ve been super selective about the shows I would do. I was never one of those girls who would do like 30 shows a season or whatever the f*ck those girls do. More power to ’em. But I had a million jobs, not only catwalks but everything else. The whole combination was very overwhelming and I started to freak out a little and needed to take a step back.”
No one minimizes Jenner’s struggle with anxiety and mental health issues since it is a tough obstacle to handle.
However, what “those girls” go through are years of battling to make a statement in the industry, to book jobs, to meet with casting directors. A majority of models do not have the luxury of being selective about which shows to walk in.
The industry has been flawed for years with the way it treats models. A fair portion of aspiring models fights with eating or mental health disorders just to book a job.
Some of the models in the industry shared their thoughts on Jenner’s statements.
Vlada Rosylakova, a successful supermodel, wrote: “Just a REMINDER that some of ‘THOSE GIRLS’ who would do like 86 shows a season, not 30… “or whatever the f*ck else those girls do” didn’t have a luxury to say NO to jobs and be “super selective about what shows they do” in order to be able to BUILD their CAREERS during non-instagram days, and get “more power” RESPECT and Thumbs up for all the LADIES who went are still going thru those days of hard WORK, surviving on two hours of sleep in models apartment, coffee and backstage food. #thosegirls”
On Twitter, @luvjesuscrisp, a model represented by NEXT Worldwide, explained further of Jenner taking advantage of her privilege. “I’ve never once saw her at a casting but every fitting we had together, as soon as she walked in the show room, everyone dropped what they were doing to get her fitted and was never in a show room for more than 20 minutes! She refused to walk rehearsals and that’s tea”
Luma Grothe, a twenty-four-year-old Brazilian model stated: “When I started in this industry I was pretty much starving for the first 3 years. Working every single day for free. Waiting for the day someone would notice me and my hard work and give me the chance to do ONE show! I couldn’t even go back home for Christmas because I was absolutely broke. I had to work hard for people to even remember my name!”
Those three are only a small portion of the models who have spoken up about the words Jenner said. While she is able to skip castings or rehearsals, other models spend hours on the floor waiting for a chance to achieve their dreams.
Kendall Jenner has now apologized for her comments:
I was misrepresented in a recent interview over the wknd & it’s important to clarify the meaning. It was intended to be entirely complimentary but unfortunately, my words were twisted & taken out of context.I want to be clear. The respect that I have for my peers is immeasurable!
— Kendall (@KendallJenner) August 21, 2018
