Give “Those Girls” Their Credit

Model, Kendall Jenner recently covered LOVE magazine’s #LOVE20 edition and made headlines for one quote in particular: 

“Since the beginning we’ve been super selective about what shows I would do. I was never one of those girls who would do like 30 shows a season or whatever the fuck 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 bit  and needed to take a step back.” 

Jenner’s quote quickly went viral, and she immediately received backlash from countless people, including other models calling her lazy, privileged, spoiled and more.

Source: @LeomieAnderson Twitter

 

Source: @dariasstrokous Instagram

Respectively, I 100% agree with her colleagues. The debate of whether celebrity children are actual, deserving models is not a new one. Everyday people are discrediting Jenner and other models such as the Hadid sisters, Hailey Baldwin and Kaia Gerber solely because of their last name. Let me make one thing clear, I do not agree with this concept at all. Coming from an already well-off family does not disqualify you from having talent and being a great model; after all, we don’t get to choose which family we are born into. However, it definitely is not okay to arguably be the most privileged and highest-paid model in the industry while working less and saying something like this. It’s beyond rude, and it truly shows how out of touch Jenner is with her own industry. 

I may not know the struggles of modeling first-hand, but like most girls I dreamt of being a model growing up, and after doing research, I quickly found out that it’s an extremely hard industry to make it in (and that’s putting it mildly). There’s the model apartments (which is nothing like America’s Next Top Model). The 10 hour infinite castings and fittings (and that’s not even guaranteed that you book the job after). The money spent going to castings (a lot of girls go in debt building their wardrobe with designer clothes). The 60+ shows a season (Kendall was way off). Then you have to factor in the mental and physical exhaustion from all of this. And they do all of it simply with the hopes to establish themselves.

Literally, who couldn’t have respect for this? 

However in Jenner’s defense, she did say her words were twisted and taken out of context, and although that does happen frequently, it’s still not a valid excuse. LOVE posted the infamous quote six days ago, so Jenner was aware of it for at least, if not more than, six days, yet she chose to only speak up about it when the backlash poured in. If you truly aren’t happy with the twisting of your message, why not speak up immediately about it? 

 

Source: @kendalljenner Twitter

 

Source: @kendlljenner Twitter

 

Source: @kendalljenner Instagram

If you’re privileged, you’re privileged. There’s nothing you can do to get rid of it, but the least you can do is acknowledge it. Acknowledge that though you’re rightfully successful, you did have a significant push from your resources and last name. There’s nothing wrong with Jenner being selective, but there is something highly distasteful with disrespecting girls who do not have the same options viable and are forced to rise up the traditional way. Take accountability, apologize and please give “those girls” their credit as they definitely deserve it and more. 

Written by Nia Quinn 

Follow Nia on Insta or Twitter 

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