Kendall Jenner is tackling anxiety head-on, and making some major career moves.
As of April 30, Kendall Jenner is of ficially NOT pregnant. And seeing as we’re putting things on the record, it shouldn’t even be something you ask a 22-yearold (unless you see her eating a weird combination of food, lovingly caressing her stomach and, you know, actually telling you she’s pregnant).
Then again, Kendall isn’t your average 22-year-old. Which is why in April, amid yet another flurry of rumours, her rep had to confirm to celebrity news site Gossip Cop that indeed “Kendall is not pregnant”.
The cause for the uproar? Despite talking about being hungover on Instagram, and definitely not looking pregnant in her snaps from Coachella, the woman named the highest-paid model of 2017 and Fashion Month regular has been keeping a surprisingly low profile this season. In fact, besides making an appearance at an Adidas Originals showcase, she didn’t walk any runways. So what else could it possibly be?
You know you’re
famous when
you get a wax
figure at Madame
Tussauds! This
exhibition gave
fans a glimpse
of what happens
backstage at a
fashion show
The reality
In truth, Kendall told Vogue in April this year, she was burned out.
It’s not surprising, with her schedule. “10 months out of the year, I’m working almost every day. I’ve been working since I was 10 years old,” she shared in a video interview with W in October 2016.
Kendall’s career started in 2005, on her family’s reality show. At the same time, she was first discovering the world of modelling; thinking that Gisele and co were the coolest people in the world. Four years later, Kendall decided she wanted to get into modelling herself; pitching the idea to her mother via a photo-filled presentation book. She walked her first Fashion Week at 15 in a pretty prom-esque dress (though she would never make it to her own; she was homeschooled during her final years).
In 2014, she got her big break, with a cropped bob, blonde brows and no bra at the Marc Jacobs show. Suddenly, she was everywhere.
Hanging out with Karl Lagerfeld, taking photos with Gigi and Bella Hadid (who she actually already knew from their horse riding days), fronting campaigns for Estée Lauder... It’s glamorous, yes, but also exhausting. Think about that jet lag feeling where you’re so tired, you feel physically sick. Then imagine having to summon the energy for back-to-back catwalk shows or a gruelling 14-hour shoot.
“I feel like the life I live is extraordinary in a lot of ways, but that it also comes with a lot of responsibilities. I’ve had to grow up pretty fast and deal with situations most 22-year-olds aren’t really put into. There are days and weeks and months when you just don’t stop,” Kendall told her friend and fellow model Cara Delevingne in the February issue of Harper’s Bazaar.
It started to take its toll.
In 2016, Kendall opened up about her sleep paralysis on an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. “I’m scared to fall asleep, because it keeps happening to me,” she told her family. The episode launched a thousand “What does ‘sleep paralysis’ mean?” articles online (for the record, it’s when your mind wakes up, but your body won’t move, so you feel like your body is paralysed). But as everyone buzzed over this unusual term, other discussions around Kendall’s anxiety were overlooked.
In the same episode, Kris Jenner said she had to fly to London just to get Kendall on a flight to New York after her daughter suffered anxiety attacks on the plane.
Kendall decided to take a step back. “I made a point at the beginning of 2017 to consciously slow down, take more time for myself, be more selective and not just do whatever my agents tell me to do,” she told Vogue.
But in March 2017, while the family was still reeling from Kim Kardashian being robbed at gunpoint, Kendall’s house was robbed. A stalker approached her on her property. Then there was the whole Pepsi incident.
Late last year, an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians showed a tearful Kendall baring all.
“That’s why I don’t tweet, that’s why I don’t Instagram. That gives me anxiety, too. I swear, it’s the craziest thing.”
Kendall slays
in her Calvins
on a billboard
in NYC.
*up to down* In Cannes for the Film Festival, 2017- Walking the runway for Balmain
<b>1</b> Kendall and Kylie make a meda appearance in 2012 <b>2</b> Cara and Kendall in 2014, just as Kendall’s career hit overdrive <b>3</b> With Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing and Jourdan Dunn at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards
Keeping it under control
To help keep her anxiety in check, Kendall does meditation, sound bathing and acupuncture. “Anxiety is all mental, so you have to try and find your ways around it,” she shared on the show. “I try and maintain it, but sometimes it’s out of your control. But I think I’m very blessed to be in the situation I’m in, and every year that I do Fashion Months, it gets a little bit easier.”
Speaking out about anxiety can be scary. But knowing that even people whose lives seem as glossy as Kendall’s suffer from these conditions can be incredibly helpful for those suffering from it. The fact that she prioritised her health by stepping back is even more important.
Fortunately for us, it’s not a step as far back as she sometimes dreams of. “Some days, I just want to go live on a farm and not talk to anyone and just exist in the middle of nowhere,” she confessed to Cara in Harper’s Bazaar. Coincidentally, her sister Kylie, who also has talked about suffering from anxiety, has the same dream.
While she continues to model, Kendall has also been involved in a number of creative projects lately. She’s a brand ambassador for Adidas, and has gotten behind the camera to shoot several projects herself, including the covers of LOVE featuring her friend Kaia Gerber and sister Kylie. More recently, she has been hosting an Apple Music Beats 1 radio show called Pizza Boys with longtime friend Daniel Chetrit.
The real Kendall
As it is with her sister Kylie, it seems that despite having grown up with Kendall, we know everything and nothing about her at the same time. But while we’re seeing less of her on Instagram, we see more of her personality shining through her latest projects. It seems it’s the real deal too, because Kendall knows that anything else will be short-lived. “If anything is forced, if anything is fake, it is not gonna last,” she says in her Adidas campaign.
So, while we’re seeing less of Kendall’s face, perhaps we’ll have more of Kendall as a person. And long may it last.
I feel like the life I live is extraordinary in a lot of ways but that it also comes with a lot of responsibilities. I’ve had to grow up pretty fast and deal with situations most 22-year-olds aren’t really put into.”
Images Anton Oparin / Alamy, dpa picture alliance / Alamy, JEP Celebrity Photos / Alamy, Alpha Photo / Alamy, Richard Levine / Alamy, TPG/Click Photos Text Claire Starkey.
