Model Kendall Jenner says Kardashian name once hindered career, reveals how she'd 'distinguish herself'

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Kendall Jenner wears jaw-dropping dress to Oscars after party

Kendall Jenner left little to the imagination while wearing a jaw-dropping dress to an after party following the 91st Academy Awards on Sunday night.

Being a part of one of the world’s most famous families surely has its perks. But Kendall Jenner recently revealed how her association with the Kardashians hurt her when she first started modeling.

Speaking to Vogue Australia for the magazine’s cover story, Jenner, who is now the world’s highest-paid supermodel, revealed how being associated with Kardashians made it harder for her to establish her own “brand,” as she was already seen as a reality star due to “Keeping Up With The Kardashians," the popular TV show that her family is known for.

At just 14 years old, Jenner first announced on the show that she wanted to pursue a career in modeling.

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“If this is what Kendall really wants to do then I’m on board and I’ll get the word out,” her mother, Kris Jenner, said at the time, per Vogue Australia.

But when she first started attending casting calls, the now 23-year-old revealed she referred to herself simply as “K” or “Kendall” in order to “distinguish herself from her famous family,” the publication reported.

“But I’ve always been the person to prove [critics] wrong, even when I was younger,” Jenner told the publication. I’ve always been a hard worker: that’s in my blood. My parents raised me and my little sister to be that way and the rest of my sisters, too. A lot of people assumed that because I came from a ‘name’ that it was a lot easier for me to get to where I got, but actually, it’s the complete opposite.”

Russell James, a photographer who worked with Jenner when she first started out, told the magazine that “100 percent of Kendall Jenner’s success is actually 100 percent Kendall.”

“She is so [expletive] motivated and disciplined in a way that people don’t get to see,” he added.

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“Genetically she had everything to be a great model, but I told her it was going to be so hard to do because she already had a brand,” James continued. “In some ways, the industry was especially harsh on her because it’s harder to rebrand than it is to brand, so she had an incredible challenge.”

Jenner also revealed she never had a back-up plan in case her dream of modeling didn’t come to fruition.

“I don’t think I necessarily needed to have one. Anything I do, I always want to be 100 percent in it and know I want to be doing it,” she said. “When I started I was so young, so if it didn’t work out then I was going to figure it out. I’d cross that bridge when I got there.”