Life Reflections from Kendall Jenner

The highest paid model in the world for the last six years is supermodel Kendall Jenner, and she is celebrating her 10-year anniversary in the fashion business on the cover of Vogue Magazine’s June/July 2024 issue. Jenner is interviewed by Rob Haskell in ‘Kendall Jenner Is in Her Feelings’ following her New Year’s trip to Barbados.

Kendall is styled by Tabitha Simmons in Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Fendi, Khaite, Louis Vuitton, Rabanne, Maison Valentino and more. Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott [IG], shot the fashion story at the One&Only Mandarina on Mexico’s Pacific Coast./ Hair by Jimmy Paul; makeup by Mary Phillips

There is absolutely no joy expressed in Jenner’s decade of building a successful career that put her on top of the Forbes 2023 list, with estimated annual earnings related to fashion and style projects at $40 million.

The Power of Negative Thinking

Her biggest goal over these 10 years has been to prove people wrong about her — which AOC agrees doesn’t sound like much fun for such a successful person. We all know that haters online are not kind to women in the spotlight. But Kendall agrees that she is not a positive person.

“It’s kind of interesting that we’re wired to not think about death all the time,” Jenner muses. “And yet we don’t know the concept of never-ending. We can’t visualize a never-ending universe, but at the same time, nothing scares me more than the end of something. I’m so bad at goodbyes.” She catches herself and starts to laugh. What better defense against the dark than humor? “These are the thoughts that creep into my mind. I can’t let myself get too deep into them, or else I spiral.”

“I’m a negative thinker,” she [Kendall] says. “That’s my problem. I’m always worrying about something that may never happen.”

Vogue writes on their IG: “When Jenner was first starting out, the constant traveling triggered panic attacks, and navigating the ‘hater world online’ has always required an arsenal of wellness tools. (These include meditation, journaling, weekly psychotherapy, and periodic consultations with a spiritual healer.)”

I’ve personally written about her therapy sessions in-depth, four-six times. Or was six times for Bella and Kendall is four times?

All Anne knows is that all the psychological wellness stats about America’s young women are terrible. Leading the list are some of the nation’s most successful young women, expressing their anxiety and joyless lives regularly in fashion media.

Just when I think one of our best and brightest in fashion has had a breakthrough and AOC is writing “Yeah!!!” a new article like this one appears, and we are back to square one. Just look at the difference between this article imagery and WSJ Magazine’s last summer. You don’t have to read the words.

The number of young men and women with an unhappy outlook on life, depression and other mental health disorders in the United States has risen sharply since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, writes Al Jazeera.

Yes, putting their Gaza-Israel writing aside for the moment, Al Jazeera focused on this topic — and the Vogue June/July cover story confirms the research. AOC actually knows a great deal about happiness research worldwide, but it’s lips zipped today. The complexity of what is going on here is beyond my personal understanding.

Americans and the World Happiness Report

Since it was launched in 2012, we have followed and written about the World Happiness Report, produced once a year by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford in the UK.

Americans have never occupied a top spot in the survey that explores wellbeing across a range of cohorts. America has never been near the top of the list on the survey of different cohorts divided by age.

Young Americans have never been at the top of the happiness list either, with older people weighing down the aggregate scores.

Collectively, younger people worldwide are unhappier over the environment and cost of living expenses — to cite two core reasons. This year’s results are not a shock, if you’ve followed the research.

America has a particularly acute case of the blues. Young Americans are so sad and angst-ridden in 2024 that America has fallen off the index’s 20 happiest global countries for the first time, landing in the #23 spot, behind the UAE and only a few spots ahead of Saudi Arabia.

I must digest this report because — for all AOC knows — young people in Kenya and Nigeria are more positive than young Americans. I believe ‘young’ on the survey breaks at age 30.

Costa Rica is in the #12 spot, which is a regular event on the happiness indexes. Scandinavian countries lead, as they always do. Note that those countries collectively have more subdued visions of happiness and success.

Defining what makes for a good life is not a universal set of the same criteria around the world. Money and status are much more important to Americans in defining happiness, than it is in the Scandinavian countries.

All research confirms that regularly ‘giving back’ to community through religious or social institutions makes people happier, especially when it goes beyond getting out the credit card and involves people contact, along with social support.

The problem is that our most successful models and talents aren’t happy generally or with themselves. They all describe themselves as anxiety-ridden in almost debilitating ways — 10 years after they’ve been doing this job.

AOC was so proud of Kendall when we did our due diligence and found out that her 818 Tequila brand is a B-Corp. There are wonderful stories attached to that company. [Note that Khloé Kardashian’s co-owned Good American business is also a B-Corp.]

On a positive note, Kendall does volunteer that it’s been two years since her last panic attack. As she approaches age 30 and studies new transitions and avenues of growth, it’s an understandable time, in which Kendall accesses her life choices.

While Kendall is meditating on her future, AOC is deeply concerned about political apathy in fashion world, in a way it was not for the 2020 election.

Will November 6th Be a Huge Wakeup Call in Fashion World?

Who knows . . . for all our uber successful young women who have little to no interest in politics — save for Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, also Kaia Gerber is coming on strong — we may wake up on November 6 to a whole new world in America called Trump 2.0.

Today’s miseries may not seem so acute, ff you’ve read the Heritage Foundation Project 2025. This blueprint paper clearly outlines what’s coming in a Trump presidency. It’s absolutely shocking.

Trust me, “you ain’t see nothin’ yet”, as the expression goes. Republicans are going to make birth control illegal, ladies . . . in case that motivates anybody reading this post.

Karlie Kloss was instrumental in getting an abortion rights referendum close to ‘done’ in Missouri on their November 5 ballot. You see her in the video above and you can read her Op-ed for the Washington Post, on a gift link from me.

Last week, twice as many ballots were turned in for the Missouri initiative as required. While the official ruling isn’t in yet, the probability of success in Missouri is high. Florida is banked also ‘yes’ on an abortion rights referendum; and there will be no court challenge.

Sorry, Kendall, AOC needs to grab people where and when we can. Expects lots more of it from me, as we roll towards November 5, presidential election day. Meanwhile, back to Kendall’s story and Mert & Marcus images in Mexico . . . so far away from the real trauma that may lay ahead for American women — and men, too, if Trump wins back the presidency. ~ Anne