The reign is over: for the first time since 2002, Gisele Bündchen is no longer the world’s highest paid model. The 37-year-old Brazilian has been knocked from the spot by Kendall Jenner, reports The Telegraph.
Bündchen fell into second place on Forbes’ annual list this year, banking in $17.5 million this year. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Jenner made more than $22 million.
Bündchen recently retired from catwalk appearances, but poses for adverts for Carolina Herrera fragrances, Arezzo shoes and Vivara jewelry in her homeland Brazil, according to The Telegraph. Her overall earnings dropped 43 percent from the 30.5 million she made in 2016.
Jenner is the half-sister of Kim Kardashian, and she has successfully harnessed the mass-appeal garnered from her early break on her family’s reality television show. She was only 12-years-old when she first appeared on Keeping Up With the Kardashians and was signed to Wilhelmina Models at the age of 14, according to The Telegraph. Her early career featured shoots marketed towards teens, with organizations like Seventeen and Teen Vogue. However, by 2013, she moved into high fashion modeling by signing with Society Management.
That year, she made her catwalk debut walking for Marc Jacobs in the designer’s autumn 2014 show with bleached eyebrows and a blunt bob wig, according to The Telegraph. Her credentials rose, and she started getting hired by Chanel, Givenchy, Versace and more. She now has deals with Estée Lauder, La Perla and Adidas, as well as running her Kendall + Kylie clothing line with her sister, Kylie Jenner. She also gets paid for posts on Instagram, where she has 85 million followers, according to The Telegraph.
She has a lot of competition though, including sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid who both ranked in the top 10, and other models-turned-moguls like Karlie Kloss.
The Telegraph writes that a refreshing addition to the list is Ashley Graham, who takes the 10th position. She earned $5.5 million, and is the first ever curve model to make the Forbes highest-paid rankings.
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