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KENDALL JENNER
‘Mortified’ by a Controversy
Sometimes it pays to be up on current events. Recently Kendall was
thrilled to land the job of Pepsi spokesmodel, calling her new TV soft-
drink spot a “dream come true.” In the ad, the 21-year-old joins a
protest of multiethnic, telegenic youths and then offers a Pepsi to
cops as a peace offering. Using political activism to sell soda went over
with a thud—and raised the ire of groups focused on police brutality
such as Black Lives Matter. Pepsi yanked its ad and apologized for
“putting Kendall Jenner in this position,” but Kendall compounded
her woes by posting a Instagram picture of herself and sister Kylie as
kids, wearing a beaded braid hairstyle that some took as racially tone-
deaf. A source says that Jenner is “mortified,” while another says, “She
plans on laying low until things calm down.” Her family has been
supportive. Adds aKUWTKinsider: “Kendall is young and not used to
being involved in such controversy.”—CHAR ADAMS“She never
expected it to
receive such
backlash,” says
asource.42, a London-based busi-
ness magnate, after the duo
hit it off at a hotel opening
in Dubai in April 2010. “I’m
fortunate enough to be dat-
ing my dream woman,”
Al Mana, a practicing Mus-
lim who was born in Qatar and raised in Eng-
land, toldHarper’s Bazaar Arabia in 2011 about
Jackson, who was raised a Jehovah’s Witness.
Added the singer: “We have a deep bond, a deep
connection.” After tying the knot in an ultra-pri-
vate ceremony in 2012, however, the pair’s cul-tural differences became
more pronounced. While
she had never shied away
from wearing racy outfits
onstage, the costumes she
sported in 2015 on her
“Unbreakable” tour (which
was later postponed so she
could focus on starting a
family) were markedly
more conservative. Offstage
the star was occasionally
spotted wearing what
appeared to be a hijab. “For
years Janet tried to adapt to
his culture,” says the family
source. “It’s been challeng-
ing for her, and she often felt
she disappointed Wissam.”
Jackson—who surfaced in
London on April 10 following the news and
“hardly ventures out at all,” says an insider—is
trying to work out a co-parenting plan with
Al Mana. The family source says the exes plan to
“raise their boy together,” and English barrister
Paul Wright (who is not representing Jackson or
Al Mana) notes U.K. courts “try and involve both
parents on an equal as possible basis” should a
custody battle ensue. Focusing on Eissa and not
her heartbreak, “Janet is okay,” says the family
source. “She is all about the baby.”
—With reporting by Pernilla Cedenheim,
Philip Boucher and Brianne Tracy“We love
traveling. We love
going to nice,
exotic places far
away from the
world and from
prying eyes,”
Al Mana said in
2014 of his life
with Jackson. While Jackson is a
household name, in
the business world
Al Mana is a star in
his own right.
The Qatari
businessman over-
sees an empire
that spans fashion,
media, engineering
and real estate in
the Middle East,
the U.K. and
Ireland. “My father
passed away when
I was quite young,
and I felt it was
my duty.... [I] try
to continue
the legacy and the
family name,”
he previously told
Entrepreneur.Who is
Wissam
Al Mana?‘THEY COME FROM
VERY DIFFERENT
WORLDS.
FOR YEARS JANET
TRIED TO ADAPT
TO HIS CULTURE’
—JACKSON FAMILY
SOURCE22 April 24, 2017 PEOPLE
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN/WIREIMAGE; ADRIEN COQUET/THE NOUN PROJECT; PEPSICO/SPLASH NEWS