In Touch has learned that before Scott Disick was keeping up with the Kardashians, he was a model for young-adult books!

In 2001, Scott landed a gig as the cover boy for Heartland, Lauren Brooke’s series of novels, aimed at tween readers, about a horse farm.

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A model who worked with him at the time tells In Touch, on newsstands now, “Scott was an awkward teenager — completely different than how he portrays himself now.”

The source continues, “He really just came in, got makeup done, stood in front of the camera and left pretty silently, too. Nothing at all like the Scott we know now 12 years later.”

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The now-29-year-old, who has two kids with Kourtney Kardashian, “always loved to be the center of attention,” says a family insider. “If reality TV had existed back then, we all would’ve said that Scott had been born for it.”

For more, pick up this week’s issue of In Touch, on newsstands now!

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