diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web.BackOffice/Controllers/ContentController.cs b/src/Umbraco.Web.BackOffice/Controllers/ContentController.cs
index 6cb0addb71..183284d5b8 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web.BackOffice/Controllers/ContentController.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web.BackOffice/Controllers/ContentController.cs
@@ -913,9 +913,9 @@ namespace Umbraco.Cms.Web.BackOffice.Controllers
                     v.Notifications.AddRange(n.Notifications);
             }
 
+            //lastly, if it is not valid, add the model state to the outgoing object and throw a 400
             HandleInvalidModelState(display, cultureForInvariantErrors);
 
-            //lastly, if it is not valid, add the model state to the outgoing object and throw a 400
             if (!ModelState.IsValid)
             {
                 return ValidationProblem(display, ModelState);
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web.BackOffice/Filters/ContentSaveValidationAttribute.cs b/src/Umbraco.Web.BackOffice/Filters/ContentSaveValidationAttribute.cs
index d4aafe83ff..4b8fb6acb3 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web.BackOffice/Filters/ContentSaveValidationAttribute.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web.BackOffice/Filters/ContentSaveValidationAttribute.cs
@@ -68,6 +68,12 @@ namespace Umbraco.Cms.Web.BackOffice.Filters
                 var model = (ContentItemSave) context.ActionArguments["contentItem"];
                 var contentItemValidator = new ContentSaveModelValidator(_loggerFactory.CreateLogger<ContentSaveModelValidator>(), _propertyValidationService);
 
+                if (context.ModelState.ContainsKey("contentItem"))
+                {
+                    // if the entire model is marked as error, remove it, we handle everything separately
+                    context.ModelState.Remove("contentItem");
+                }
+
                 if (!ValidateAtLeastOneVariantIsBeingSaved(model, context)) return;
                 if (!contentItemValidator.ValidateExistingContent(model, context)) return;
                 if (!await ValidateUserAccessAsync(model, context)) return;