diff --git a/app/models/group.rb b/app/models/group.rb
index a8be7004ee82b5bab3533c40442341d3fd2e8139..37631b997014c644d467827dcd0986a464f5e125 100644
--- a/app/models/group.rb
+++ b/app/models/group.rb
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class Group < Namespace
   end
 
   def avatar_url(size = nil)
-    if avatar.present?
+    if self[:avatar].present?
       [gitlab_config.url, avatar.url].join
     end
   end
diff --git a/app/models/project.rb b/app/models/project.rb
index ae96f00a7057f70534c36166f9ad057e04ac1f17..e5fae15cb19857a14f5793e5eada27b03515d349 100644
--- a/app/models/project.rb
+++ b/app/models/project.rb
@@ -701,7 +701,7 @@ class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def avatar_url
-    if avatar.present?
+    if self[:avatar].present?
       [gitlab_config.url, avatar.url].join
     elsif avatar_in_git
       Gitlab::Routing.url_helpers.namespace_project_avatar_url(namespace, self)
diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index 5036a3e300c9d2bc98b7257055c742085261be97..695a47ba6eb96aedf399fcc3ce8e863145d415d4 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -653,7 +653,7 @@ class User < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def avatar_url(size = nil, scale = 2)
-    if avatar.present?
+    if self[:avatar].present?
       [gitlab_config.url, avatar.url].join
     else
       GravatarService.new.execute(email, size, scale)