diff --git a/rest_framework/authentication.py b/rest_framework/authentication.py
index b03e7c167..0d73a5846 100644
--- a/rest_framework/authentication.py
+++ b/rest_framework/authentication.py
@@ -4,12 +4,11 @@ Provides various authentication policies.
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 import base64
 from django.contrib.auth import authenticate
-from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.middleware.csrf import CsrfViewMiddleware
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 from rest_framework import exceptions, HTTP_HEADER_ENCODING
 from rest_framework.authtoken.models import Token
-
+from rest_framework.compat import get_user_model
 
 def get_authorization_header(request):
     """