Heidi Klum (born 1 June 1973)[6] is a German and American model, television host, actress, producer, and businesswoman. She appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1998 and was the first German model to become a Victoria’s Secret Angel.
Following a successful modeling career, Klum became the host and a judge of the reality shows Project Runway (2004–2017, 2025–present) and Germany’s Next Topmodel (2006–present).
Profile Summary
| Date of Birth | 1 June 1973 (age 53) |
| Place of Birth | Bergisch Gladbach, West Germany |
| Citizenship | Germany; United States (since 2008) |
| Occupations | Model; TV Host; Actress; Producer; Businesswoman |
| Years Active | 1991–present |
| Spouses | Ric Pipino (m. 1997; div. 2002); Seal (m. 2005; div. 2014); Tom Kaulitz (m. 2019) |
| Children | 4, including Leni Klum |
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9½ in) |
| Hair Color | Blonde; Brown (natural) |
| Agency | Creative Artists Agency (New York); d’management group (Milan) |
Age
Heidi Klum was born on 1 June 1973 in Bergisch Gladbach, West Germany. She is 53 years old.
Biography & Early Life
Klum was born and raised in Bergisch Gladbach, near Cologne, West Germany. Her mother, Erna Klum, is a hairdresser, and her father, Günther Klum, is a cosmetics company executive. Encouraged by a friend, she entered the national modeling contest “Model 92”. Selected from 25,000 contestants, Klum won on 29 April 1992 and received a US$300,000 modelling contract from Thomas Zeumer, CEO of Metropolitan Models New York. After her win, she appeared on the Gottschalk Late Night Show, hosted by Thomas Gottschalk. She accepted the contract a few months later, after graduating, and chose not to pursue an apprenticeship at a fashion design school.
Personal life
In 1997, Klum married stylist Ric Pipino; they divorced in 2002. In March 2003, she began a relationship with Flavio Briatore, managing director of Renault’s Formula One team. She announced her pregnancy in December. Shortly after, the relationship ended and Klum began dating musician Seal. She gave birth to her daughter Leni in May 2004 in New York City. Seal was present at Leni’s birth, and Klum has stated that Briatore is not involved in Leni’s life, emphasizing that “Seal is Leni’s father.”
Klum and Seal became engaged in December 2004 in Whistler, British Columbia, and married on 10 May 2005 in Mexico. They have three children: sons born in September 2005 and November 2006, and a daughter born in October 2009. On 21 November 2009, Klum legally adopted Seal’s surname, becoming Heidi Samuel. In December 2009, Seal adopted Leni, and her surname was also changed to Samuel. During their marriage, Klum and Seal renewed their vows annually with family and friends. On 22 January 2012, they announced their separation after nearly seven years of marriage. Klum filed for divorce on 6 April 2012, and the divorce was finalized on 14 October 2014.
Klum dated her bodyguard, Martin Kirsten, from 2012 to 2014. She then began a relationship with art curator Vito Schnabel in 2014, which ended in 2017 after three years.
More…
In May 2018, Klum made public her relationship with Tokio Hotel guitarist Tom Kaulitz through Instagram posts and appearances at Cannes Film Festival. The two were first romantically linked in March of the same year. On 24 December 2018, after approximately one year of dating, Klum announced on her Instagram that she and Kaulitz were engaged and posted a picture of the couple where the ring was showing with the caption “I SAID YES” followed with a red heart emoji.[93] Klum privately married Kaulitz in February 2019. The couple’s wedding ceremony was held on the yacht Christina O in Italy in August 2019.
In an interview with Ocean View, Klum described herself as a nudist, stating: “I grew up very free… not hiding or feeling insecure about myself or my body. As much as I love wearing beautiful lingerie and clothes, I also love not wearing too much. It’s a free feeling that I’ve had since being a small child growing up in Germany. I had parents that never hid from me when they changed clothing or when I walked into the room. When we would go to the beach, my mom would sunbathe topless.”
Career
Klum has been featured on the cover of French, German, Portuguese and Spanish Vogue magazines, as well as Elle, InStyle, Marie Claire, Glamour and Russian Harper’s Bazaar magazines. She became widely known after appearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and for her work with Victoria’s Secret as an “Angel”.
In addition to working with well-known photographers on her first husband’s Sports Illustrated shoots, she was the object and subject of Joanne Gair body painting works in several editions from 1997 to 2010. She wrote the foreword to Gair’s book of body paint work, Body Painting, Masterpieces. Other magazine’s covers include GQ, Cosmopolitan, Photo, Glamour, Stuff, Joy, Esquire, Max, Men’s Journal, Time and Shape.
Klum’s modeling portfolio includes campaigns for Pringle of Scotland, Liz Claiborne, and, with fellow German supermodels, for Kathleen Madden. She has represented beauty brands such as Bobbi Brown, Astor, and Givenchy’s Amarige fragrance. Klum participated in special campaigns for Marc Jacobs, supporting skin cancer awareness, and for Jean-Paul Gaultier, benefiting amfAR. Her runway work includes multiple Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows and appearances for designers at New York Fashion Week, such as Zac Posen (2004), Escada, Vera Wang, Structure, Victor Alfaro, Imitation of Christ, and for Philip Treacy at the Brown Thomas International Fashion Show in Dublin.
More…
As a photo model, Klum has worked with brands such as H & M, Ann Taylor, and Peek & Cloppenburg, and has served as a celebrity spokesmodel for Jordache since 2007. She has represented a range of international brands in advertising campaigns and commercials, including Braun, McDonald’s, Dannon, Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s, Wix, and, with then-husband Seal, Volkswagen. Beyond modeling, Klum has appeared in television shows such as Spin City, Sex and the City, Yes, Dear, and How I Met Your Mother. Her film roles include Blow Dry, Ella Enchanted, and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, as well as cameos in The Devil Wears Prada and Perfect Stranger.
