Heidi Klum life and biography

Heidi Klum is one of the best-known international fashion models of the 1990s and 2000s. Already popular in America with fans of the Victoria's Secret catalog, Klum made a bigger splash when she appeared on the cover of the 1998 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

Heidi Samuel (born June 1, 1973), better known by her birth name Heidi Klum, is a German American model, actress, television host, business woman, fashion designer, television producer, artist, and occasional singer. She is married to English singer Seal.

Klum has been on the cover of fashion magazines, including Vogue, ELLE and Marie Claire. She became known after appearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and for her work with Victoria's Secret as an "Angel". Klum hosted the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2009.

In addition to working with world class photographers on her Sports Illustrated shoots, she was the object and subject of Joanne Gair body painting works in several editions from 1999 to 2006. She wrote the foreword to Gair's book of body paint work. She was a spokesmodel for McDonald's, Braun, H & M, and Liz Claiborne, among others. She is currently a celebrity spokesmodel for Jordache and Volkswagen. In addition to modeling, she has appeared in several TV shows, including Spin City, Sex and the City, Yes, Dear, and How I Met Your Mother. She had a role as an ill-tempered hair model in the movie Blow Dry, played a giantess in the movie Ella Enchanted and was cast as Ursula Andress in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. She had cameo appearances in The Devil Wears Prada and Perfect Stranger.

In July 2007, having earned $8 million in the previous 12 months, Klum was named by Forbes as third on the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels. In 2008, Forbes estimated her income at $14 million, putting Klum in second place. For 2009, Forbes estimated her income at $16 million. Klum is signed to IMG Models in New York City.

In December 2004, she became the host, judge and executive producer of the reality show Project Runway on the U.S. cable television channel Bravo, (airing on Lifetime television beginning in 2009) in which fashion designers compete for the opportunity to show their line at New York Fashion Week and receive money to launch their own fashion line. She received an Emmy Award nomination for the show for each of the first four seasons. In 2008, Klum and Project Runway received a Peabody Award, the first time a reality show won the award. Klum was nominated for an Emmy in 2008 for "outstanding host of a reality or reality-competition show" for Project Runway, the first year that category was recognized by the Emmys.

Klum designed clothing lines (one for men), featured in the German mail-order catalog "Otto". She designed shoes for Birkenstock, jewellery for Mouawad, a clothing line for Jordache, and swimsuits – featured in the 2002 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She was one of the designers of the Victoria's Secret lingerie line "The Body", named after the nickname she received following her first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show appearance. Her Mouawad jewelry collection debuted on the cable shopping network QVC on September 14, 2006, and 14 of the 16 styles sold out after 36 minutes. A second line of her jewelry collection debuted on QVC on April 14, 2007, with similar success. Klum's clothing line for Jordache launched on April 30, 2008.

Klum has two fragrances, called "Heidi Klum" and "Me". She designed makeup for Victoria's Secret as part of their "Very Sexy Makeup Collection", titled "The Heidi Klum Collection". The first run debuted in Fall 2007. A second run was released in Fall 2008.

Klum is an artist and had several of her paintings appear in various art magazines in the U.S. On September 27, 2002 she dedicated a sculpture she painted called "Dog with Butterflies" to commemorate the role of rescue dogs in the aftermath of September 11.

In 2004, Klum co-authored Heidi Klum's Body of Knowledge with Elle magazine editor Alexandra Postman. The book gives Klum's biography as well as her advice on becoming successful. Prior to that, Klum had been an occasional guest columnist for the German television network RTL's website. She wrote an essay for the German newspaper Die Zeit.

Klum's other projects have included music and video games. She is featured in the 2004 James Bond video game Everything or Nothing, where she plays the villain Dr. Katya Nadanova. She has appeared in several music videos, including Jamiroquai's video "Love Foolosophy" from their album A Funk Odyssey, and Kelis's "Young, Fresh n' New", off her second 2001 album Wanderland.

In early 2009, Klum ventured into web-based videos, starring in "SPIKED HEEL: Supermodels Battle the Forces of Evil". The web-series starred model Coco Rocha and was directed by fashion documentarian Doug Keeve. In the story, Klum aka 'The Kluminator,' and her stylish sidekick Coco “The Sassy Superhero” Rocha battle the evil Dr. Faux Pas who is plotting to destroy Fashion Week. The heroines employ everything from blow-dryer guns to fist fights, in order to thwart Dr. Faux Pas' dastardly plans. The Kluminator and Girl Wonder avoid a chain of fashion disasters to neutralize a death ray that threatens to vaporize the community of fashionistas gathered in Bryant Park.

In November 2006, Klum released her debut single "Wonderland", written for a series of television advertisements for the German retailer "Douglas". Proceeds were given to a children's charity in her hometown of Bergisch Gladbach. She contributed to her husband Seal's 2007 album System, singing the duet "Wedding Day", a song that Seal wrote for their wedding.

In 2008, Klum was a featured guest on an American Volkswagen commercial, where she was interviewed by a black Beetle. When she commented that German engineering is so sexy, she caused the Beetle to blush and turn red. She has been a part of several commercials for Volkswagen and McDonald's on German television.

In November 2008, Klum appeared in two versions of a Guitar Hero World Tour commercial, where she did a take on a Tom Cruise scene in Risky Business. In both versions, she lip-synced to Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" while dancing around the living room with the wireless guitar controller; the director's cut, however, had her strip to her underwear halfway through the commercial and was broadcast only after prime time.

Klum is a "Real Celebrity" on the website Stardoll. On Stardoll Klum has a line of virtual jewelry, and a virtual clothing line called Jordache. Users can go to Klum's suite and interact with her by doing interviews, sending pending requests or dressing Klum's doll.

In what some pundits saw as a heavy-handed approach by Klum's lawyers, an unemployed Chemnitz butcher, who used Klum's picture in advertising for a local dance on a flyer and a web page, contested her subsequent takedown notice in court and lost, forcing him to pay court costs of 2300€. A German actress has pledged to pay on his behalf.

Heidi also became Barbie's official ambassador for the doll's 50th anniversary in 2009, even having made a Barbie doll out of herself.

On April 1, 2009, Klum appeared on the CBS television special, I Get That a Lot, as a girl working at a pizza shop.

Personal life

Klum married stylist Ric Pipino in 1997; the couple divorced in 2002. Following the divorce, she dated Flavio Briatore. In the autumn of 2003, Klum announced she was pregnant by Briatore. The same day she made this announcement, Briatore was photographed kissing Fiona Swarovski, a jewelry heiress. Klum and Briatore split shortly thereafter.

Klum gave birth to her first child, Helene (Leni) Klum (now Samuel) on May 4, 2004 in New York City. According to Klum, Briatore, Leni's biological father, is not involved in the child's life; she has stated emphatically that "Seal is Leni's father."

In early 2004, while still pregnant, Klum began a relationship with musician Seal. Klum and Seal married on May 10, 2005, on a beach in Mexico. They have three biological children together: sons Henry Gunther Adeola Dashtu Samuel (born September 15, 2005) and Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel (born November 22, 2006) and daughter Lou Sulola Samuel (born October 9, 2009). In December 2009, Seal officially adopted Leni, and her last name was changed to Samuel.

In 2008, Klum became a naturalized American citizen.

On November 21, 2009, she officially adopted the surname of her husband, Seal, and is now legally known as Heidi Samuel. However, she has not yet officially announced whether she will use that name professionally or will continue using "Klum" as her stage name. As of January 2010, her official web site, heidiklum.com, still uses "Klum" as her professional name.

She filed for divorce from Seal three months later on 6 April 2012. She also requested that her name be restored to her birth name of Heidi Klum. Their divorce was finalized on 14 October 2014.

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. Klum privately married Kaulitz in February 2019. The couple's wedding ceremony was held on the yacht Christina O in Italy in August 2019.

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