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Born in Bergisch Gladbach, North
Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Heidi Klum became famous after winning a
televised modeling contest in Germany at age 18. After finishing school,
she accepted the modeling contract she won and worked as a model
throughout Europe briefly before moving to the United States. She lived in
Miami, Florida with little success acquiring modeling jobs before moving
to New York City. She acquired world-wide fame after signing a contract
with Victoria's Secret and appearing on the cover of the Sports
Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1998. Since then, she has appeared in many
well-known fashion magazines, had several small acting roles in TV shows
and movies, and produced and hosted two reality shows of her own: Project
Runway and Germany's Next Top Model. She co-authored a book with Alexandra
Postman entitled Body of Knowledge: Eight Rules of Model Behavior, which
gives her biography, advice on how to be successful, and many of her
favorite pictures.
Klum has been on the cover of most of the well-known fashion magazines
including Vogue Magazine, ELLE and Marie Claire. She became known for
modeling in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and the Victoria's Secret
catalog. In addition to modeling, she has appeared in several TV shows,
including Spin City, Sex and the City, and Yes, Dear. 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 also had a small cameo appearance in The Devil Wears
Prada and The Perfect Stranger.
In December of 2004, she became the host and judge of the reality show
Project Runway on the U.S. cable television channel Bravo, 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
also received an Emmy Awards nomination for the show for the first and
second seasons.
Klum has designed her own clothing lines (including one for infants) that
were featured in the German mail-order catalog "Otto". She also has
designed shoes for Birkenstock, jewelry for Mouawad, and swimsuits –
featured in the 2002 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue – that, for a
limited time, were available for sale through her personal website. She
was one of the designers of the Victoria's Secret lingerie line "The
Body", which was 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 only 36 minutes. A second line of her jewelry
collection debuted on QVC on April 14, 2007, with similar success.
She has produced two fragrances, called "Heidi Klum" and "Me", which are
currently available for sale through her official website.
She was also involved in the development of a namesake rose, the Heidi
Klum rose, which is available in Germany.
Germany's Next Top Model is a German reality television show which pits
contestants against each other in a variety of competitions to determine
who will win a modeling contract with IMG. Heidi Klum hosts the show, and
it was co-produced by model Tyra Banks. The show is currently airing its
second season.
Single cover of Heidi Klum's debut single "Wonderland".Heidi Klum is also
an artist and has 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.
Her other projects have included music and video games. She is featured in
the 2004 James Bond video game Everything or Nothing, where she plays a
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 album
Wonderland.
In November 2006 Klum released her debut single "Wonderland", which was
written for a series of television advertisements for the German retailer
"Douglas". Proceeds from the single were given to a children's charity in
her hometown of Bergisch Gladbach.
Klum married celebrity hairstylist Ric Pipino on September 6, 1997. The
couple divorced in November 2002. She has also dated Red Hot Chili Peppers
lead singer Anthony Kiedis.
Klum has a daughter, Helene "Leni" Klum, who was born on May 4, 2004 and
named after Klum's grandmother. Her father is Klum's former boyfriend and
Formula One manager, Flavio Briatore. Klum's husband, British musician
Seal, is helping her raise the child. Even in the earlier stages of their
relationship, Klum said Seal treated Leni as if she was his own child.
Klum and Seal were wed on May 10, 2005, on a beach in Mexico. Klum gave
birth to their son, Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu Samuel, in Los Angeles on
September 12, 2005. On November 22, 2006, in Los Angeles, Klum and Seal's
second son, Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel, was born. |
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"I'm very lucky. As I get a
lot of role because of my name as a model and I probably wouldn't
have got them without it. You have to make the best of your
situation"
"Michael J. Fox is a great, sexy, funny, short man. I had so much
fun on that show ("Spin City" (1996)). There was this scene where we
were lying in bed together after sex. But instead of having a
cigarette, I start yodelling, because I'm German, see? He kept
making me laugh, we were cracking up".
"Going blonde is like buying yourself a light bulb!"
"I believe that when you put a smile out there, you get a smile
back."
"When I came to America, I was really into all the things people eat
here...People called me 'Muffin' because I would eat muffins all the
time." |
