Heidi: “Getting ready for the runway is like training for a fight”
The supermodel opens up about maintaining her catwalk figure, being branded a ‘cougar’, and backstage dance parties with co-star Mel B
Her incredible looks and jawdropping H figure have seen her dominate the runway as one of the world’s top supermodels for almost 30 years. But while some celebrities boast about their fast metabolisms or good genes, Heidi Klum, 44, is refreshingly honest about staying in shape – admitting she has to put in the work with her diet.
She says, “I do love a Big Mac and fries, but I don’t eat a lot of bad food. For me, it’s about food more than anything else. I don’t have a trainer, I just eat very healthily.”
And Heidi says she loves to cook for others and often makes traditional dishes from her native Germany.
She says, “I cook many things. I do schnitzel and potatoes with vegetables. I do salads, I do yams with marshmallows on top, regular potatoes, I do gratin, meatballs. I love food and I love cooking. Like some people need to go to a spa – I like to cook!”
Heidi shot to global stardom in 2002 when she became the first German model to walk the Victoria’s Secret runway. And she admits prepping for the catwalk can be like training for a “fight”.
The mum of four – who has daughter Helene, 14, with Italian tycoon ex Flavio Briatore, and Henry, 12, Johnan, 11, and Lou, eight, with singer ex-husband Seal – reveals, “I once walked the runway about four or five weeks after giving birth to my son, Lou. That was kind of like getting ready for a fight. I mean, I’m not a fighter, but that’s what I would assume a fighter would do. Just before you go fight, you train more. That’s what I would do.”
TOYBOY ROMANCE
After splitting from Seal in 2012, Heidi enjoyed a three-year romance with art curator Vito Schnabel, 31. Most recently, she was spotted getting hot and steamy while holidaying in Mexico with new toyboy Tom Kaulitz, 28, frontman of German rock band Tokio Hotel.
Speaking recently about being dubbed a “cougar”, Heidi insisted, “It’s not about age. It doesn’t matter what people say. As long as you know that when you close your door in your own home, you have an amazing time together, that’s all that really matters.” She also slammed criticism that she’s too old to model underwear now she’s in her forties, insisting, “Sometimes people say, ‘You’re 44, you’re turning 45, why are you not giving the baton to someone else?’ I always think there are a lot of women my age... 50, 60, 70... What? Do we have an expiration date? Can we not also still feel sexy? Why do we always have to be 20 or 30 years old? Why can’t there be an older woman in a campaign? So I’m still doing it.”
Aside from modelling, Heidi also has a packed work schedule as a judge on America’s Got Talent – alongside Simon Cowell, Mel B and comedian Howie Mandel – as well as hosting Germany’s Next Top Model and Project Runway.
BUSY SCHEDULE
Asked how she juggles it all, she explains, “It’s like you see what’s in front of you and you react to that. I mean, for me, America’s Got Talent is probably the easiest one to do because I don’t produce it, I don’t have to look at the cut before it airs, I don’t have to prep for the show and I don’t have to come up with a concept or ideas – none of that stuff. I just show up and I get to see amazing talent and judge that. With everything else, I have to do way more. Before, during and after.”
And she admits she and fellow judge Mel B often get pumped up for a long day of filming for America’s Got Talent – which is hosted by Tyra Banks – with backstage dance parties.
CLOSE FRIENDSHIP
She says, “Me and the judges know each other from before [America’s Got Talent] and we’ve definitely all grown closer on the show because we’re filming such long days. We’ve seen each other at our best and worst! Mel has loud speakers in her dressing room, so we have a dance party to get ourselves riled up.” And referring to recent stories about Mel reuniting with the Spice Girls, Heidi says she thinks the band would be perfect for a performance on the talent show. She laughs, “I’d vote yes on them performing! And if that happens, there might be an extra Spice Girl joining them [laughs]! Honestly, I think everyone wants them to be back.”