Heidi Klum Talks Marital Bliss & Keeping 'The Girls' Perky
Project Runway, Victoria's Secret and Germany's Next Top Model maven Heidi Klum is partnering with Diet Coke and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in a national heart health awareness campaign called The Heart Truth. On Friday morning we got Klum on the phone, where she confessed that she drinks more water than Diet Coke, but believes strongly in the cause that Coca-Cola is promoting.
And speaking of diets, we asked her how she stays in shape five months after having her fourth child, daughter Lou Samuel, with husband Seal.
Klum: My secret is my husband. I have a good husband and he keeps me motivated. I want to look good for my husband, I want to be healthy for my children. Sometimes [Seal and I] work out together, sometimes we go to the gym together and run next to each other for 30 minutes straight. It's exhausting, and he loves it when I do it with him.
HP: What are your tips for maintaining marital bliss?
Klum: We're happy, we're in love, and we're having a great time. We love family life, we love to travel and experience things together and make memories together. We appreciate each other, we respect each other, he understands what I do, and I understand what he does. And I also think it's about having fun and doing silly things.
HP: Speaking of which, will you two sing together again?
Klum: There's nothing planned right now, no.
HP: You recently appeared topless in a beautiful Allure spread. How do you keep "the girls" perky after four children?
Klum: [Laughs] I think in terms of keeping "the girls" perky, well, I think there's no secret to it. They either are or they aren't. And I think that just has to do with exercise and a lot with your genes. You either have the genes or you don't have the genes. Some people don't get stretch marks. I get more wrinkles around my eyes because that's in my genes. My mom has that so I have that. At a certain point you can't do anything about things, they just appear.
HP: You've never been stick thin, but you've also walked on the runway. Do you think runway models are getting too thin?
Klum: I can only speak for myself. On Germany's Next Top Model, it's very important to cast girls that are absolutely fit, that have great bodies, that are in shape. I'm not looking for thin girls. I'm also not looking for overweight girls. I'm looking for healthy girls who can be role models. I myself have never been super thin. Probably that's why I never did a lot of the fashion shows. But on another note, I think that you can't always make everyone responsible for a certain thing that happens either. A lot of times people look at celebrities and say they're role models [but] they're just people, too.
HP: Have you ever felt insecure or self-conscious about your body?
Klum: I think my business is about people making you feel self-conscious. All eyeballs are on you when you're a model, when you're on the runway or in front of the camera, you're always looked up and down and back up, so that comes with the territory. But at the end of the day I feel like my parents gave me a good solid foundation. I know who I am and there are things I wouldn't do. I wouldn't starve myself, I also never wanted to chop my hair off when people said I should do this and I should do that. And I always knew who I was and said they're going to book me like this or not book me.
I don't want to be a role model because I'm just a person too, so I can have mistakes and some people don't like what I do. People always push this role model thing on you. I just want to be a good role model for my children.
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Huffington Post Anya Strzemien First Posted: 05/19/2010 5:12 am Updated: 05/25/2011 3:55 pm