Heidi Klum Reveals Client Refused to Work With Her When She Was Pregnant

Heidi Klum revealed that becoming a parent while juggling a modeling career was no walk in the park.

“I remember I had one client. When I was pregnant, they did not want to work with me anymore,” Klum, 52, told Paper on Monday, February 23, in a joint interview with daughter Leni, 21, and son Henry, 20.

Klum continued, “They thought that I was not sexy anymore, because I was now a mother. I was defined before children as being a sexy woman, and now with a child, as being a mom. That I no longer deserved to have that, that …” trailing off before Henry asked, “Title?”

“That title,” Klum agreed. “That could also not be part of me any longer.” (Klum did not disclose the client’s name.)

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The Germany’s Next Topmodel host also reflected on her multiple pregnancies while hosting Project Runway through the years.

“I have to say, because my kids are here right now too. You didn’t see a lot of pregnant women on television. It was a big thing at the time,” she recalled. “I was pregnant with all my kids always on the show, and it was a challenge for me, because pregnancy clothes were really hard to find at the time.”

Klum said that she was inspired to create a maternity fashion line because of those experiences.

“So that’s why I started having a pregnancy line because of that, because it’s like, what am I gonna wear?” she added. “I’m not hiding in the house pregnant. I’m on the stage, I’m on TV and it’s a show about fashion, I need to have good things!”

Klum, who began hosting Project Runway in 2004, welcomed Leni with ex Flavio Briatore that same year. During her marriage to Seal, which lasted from 2005 to 2014, Klum welcomed Henry in 2005 and son Johan and daughter Lou in 2006 and 2009, respectively. (Seal adopted Leni in 2009.)

Now, Klum’s two eldest kids are following in her footsteps, forging their own paths in the modeling industry.

“I always love being in front of the camera,” Leni said of why she wanted to become a model. “And I think watching my mom, as I grew up, watching her work, how happy she was and how fun her job was … I was always really inspired by that.”

Heidi Klum Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

She continued, “And when I’d go to set with her, I’d always try to get in the frame. I’d always steal her makeup artist. I’d tell him to do my hair, and I’d get in front of the camera, and I’d kind of crash the day. I just fell in love with it, and I’m still in love with it now.”

Henry, for his part, also shared a sweet sentiment about being inspired by his mom’s work in fashion.

“Yeah, same with me,” he said. “We would always visit her on her set days. And we all were just super interested. She just looked like she was having fun in her sets. And I just wanted that feeling as well.”

Henry also pointed out a “major shift” in the modeling world since the days when Klum first burst onto the scene.

“Before, with my mom’s generation, it was a stricter kind of criteria you needed to fit into, and I think a lot has changed now, and it’s given many different people an opportunity to be in the industry,” he noted. “So there’s definitely been a huge shift.”