At 53, Heidi Klum Says She's Just Getting Started

Heidi Klum isn’t slowing down—and she wants you to know it. At 53, the model, TV host, and mother of four is juggling the 22nd season of Project Runway (premiering July 9 at 9:30 p.m. on Freeform), a Calzedonia beachwear campaign, a new role as UNICEF USA ambassador, and hosting Germany’s Next Top Model later this year.“I always say I’m 53 and just getting started,”she tells Us Weekly.“I love what I do, and I always have.”

What’s striking isn’t just her workload—it’s her unapologetic refusal to play the aging-out game that Hollywood keeps trying to force on women. Early in her career, Klum didn’t fit the mold. With what she describes as“a sporty body—big boobs, wider hips—and a smile,”she was deemed wrong for high fashion. Designers couldn’t figure out what to do with her. Rather than shrink herself into someone else’s vision, she carved her own path, eventually landing the 1998 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover and becoming the first German model to wear Victoria’s Secret Angel wings. The lesson she learned then—be authentic, find your niche, don’t force yourself into a box—still drives her today.

Her take on the modern weight-loss and cosmetic surgery craze reveals how far she’s come from that era of rigid beauty standards. She’s not interested in Ozempic. She’s not opposed to procedures, but she’s clear: people should do what genuinely makes them happy, not what they think they’re supposed to do. Interestingly, her husband Tom Kaulitz—a 36-year-old musician she married in 2019—was the one who told her she’d look better with more weight on her frame.“This is not something you’re told in the industry, ever,”Klum says.“But when I look back at photos, he’s right.”

The marriage itself is a quiet refusal of another Hollywood script. Despite their 17-year age gap, Klum credits their German roots and shared values for their connection—something she couldn’t replicate with partners from America, England, or Australia. They navigate the distance when he tours and she films (she’s joining him for a full November tour), and they keep the spark alive through what she coyly calls“exercise.”They’ve passed the seven-year itch without a scratch, and she’s watching her kids—including daughter Leni (22) and son Henry (20)—navigate modeling and entertainment with their eyes open, grounded by a childhood where they saw both the glamour and the grind behind closed doors.

What emerges from the interview is a woman who stopped seeking permission a long time ago. She’s not performing the role of“role model”—she’s just living her life loudly: swimming topless on beaches, laughing at being confused with the Statue of Liberty at the Met Gala, keeping her family tight around the dinner table. Her confidence doesn’t come from her looks or her achievements, though those are substantial. It comes from knowing exactly who she is and refusing to apologize for it. At 53, that’s the most radical thing a woman in this industry can do.