Heidi Klum and Her Children Take Us Behind the Scenes

It is quite the achievement to be an international supermodel. It is another thing entirely to be a beloved public figure on an ever-shifting world stage, with decades of an industry-spanning career under your belt. And still, Heidi Klum is powering full steam ahead into 2026.

The supermodel and television powerhouse is starting the year with a brand new two-part series that doesn’t just follow her professionally, but introduces her now adult children, Henry and Leni. Premiering February 22 and March 1 on ProSieben and Joyn, On and Off the Catwalk chronicles Klum at the peak of her prowess, while also shadowing Henry and Leni’s own burgeoning modeling careers.

But don’t expect this to be yet another reality television show. “It’s not really us being at our house, sitting on the couch or the kitchen,” Heidi explains to PAPER. “It’s taking you behind the scenes of our work life. Normally, you see the end product. When you see a campaign in magazines, or in store windows, or a commercial on TV. But you never really know too much about the people behind it.”

Having been at the helm of Project Runway since 2004, there’s a sense of already knowing Heidi Klum, whose effortless pivot from being known as a model to celebrated as a media personality has become something of a blueprint for supermodels today. The show’s longevity has seen Project Runway become an unshakeable pillar in an over-saturated, scandal-riddled talent show genre. Her catchphrases – “one day you’re in, the next day you’re out” – are favourites amongst fashion followers and pop culture enthusiasts alike.

The show, and her towering legacy, have cemented Heidi as a living legend of her industry.She’s not cruel, she’s fair. She’s sparklingly outgoing, but not remotely annoying. It’s evidently a winning alchemy. After what is perhaps one of the most successful careers in the business – Heidi is arguably Germany’s most high profile living celebrity – the model and television host is calm, composed and conversational when we speak over Zoom.

Henry and Leni, aged 20 and 21 respectively, are similarly sweet and engaging. The apple may not fall far from the tree, but don’t expect them to be repurposed into the same toffee candy treats. “I don’t think we really are in the same category with Halloween costumes,” Leni says after I – obviously – ask about Heidi’s other stamp upon contemporary culture. “I wore a onesie, sometimes. Like a unicorn onesie.”

“Yeah, because you were cool,” Heidi says to laughter from her children. “You were like, just going to run around with this unicorn thing.” For more on that unicorn onesie, and their upcoming docuseries, read the rest of the exclusive PAPER cover story with Heidi Klum, Leni Klum and Henry Samuel below.

(This interview has been edited.)

Heidi, you’ve been watched and photographed and filmed your entire career. With this upcoming series, what will audiences see that they’ve not seen from you before?

Heidi: In the second episode, we did a whole week in Paris, and kind of showed the entire itinerary from Monday through Sunday. Like, what was going on, all the different steps, all the different fittings, the head takes, going to here, going to Vivienne Westwood, then this, then that. It’s a whole overview. Documenting what is happening in our real life. Nothing is really staged.

Henry: It’s very raw.

Heidi: It's very like, what really happened. We were in New York all together, for example, and we were getting ready for my big annual Halloween party. Opening the doors to Henry doing his costume and getting ready, and at that same time, he was doing castings. The cameras followed him to some castings.

And then going back to Europe. I'm shooting with Leni, the big Intimissimi campaign, and showing what a day of shooting is like. There’s some old footage of them visiting me on the set of Project Runway, Leni walking down the catwalk on the Project Runway catwalk… Or to Henry landing this big, high fashion label, with YSL, doing all these different YSL jobs. It's trotting along to all of our different business ventures, so to speak.

Leni and Henry, what are you guys most excited for audiences to see from these two episodes?

Leni: I think the behind the scenes is going to be fun for people to see. Even when I’m seeing another model's BTS snippet, I'm always like, oh, I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when she was shooting this. So now people are going to get that chance to see what goes down while everything's being filmed or shot.

Henry: Yeah, like… What’s the word? When you’re taking a photo of someone- candid. We're all just expressing ourselves and just showing who we really are.

What inspired you two to want to become models?

Leni: I always love being in front of the camera. 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. 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: Yeah, same with me. 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.

I want to go back to something that we mentioned earlier: social media. I was wondering, Heidi, what you've noticed with your children's careers, and comparing that to how you started out in a very non-social media world.

Heidi: I wish I had it back then! I wish it wasn't there at all… someone to pull the plug out of this wall and then it's completely gone… that would also be cool. And then we all had to reshuffle again and figure out something else to do. You know, starting out this age, my daughter's age, I would have done, could have done, so many amazing things. I've traveled the world; I went to India and Africa and Brazil.

I would have loved to have had this kind of tool in my life. I'm creative. I could have done so many fun things at the time, with my work and all the different shoots that I did. I mean, I get to do it now. Before, you only had being written up in the newspaper or magazine. You had to hope that you would be seen as you are.

Henry and Leni, how do you find navigating your careers within this social media world of not only just the modelling industry, but the wider the celebrity sphere?

Henry: I would say it's a blessing and a curse, social media. There's so many people in the world and through social media, everyone can contact you, each other, through that. There’s a lot of hate out there that no one needs to see.

Leni: I think it's also scary, because once something's online and on social media, it's there forever. My god. Me, personally? I don't post a lot. Honestly, I'm unsure why, but I don't post as much as the people that I follow. And I think maybe a part of that is because I know that once it's out there, it's there forever.

Heidi: It’s also good though. I found out that for some people, it was important, the things I was posting, like my soups. I know my kids are always laughing at this, but I had so many people write to me. There's so many people that are wanting to know about these soup recipes, and that has inspired them to make more soups, and how fun it has been for them to make soups. Because this is day to day stuff that we all do. I think it’s good we inspire each other by doing those types of posts. You know Nara, Lucky Blue Smith’s wife?

Leni: Nara Smith, yeah.

Heidi: I love seeing all the things she does. And then she makes this cabbage salad. And I’m like, oh my god, I forgot about this salad. And then I run out and I buy this salad.

I found myself making breakfast the other day inspired by what Gwyneth Paltrow put on her Instagram story.

Heidi: Yeah! Omelets.

Heidi, I’ve got to ask about Project Runway. Can you give an insight into what we can look forward to for its 22nd season?

Heidi: We have, again, very interesting challenges, great guest judges. But really, it’s the designers that make it special. You can have a great challenge, but if the designers are not that talented, then it's not gonna fly. You need to see that wow moment, where it goes from fabric to something so fabulous walking down the catwalk within one day. I think the awe is still there, that people have, when someone can create something in one day with $200 fabric and make it look like ten grand.

What are your most memorable people or moments over the years?

Heidi: Literally episode one of the first season, when Austin Scarlet had a whole shopping cart full of corn, and he ripped all the husk off the corn, and then he used that as the fabric, and he made the corn husk dress.

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. 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. So that's why I started having a pregnancy line because of that, because it's like, what am I gonna wear? 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!

I can only imagine the feeling of pioneering a representation of women’s bodies on a show like Project Runway.

Heidi: I could see it. I remember I had one client. When I was pregnant, they did not want to work with me anymore. 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…

Henry: Title?

Heidi: That title. That could also not be part of me any longer.

Leni, Henry, has there been a shift within modelling for our generation?

Leni: For sure. I think there’s definitely been a major shift. 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. So there's definitely been a huge shift.

Henry: Yeah. I would say the same.

Speaking of the next generation of models… Heidi, I know Germany’s Next Top Model returns next month.

Heidi: Yeah, I’m still filming. We film about three and a half months to do 25, two-hour episodes. I also did a little song with Diplo, which is coming up slowly, “Red Eye,” which is so fun. I literally texted him. I’ve known Diplo for a very long time. I said, Hey you, I'm sure you have so many different songs in your drawers that you're working on, do you have one that you can throw my way for my TV show in Germany…

I have no idea how you manage all of this. TV shows, music, modelling, parenting…

Heidi: There's two of me. One is being domestic at home, in front of the computer, and the other one is going to the office. I’m a Gemini!