Thinking She Wasn’t High-Fashion Enough, Heidi Klum Started Her Modeling Career in Catalogs

Parents asked us to stop, but none of us listened. We were having too much fun. Suddenly, I tripped and fell right on top of a parent’s empty drinking glass. It broke, and my left leg was a bloody mess.

My father quickly drove me to the hospital, where I needed seven stitches. Fortunately, my leg wasn’t damaged. Only a scar remained. It’s funny, years later, on a photo shoot, I had to have my legs insured. The insurer put up $1.2 million for one leg but only $1 million in coverage for the scarred one.

My family lived in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, a small town just outside of Cologne. My mother and I rarely went into Cologne, except for shopping trips on sale days twice a year.

We’d go early in the morning to get to the best stuff, since we didn’t have the means to buy designer clothes. We also got creative with the bargains we found.

We lived on the first floor of a small, two-family house. An older woman lived above us, which was sweet. When my parents were both out, it felt to me and my older brother, Michael, that our grandmother was upstairs looking after us.

My mom, Erna, worked as a hairdresser, mostly from home. She has always been genuine and loving.  My dad, Günther, was head of production for 4711, one of Germany’s biggest perfume and skin-cream brands. He is loving but business-minded and sometimes tough. I’m a mixture of both of them.

Growing up, I loved being creative. My bedroom walls were covered with blue-cloud wallpaper, and I had AstroTurf grass carpeting. I really got into Wham!, so my walls were plastered with their posters. I even had a piano in my room that was attached to the wall. I took lessons every week for about five years.

I wore makeup for as long as I can remember. And crazy clothes. I was always expressive, even in school. That set me apart, even though I was teased for being different. I didn’t care.

I was obsessed with dancing—ballet, ballroom, tap and belly dancing. I started taking lessons three times a week when I was 6 and continued until I left Germany at 18. Dancing gave me natural confidence in myself and my body.

But I was terrified to perform publicly. Whenever I felt stage fright, I challenged myself and just dove in. My love for standing out suppressed my anxiety, a reflex that turned out to be perfect for modeling.

In 1992, when I was 17, my friend Karin and I stumbled across a coupon in Petra, a German fashion magazine. It was for Model ’92, a televised teen-modeling contest. I filled out the entry form because it seemed like another fun thing to do.

Of the 25,000 contestants, I won. After high school, I accepted a modeling contract in New York. When I arrived in 1994, I lived with two other models in a Manhattan apartment that was horrible. The place was a dump.

I also realized I didn’t have the right look to be a high-fashion model. Back then, the look designer clients wanted was edgy and worn out—“heroin-chic,” they called it.

Over the next four years, I used my wholesome look to book commercials and work as a catalog model for JCPenney, Spiegel and Newport News. My bank account grew.

By doing catalogs to start, I learned how to work fast to ensure the client had 20 or more final images at the end of the shoot. In the catalog business then,

Victoria’s Secret

was the place to be. But every time I wanted to approach them, my agents said they weren’t looking for someone like me. I wanted to hear that from them.

At Victoria’s Secret, I did a fitting and got booked. I remained there as an “Angel” until 2010. During this 13-year period, I also wound up on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue followed by all the other opportunities I threw myself into.

Today, my husband, guitarist Tom Kaulitz, and I live with our four kids in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. We also have been renovating a loft apartment in Manhattan for the past three years.

New York is really more my speed. I love going outside and being in the middle of everything right away. In Bel-Air, I feel more like a mom in the country, which is great, too.

I recently was back in Germany to visit and spent time with Karin. We didn’t reminisce about finding the coupon. We just snacked on asparagus and talked about our kids.

Heidi’s Hideaway

“Making the Cut”? This season, our fashion-competition series was shot in Los Angeles. Contestants seem more outspoken and aren’t holding back.

Favorite wall at home? The one where I’ve put up all of my kids’ artwork. It’s like a gallery.

Vanity style? I’m not precise with where my beauty things go. They’re all over the place. But it’s clean.

Craving? Garlic. I love it on everything. I probably eat a bulb of garlic a week.

Favorite fix? Boiling a potato with lots of garlic and then mushing all of it into a salad.