Heidi Klum is pulling back the curtain on a painful chapter from her modeling career—revealing that pregnancy once cost her work in an industry that didn’t see motherhood as marketable.
In a candid interview with Paper magazine, the longtime supermodel shared that one client dropped her while she was expecting, claiming she had lost her appeal. “When I was pregnant, they suddenly didn’t want to work with me anymore,” Klum recalled. According to the 51-year-old fashion icon, the assumption was clear: becoming a mother somehow made her less desirable in front of the camera.
Klum, who shares four children—Leni, 21, Henry, 20, Johan, 19, and Lou, 16—with ex-husband Seal, said the lack of support extended beyond bookings. At the time, pregnant women were rarely visible in fashion campaigns or on television. She continued working throughout her pregnancies, including while appearing on major shows, but finding stylish maternity options proved to be another uphill battle. “I wasn’t going to hide at home just because I was pregnant,” she explained. “I still had to be on stage, on TV, in front of people.”
Frustrated by the limited choices, Klum turned the problem into a business opportunity, launching her own maternity line in 2010. She said she constantly found herself wondering what she was supposed to wear while juggling a high-profile career and a growing family. Rather than step back, she leaned in—and created what she felt the market was missing.
Now, as her older children begin stepping into the modeling world themselves, Klum sees signs of real change. Her daughter Leni noted that the industry is far more inclusive than it was during her mom’s early career, with broader definitions of beauty and more opportunities for different body types and backgrounds. Looking back, Klum’s experience highlights just how much the fashion world has evolved—and how far it still has to go.
