Heidi Klum — Germany's most beautiful export

Heidi Klum's collaboration with German global discount supermarket Lidl was just the next chapter in the supermodel's long and successful career. Now 44, it all began for Heidi with a modeling contest in 1992. After winning against thousands of contestants, the teenager from Bergisch Gladbach graduated from high school and then moved to the US in 1993.

Klum's breakthrough came in 1998 when she was chosen for the cover of Sports illustrated. That same year she began working with Victoria's Secret, whose annual lingerie shows (like this one pictured in 2008) are legendary. Heidi became the first angel from Germany to walk at the event.

Apart from the Victoria's Secret shows (pictured here in 2009), Klum did more photo modeling than catwalks. In 2011, fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld criticized her for not appearing at the major fashion shows. Klum's response? At 176 cm tall, she was "too short and round."

Since 2004, Heidi Klum has been ensuring her profession doesn't run out of young models — in front of TV cameras in both Germany and the US. On Germany's Next Topmodel, she searches for the most beautiful girl in the country, amidst plenty of trials, tears and troubles. Klum consistently rejects criticism that she is perpetuating unhealthy beauty ideals for young women.

Heidi Klum became a US citizen in 2008. She is known for extravagantly celebrating the American holiday of Halloween. Since 2000, she has invited her celebrity friends to a massive Halloween bash. There is also a lot of speculation ahead of time over her own costume, which is always elaborate and never disappoints — such as this one in 2003.

Klum's private life hasn't always been a walk in the park. After a six-year marriage with hair stylist Ric Pipino, she had her first child with Italian Formula 1 manager Flavio Briatore in 2004. A year later, she married British pop singer Seal (pictured), with whom she has three children. They divorced in 2012.

After a short affair with Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis, Klum spent three years together with Vito Schnabel, the son of American artist Julian Schnabel. They broke up in 2017. She went public about dating Tokio Hotel musician Tom Kaulitz (pictured) during the Cannes Film Festival.

But Heidi doesn't have any time for relationship drama. Besides producing her modeling casting shows — she even got an Emmy for Project Runway in 2015 — she has also appeared in the US series Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. In addition, she designs fashion collections, including the newest one for Lidl, writes books, and spends time with her four children.