Heidi Klum praised her daughter Leni Klum for juggling a burgeoning modeling career with her studies.
The 18-year-old baby nepo follows in her mother’s footsteps into the world of fashion while attending college in New York.
‘I am very proud of my daughter and her modeling. And she’s studying at the same time, she’s already juggling,’ said the model-turned-TV-personality-businesswoman. People during an appearance at the 36th Annual Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Leni moved to Manhattan to attend “the school she always wanted to go to” for interior design last summer, according to ET.
Sharing her mixed emotions about the film, Klum confessed that she was “sad” and “proud” to see her firstborn move to the East Coast.
Proud: Heidi Klum, 49, confessed that she is very ‘proud’ of her daughter Leni Klum for being able to juggle her burgeoning modeling career and her studies at a New York university.
Heidi grew up in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, a city near Cologne, and at the age of 19 was offered a modeling contract, which sent her on a path to New York and catwalks around the world.
After years of appearing on the covers and pages of major fashion magazines and being the face of many marketing campaigns, she branched out as a designer and into television and film, as an occasional actress and host and producer for reality stars, with shows like Project Runway, the TV show from Germany. She following Topmodel and America’s Got Talent.
Adding two of her most recent shows – America’s Got Talent: The Champions and Making the Cut to her resume – Klum is currently working on four reality series at once.
And from the sounds of the proud mother of four, she believes that Leni also has the drive to work hard on multiple fronts, as a means of achieving what she wants out of life.
In a previous interview with People, Leni revealed that she got to see her mom work up close in person, attending many of her modeling shoots.
“I’ve always gone to work with my mom and thought, ‘This looks so fun. She looks so happy while she’s working,'” Leni said last October. “Sometimes she would jump up and play with the makeup that her makeup artist brought.”
At 16, the rising star ended up making her modeling debut with her famous mother by her side and eventually on the cover of Vogue Germany.
“It’s like crazy that I did that as my first job and my mom was with me, which made it so much fun,” the New York City native shared with obvious enthusiasm.
The teenager added: ‘It was such a good day. He wasn’t nervous at all. He was so excited. I was like, “I’m finally modeling, and it’s Vogue.” There were so many things to get excited about.
‘I am very proud of my daughter and her modeling. And she’s studying at the same time, she’s already juggling,’ the model-turned-TV-personality-entrepreneur told People while she was at the Nickelodeon 36th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday.
It’s in the genes: Both Heidi and her daughter Leni began their modeling careers as teenagers.
Which makes Heidi’s rise to success even more impressive: She did it all. while involved in several major romances, including three marriages, which resulted in four children.
After her first marriage to Ric Pipino ended in divorce in 2002, Heidi began an affair with Flavio Briatore, the Italian managing director of the Renault Formula One team, in March 2003, and although the relationship didn’t last a year, she welcomed him. Leni’s birth the following year.
Soon after, the catwalk queen began her romance with singer Seal, and in a touching display of affection, he would legally adopt Leni as his daughter.
The supermodel and Seal (born Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel), 60, would have three biological children of her own: daughter Lou, 13, and sons Henry, 17, and Johan, 16.
They would end up divorcing in 2014 after almost nine years of marriage, although the last two were when they were separated.
Klum is now married to Tokio Hotel guitarist Tom Kaulitz after tying the knot in February 2019.
Leni worked her first modeling job with her mother at the age of 16, which resulted in her being on the cover of Vogue Germany.
First to leave the nest: Klum has shared her mixed emotions about being “sad” and “proud” that her firstborn has moved to college in New York City to study interior design.