Say what you will about Heidi Klum (and there’s a lot to say about her, particularly her taste in fashion and men, Seal excluded) she’s not using her kids for fame. Heidi was recently on Live with Kelly and Ryan, where I think she’s promoting America’s Got Talent, which has four episodes left this season. She talked about the fact that she never posts her kids’ faces on Instagram or online, and that she’s told her 13 year-old daughter she can’t post photos of herself. Heidi has never been anti-paparazzi, like she hasn’t come out against them taking photos while she’s out with her children, so this is surprising to hear. I guess she knows which side her bread is buttered on and doesn’t want to jeopardize that. She also told some anecdotes about her kids being away at sleepaway summer camp this year.
Heidi Klum is a self-professed protective parent.
“I am definitely one of them,” [she] said Tuesday on Live with Kelly and Ryan, after Ryan Seacrest asked as much following a conversation in which Klum, 44, discussed her reasoning for never showing her four children’s faces on social media.
“My oldest daughter [Leni] is 13 and she wants to post her face and I always say, ‘No, you’re not allowed to,’ ” explains Klum. “Whenever she’s in it, it has to be from the back or [having her face concealed somehow].”
Adds the supermodel and fashion designer, “It’s different when we do it — I feel like we’re grown-ups — but I want to try and keep them children as long as possible.”
Leni and her younger siblings — Lou Sulola, 7½, Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo, 10, and Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu Samuel, 11 — are Klum’s children with ex-husband Seal, whom she has kept an amicable relationship with since their 2012 split and subsequent 2015 divorce.
“My kids are always like, ‘I’m not allowed to do this, I can’t do that,’ ” Klum says. “They’ve been begging me to go to sleepaway camp … they just got back.”
She recalls, “My youngest son, after three days, [called and said], ‘Mom, come pick me up. I don’t like the food, I don’t like sleeping with so many boys in one room. The water is so murky. I hate it here.’ ”
But instead of swooping in, the Halloween queen stood her ground to “talk him off the ledge” — and Johan ended up having a great time at camp.
“I did not really want them to go [initially] because I can’t see what they’re doing!” Klum admits. “My other two didn’t want to come home … but my son, he was happy in the end, but I had to talk him off the ledge.”
“I had to be strong. He was sobbing on the phone,” she continues. “I’m like, ‘Son, you have to stay. You’ll be fine’ … it was harder for me [than them], I think.”
I agree with her stance on social media as a public personality, although I wish my 12 year-old would let me post photos of him to Facebook. I get it though, he should have control of that and I even ask him if it’s ok to share certain anecdotes. For instance, he would not want me to share a story like Heidi did about her son crying on the phone asking to come home from summer camp. That’s another form of violating your kids’ privacy I think, especially when you’re a celebrity and those stories get disseminated by the press. We already embarrass them so much by existing, they don’t want us to put their personal stuff on the internet too.
photos credit:Pacific Coast News, WENN and Backgrid
This reminds me…
Have you seen that cleaning solution commercial where the parents are secretly taping their kids, hoping for the vid to go viral?
I found it so gross! We should not be taping kids or taking pictures 24/7, then getting mad when they are teens and doing the same.
I find it a bit hypocritical that she allows the papparazzi to photo her children and show their faces but doesn’t want her/them to post them on social media. I wonder how closely she monitors their social media. There is so much out there (Instagram, FB, SnapChat, Musically, YouTube, etc) that it would be hard to monitor it all.
she has limited control over what the paparazzi do, so i don’t kow where it’s hypocritical to exert control where she can and let go where she cannot. btw i think she made sure (legally) that in the european press her kids faces are always blurred.
Well she doesn’t have control over paps so that’s not a good or fair comparison. And unfortunately the US does not have protection for kids like Europe does
yes, her kids’ faces are indeed always blurred in the pictures here
I actually feel this a good example of choosing your battles. Things are the way they are and sometimes by complaining abt something celebs bring attention to what they want to protect and she probably knows this so she focuses on the stuff she can actually control and have some influence on. And as far as I know (mb I’m wrong though) she doesn’t do pap strolls with the kids, so I don’t see her being hypocritical at all.
Good for her and good for those kids. I have had enough of people like Princess Nagini exploiting their kids on social media in an attempt to control their own image.
I agree. Also kIds shouldn’t need images or stylists either.
Yes! We are the same, we do not post photos of our daughter’s face on social media, I email or private message photos to relatives that live abroad. She should have her privacy respected and when she is old enough to choose she can post photos of herself.
I’ve posted photos of my daughter on Facebook since she was born, mostly because I never really thought of it as an invasion of her privacy. I’ve rethought this since then. The cat is out of the bag, unfortunately, but I have dramatically cut down on the photos of her posted there and only post benign stuff, like posing in her Halloween costume or something. I do worry about this a bit, tho.
Good on Heidi for being tough on the camp thing and making her son stay. I’m not sure I’d have the strength to do that if my daughter called me sobbing like that.
I feel people were really naive especially at the beginning of Facebook. If you want to update close family to what’s going on with your kid you can change your privacy definitions so only certain people can see those images. I have friends who live abroad and this is what they do so their parents can feel closer to their own family like seeing grandkids growing up.
I think this is an interesting comment on who we invite into our lives on Facebook as well – I have around 220 friends, all people I’m close with or are family/extended family. Pretty much everyone I would invite to a wedding. About once a year I go through and delete people I’m not close with or lose touch with. I have a 9 month old son and I love to share pics of him on Facebook. My privacy settings are such that only friends can see, not “friends of friends”. I’m pretty comfortable sharing (now), but will definitely reevaluate as he gets older. I get a lot more freaked out when people have 1000+ “friends” and zero privacy settings :/
and a facebook to a certain degree is different since its family and friends that are seeing the pictures. Not quite the same as a public account where you have millions of followers, or the media looking to make an article out of something you post.
I think that’s what you call a Mom. Heidi wasn’t her children to be children. Although, maybe the paparazzi takes the photos of them but you can’t do nothing about that really unless you ask them not to. However, Heidi is teach her children to be strong and responsible. I will say that it was you call a Mom.
Finally! So happy to read this. I am always shocked and a little sad to see Facebook or Instagram pages full of kid’s pictures. They are not our things. Conversely, our daughter tried to Snapchat my husband and I doing yoga without even telling us – I spotted it by chance – and I forbade her to put any images of us in there. Goes both ways.
Now she’s older and would even like us to share photos of her accomplishments. But it’s her decision.
I always admire celebs that don’t show their kids faces or show them from behind. I think those are good moves and does not expose them too early. Lin does this (shows his kid from behind) and others as well. It gives them agency and protects them
Good for her, although posting pictures of them and then covering their faces with emojis is a little creepy.
I post photos of my kids on FB, but my page is private and my “friends” are all family members and actual friends. I completely understand a celebrity, or even a “regular” person, not wanting to post photos if their page is public for anyone to see.
I am so glad FB did not exist as a child. I know my mother would’ve posted every single detail about my life. I’m not a parent, but I have strong opinions on what some people share about their children. Kids deserve some privacy.
I agree!
Ok, I don’t have a personal Facebook or any social media at all, so I really don’t understand the need to post her children at all if she is trying to protect their privacy.
Good for her, so refreshing, especially after reading about Kim and North. What a difference.
She should give the Kartrashians a few advices.
I think it’s a good idea and comes down to the parents & the child. My 9-year-old loves it when I post his pics on FB. But I’m not famous and anything I share about him is generally of the “this was funny/smart/cool” variety, nothing I could see embarrassing him. At nine, the kid of a non-celebrity, I don’t think he needs all that much privacy.
I think to some degree its great. I think kids in general deserve the right to have a say in how they are being portrayed/represented online. Especially since its so prevalent in our lives and can open them up to criticism and what not. However, if the eldest one doesnt mind, then I think its a tad silly to keep saying no. As long as she isnt posing suggestively or whatever, then it should be fine. Especially if its once in awhile. *shrugs*.