Heidi Klum and Seal’s split takes the cover of People this week, and from the advance details on People’s site we can assume this is the official story from their camp as to what preceded their separation. I think they’re leaving out key details, as I’ve mentioned in past coverage. People mentions their Aspen trip this holiday as a stressful one for Heidi and Seal, which we’ve heard before, and they also try to explain why Heidi and Seal were so demonstrative – they were covering up the problems in their relationship. I sort-of buy that, but it doesn’t all add up for me.
As Seal opens up about his split from Heidi Klum and details about their fight-filled trip to Aspen emerge, friends of the couple reveal that the couple took great pains to hide the cracks in what seemed to be a storybook romance.
“They were just really great at keeping it private and putting on that ‘perfect couple’ front that everyone expected,” says a Klum pal. But “it’s actually been about six months that they’ve been working through some issues.”
“It was a crazy love affair with highs and lows,” says a source close to the couple, known for their over-the-top romantic gestures and lavish anniversary parties. “Most people can’t sustain the highs when they’re that extreme.”
But even though they’ve decided to part ways, says one source close to Seal, “I believe they were madly in love.”
Heidi Klum and Seal’s trip to Aspen over the holidays was supposed to be about fun, family and skiing. But, sources tell PEOPLE, the Colorado resort town turned into the place where the now-separated couple realized their marriage was over.
“Aspen didn’t go as well as planned … there were more lows than highs,” one source says. “Aspen was the final straw.”
The couple, who were often apart due to work commitments, had hoped for quality time in the mountains.
“When they came together for Christmas as a family, things had changed and they fought a lot,” another source says. “Their Aspen trip was a bit of a mess. Instead of enjoying being back together as a family, it was difficult for them to get along.”
While on vacation, Klum hit a point where she was “done with the arguing,” the second source says. “She doesn’t want to fight anymore and thinks it’s better to separate before their arguing starts to affect their kids.”
Despite what was going on behind closed doors, people who are used to seeing Klum, 38, and Seal, 48, in the celeb-friendly ski town didn’t necessarily notice signs of trouble.
“They seemed very happy together,” one photographer tells PEOPLE of the pair, who are now grieving their relationship. “They couldn’t stop kissing and cuddling. They spent a lot of time with their kids, but also managed to sneak in several solo ski runs together. If they were having problems, they were definitely not showing during the day.”
Another source, who described the vacationing couple as “playful,” says they were “talking and seemingly very much in love.”
[From two articles on People]
These are all very vague reasons and sound like things that all couples go through. What surprises me about these stories is that there’s no mention of Heidi and Seal seeking couples counseling for their issues. If they were arguing and feeling disconnected, wouldn’t that be the first course of action, especially for a couple as seemingly loved-up as these two? Maybe the full article mentions that they’ve been in counseling and this teaser article leaves it out.
Having witnessed some of my friends go through separations with their husbands, it’s almost unheard of for it to happen without someone cheating, at the very least emotionally. It’s usually the guy if it’s the wife that files, and even though the husband cheats/cheated he acts shocked that the wife wants out and claims he wants to stay with his wife and family. I know that sounds like I’m blaming Seal, but I’m just looking at this based on what I’ve seen. Many people have serious issues in their relationship, but doesn’t it seem rare for them to get divorced due to arguments or simply growing apart – especially if they have kids? Then again, none of my friends are rich. We’re middle class and we face a very harsh economic reality if we get divorced. Heidi and Seal have no such concerns. They have kids together, but they have a ton of help and it’s not like they’re ever going to scramble to make ends meet if they lose their partner’s income. They live in a different reality than the rest of us, one where they can hold lavish destination commitment ceremonies every year.
These photos are from 12-26-11 in Aspen, 10-14-11 at the pumpkin patch and 8-14-11 in Italy. Credit: FameFlynet
“…are they telling the whole story?”
Almost certainly not. I’m not sure I want to hear the whole story. Divorces tend to be tawdry, depressing and above all boring stories. This doesn’t strike me as an exception.
I’d have more sympathy for their privacy if they hadn’t used their relationship so much.
I’m not saying this out of any great admiration or love for Heidi and Seal, but why does People magazine get to stick their big noses into it anyway?! I know the “official rags” make crap up and report it, but isn’t People supposed to be the one with the “respect”? Any time I see People with big cover stories like this, it makes me think a lot less of the celebrity, and it’s probably not even their doing.
People’s stories are directly from the stars’ reps-so if they’re covering it, it’s because the people involved want their story out there.
Cheating on your partner doesn’t necesserily mean you don’t love your partner anymore.
I suppose this may be true but it means you no longer have respect for them.
That neither.
Sad. 🙁
It just makes me sad that people aren’t willing to get help for their issues, whatever they are. They were an awesome couple, and I hope they can still be great friends if they don’t work it out.
There is also Seals’s reported temper. To be yelled at constantly, while having to handle 4 children, and managing a few reality shows and modeling contracts… If the yelling is true, then there is the possibility that Heidi suggested therapy, and Seal didn’t believe they needed it.
Whatever the reason, CB, couples with kids face the same problems, but within a different reality. Kids unfortunately test a couple like no other.
And if there is cheating, well, they are keeping it covered. They both lead lives where temptation is rampant. His concert shows with groupies (she did tempt them with her constant mentioning of his package! Kidding!), and her TV and modeling gigs.
Wish truly they work things out. They were one of the very few Hollywood couples that felt real, and I was rooting for in the long run.
I had a yelling, unfaithful husband and young children. He was totally unwilling to seek counseling (because yelling and cheating was working out pretty well for him) until I filed for divorce. THEN he wanted counseling, but spent all his efforts on charming the counselor.
There are some situations (or people) where counseling just won’t work — the counselor comes from the premise that you are both reasonable and should meet somewhere in the middle. If one party is over the top, then the other person is put on the spot to accommodate the unreasonable person… sigh.
Too bad for their kids.
Hell to the yes, txmom! I have to roll my eyes when people say “anything”, or almost anything, can be worked out. Some things should just END, and no one really, truly knows another’s marriage.
Txmom, sorry for your shitty husband. Some really are in denial, and are too entrenched in their everyday hell to realize how awful it has gotten, and how sad that they refuse help.
Counseling is no miracle worker. It takes both parties to WANT to deal with the situation at hand, for it to truly work.
something else happened. (someone cheated?) and heidi filed for divorce.
I agree with you. I was shocked by their announcement because they truly seemed loving and happy in their relationship. I think my shock isn’t so much that there might be cracks in their “perfect” romance, but rather that they seem to be giving it up so easily? Where’s the counselling? If they’ve truly just grown apart, then why so lovey-dovey with each other? Most couples I’ve known who have grown apart are not kissing or cuddling, they are rarely speaking.
If all the PDA’s were for show, why? Who were they trying to fool and why did it matter? Themselves? Their kids? It’s strange, it just seems like it goes from almost a honeymoon-like kissey-cuddly relationship to divorce in the blink of an eye where you usually see couples with a failing relationship together but clearly not into each other any longer.
I do think there must be more underneath all the public declarations but it’s probably good if they are intent on divorce, that it remains respectful and amicable for their kids’ sake. Sad though. I really thought they were together for the long haul.
I agree that on the surface at least they seemed to go from point A to point Z really quickly. Something definitely doesn’t add up.
hm. idk. something in the chocolate milk ain’t clean…
I wonder if it could be some kind of addiction? And Heidi might feel the only thing she can do to help is to hold him accountable by leaving?
That would explain how they could be so lovey-dovey even til the end. And why they are being so respectful up to this point? Maybe they are both hoping for the best and that they can get it back together.
Yes, hence the stories in Daily Mail about his wild partying and seeming “out of it” at some of his commitments. I think that’s what this is: she’s tired of it, and this is her way of drawing a line.
Hell yeah he cheated, if he’s singing “Let’s Stay Together” on Ellen this week.
It really isn’t the world’s business to hear every detail of their split, and I don’t blame Heidi for not wanting everyone to know about it.
word.
You know, I could see myself going the SWINTON route if I had lots and lots of money. Two separate households on the same property. It seems like the decent thing to do when you and your spouse separate but want to co-parent.
I wouldn’t be surprised (in further years) if these two didn’t vacation together with kids and significant others.
I have no clue as to what happened. It seems drastic and for me to speculate would be useless.
I hope they both co-parent with cooperation and ease for their kids’ sake.
It seems weird to me too. I’ve been married for 10+ years, went through a separation for a while, and we’ve got two kids. It’s DIFFICULT, and we don’t even get along as well as these two. Ever. But we’re not willing to throw in the towel that easily.
Maybe part of it is the financial thing. Hubby and I both work full-time but it would definitely be tough if we were not pooling our money. Heidi and Seal don’t need to worry about that.
The part that struck me so weird is they insist they love each other. And are in love with each other.
I don’t get it.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do. At least will you know you both did your best, and you tried. Best to you both and your children hope you can work it out, and if not you’ve laid the groundwork for a good co-parenting relationship. 🙂
Thank you, I appreciate that! As far as my family goes, I never want to wonder “what if?”
Plus I’m a little stubborn 😀
I live in an upper class neighbourhood, and there are so many loveless, bitter marriages..their daughters all tell me they stay together because of MONEY. Do not want to diminish their lifestyle. Meanwhile, their kids are angry, lashing out at school, bullying. Cannot give up their big house, Lexus 330, manicures and pedicures, vacations. BTW, i live in a little house, am happily divorced, my daughter is an A average student. I moved here for the education. I drive an old car, don’t wear nice clothes, cut my own hair. But my daughter is thriving. All her friends like to hang out in my little house because “there is no fighting, & there is lots of food”. These girls live in $500,000 homes, but complain there is no food or love. Very sad indeed.
It’s kinda curious timing, with Seal’s new album coming out soon. You never know with celebs- could it be to drum up publicity? Will they “reconcile” soon? It certainly has pushed them to the forefront of exposure and gossip.
True. And Seal doesn’t act like a man who is broken up or lost anything in his interview on Ellen. But this couple was already so tedious with their poorly dressed photo ops and PDAs. Seal also came across as an expert in that whole English persona of soft spoken courtesy on Ellen.
sad news sells magazines unfortunately think about it if it wasn’t for Selena’s murder they’re wouldn’t be People en espanol. they don’t owe telling us the whole story
Do they have to?
Who the hell are we to need to hear about it- its not like were theire caring friends or something like that- on the contrary.
Exactly.
I’m really sad about this. I’m holding out for a reconciliation. I have never heard of Seal having anger issues before this came out. I know about the pap incident but a lot of stars get that way about the paps even when unprovoked. Look at Justin Timberlake, Cameron Diaz, etc.
But if it is true, he needs to get help for the sake of the kids and maybe if does get that help and Heidi sees he’s making a decision to change for the better, they could salvage their relationship. I do believe they were madly in love with one another. I can sense when sh-t is fake, (cough Justin and Selena cough). They didn’t come acorss as fake to me.
I know, this “anger” thing of Seal’s is something I’ve never heard of. If anything he seemed like a sweet, great guy.
Getting angry at the paparazzi only makes me like a person more, too.
It is possible to be in love with somebody, but not like them or perhaps just unable to live together no matter how much they love each other. It was like that with my first husband. I loved the hell out of that man, but I didn’t like him half the time and we couldn’t live together.
Especially if he’s yelling at the kids. Bully.
This just goes to show that the louder these people yell about how happy they are, the more they brag about their sex lives, and the more they treat their relationship like a celebrity brand, the more full of crap they really are.
To be clear, I don’t think they owe it to us to tell us if there’s more going on. I just do think they’re deliberately putting only part of the story out there to control their image. Which might be the best thing to do for their kids.
I believe it’s smart damage control to put out some type of statement to keep the tabs from simply making things up. Why allow the tabs to tell your story for you, which you know would be all kinds of crazy, and strange.
I can’t imagine how you could manage a relationship when you’re hardly ever together. They talked about each other more than they were actually together. Their relationship seemed to be all grand gestures of love, and very little time actually spent together. I think reality struck that a relationship is not all helicopter/igloo marriage proposals, vow renewals, and baby-making fun. So says the cynic in me.
its always been really suspicious that they had this extreme pda. thats why i dont like them, it all seemeed fake and annoying. talking about their sex life and his package. thats another of those things that bug me off: the private life is open for the public if it helps the career and if not then they want privacy. i totally respect the privacy of people like johnny depp, tom hanks or merly streep. they dont go around telling people about their love life, but if people willingly “sell out” their privacy then i dont want them to come crying at my doorstep.
all in all im sure it must be something really bad. i cant see heidi and seal giving up the marriage so quickly it served them good and gave lots of positive PR for both of them and helped their image. she as the hardworking super mom and he as the family guy with deep love for his wife earning his money with singing love songs.
Maybe one of Papa Klum tricks to promote the album of Seal and the tour.
Maybe they reconcile soon. And are on the tabloids again.
Heidi has turned into a shrew (with all those kids to care for) and needs to get over herself. Boo hoo….Seal didn’t come running back to the states to go to the Golden Globes with her so she files for divorce? What was she doing there anyway? He probably threw that in her face, too. She is such a fame whore.
agreed, Heidi should forgive, they love each other. He deserves a second chance…. He has lovingly put up with her career this whole time… Men need their own thing too, as a feminist and a humanist, I will bluntly say, don’t cut off his balls Heidi (meaning, don’t boss him around) but don’t put up with his partying ways either. But do forgive, try again and give it a go. If they both still love each other, then everything else is just drama-fluff. Marriage isn’t easy, so don’t give up- yet. There were no dealbreakers, but people are right, they aren’t dependent on each other for money…. so that makes it easier for people to give up.
I suppose the reality is that they loved each other a lot at one time and then lost that feeling somewhere along the way. I know that celebrities are prettier than most of us but it doesn’t mean that their lives are, and it seems a bit unrealistic to expect them to live fairytale lives anymore than we do.
True.
Right. Shows that looks and money aren’t everything.
I do love and admire them alot, i feel so sad.
I feel it was their first real DOWN in their marriage
last year,i separated of my boyfriend for some reasons and we reconciled because we were unhappy and we work on our troubles now
i think it’s weird that his album is out soon (especially i see all their Aspen photos)but i hope the divorce will work better than their marriage
Of course we don’t know the whole story and shouldn’t know the dirty laundry on the demise of a relationship. Seal will be on Piers Morgan Friday to promote his album and didn’t cancel. He talks generically about their marriage again. It’s smart actually he’s hitting it head on as it takes the wind out of the story a bit.
Maybe they will reconcile…you never know. My guess..one got busted for cheating and it was over. After all the dust settles and people calm down it could work out. Therein lies the problem with celebs..the minute something goes wrong in a marriage its over. I’ve been married 21 years and we have had serious problems but we have worked them out and are very happy. It can’t be a honeymoon phase ALL the time.
Agree!
Agree, it is Heidi who perhaps because of her beauty, good looks, fame, and money thinks that life *is a fairytale….. yes there are downs, and yes there are real let-downs, and everything, but the man does love you and you both share a great love. Marriage isn’t a t.v. show, it’s real, sometimes it sucks and sometimes it’s great, right……
This relationship made her richer and more successful than better Sports Illustrated/Victoria’s Secrets models. I prefer Rebecca Romajn lookswise but she has a much quieter profile and has fewer endorsements than Heidi KLum.
Like Renee Zellwegger with Bridget Jones, Heidi got rich by ruining her looks and body permanently. Renee will never get back her Jerry Maguire face – see Down With Love if you don’t believe me.
The beach, the ski slopes – not places that are good for Heidi or Leni’s skin!
I don’t know why celebs even bother to get married, none of them seems to take it seriously. ALL marriages have ups and downs, but a good marriage has the strength to get through the bad stuff. (Speaking as a woman who has been with my husband for 14 years).
Its sad so many celeb marriages nowadays are a joke and rushed into. There are alot of celeb couples who have been married happily for decades but these are the celebs with class who arent in the tabloids week after week (like Heidi and Seal showing up all places the paparazzi hang out) so we dont hear about them.
People magazine should do story on long married celeb couples. THAT we should be celebrating and buying magazines for not this trash.
sometimes it feels like celebs only get married for a fun ceremony :/
PLEASE tell me she did not pose for that cover! What narcisistic, ego maniac poses on a magazine cover & talks publicly about their very recent divorce?!!
Even if it was old picture wouldnt she have to ok it being used & get paid for it being used? Maybe it a picture People owns the rights to – i hope so.
I’m sure it was from a pile of stock photos. Ever heard of Getty Images? She prob does 50+ photo shoots a year.
Her whole story of how they met creeps me out on her part. How she loves to tell how he was wearing tight biking shorts and she could see his package! Great foundation for a relationship.
seeing the happier times photos made me sigh 🙁 i hope they’ll both be happy no matter what and that their children remain unaffected
Well, I ordered his Soul 2 album that just came out. In his promos he’s been singing some great songs. Love his covers of so many great R&B songs. Wishing On a Star is the best. And the great Trevor Horn is producing with him again. The guy is otherworldy with music.
Well, in his interview for Friday, he says never say never, but that he can’t speak for her, that they were always so tight and could always work through any issues and fights before. I guess not this time. But he did say he doesn’t see it right now for him.
I bet she is listening to him in these interviews seething, thinking, oh, all this love. Then why were you so miserable on our vacation. Working apart for a lot of the last year I think took its toll on them, thus much more fighting. Let’s face it, Angie and Brad would be over if they weren’t such a tight unit traveling together all the time.
I still think their extreme “highs and lows” and his “inability to control his anger” point to physical abuse issues. And if a man is beating a woman, no amount of therapy is going to help. Curiously, they say it takes a woman an average of 7 years to get out of an abusive relationship. That’s how long Heidi has been married. Yes, it’s all speculation, but I think the language that is being used points to this (if, in fact, it’s Heidi that’s using this language).
Good God, where on earth do you get he has ever physically abused her? LOL He was raised by an abusive father and has very strong feelings about that.
i dont know after the fail attempt of johnny and vanessa of people mag i dont believe them anymore
I watched the Ellen interview carefully. When Ellen told Seal the public is surprised by the split and he basically said so is he, that struck me. It feels less like a betrayal like cheating and more like some ongoing behavior that he was engaging in the Heidi go fed up with or possibly a betrayal on HER part that he didn’t see coming and still loves her an wants to ‘stay together.’ The fact that he is doing publicity speaks more to me that the split hasn’t sunk in yet for him..like shell shock. That’s my take.
As to whether we should get the whole story, this could has demanded for almost a decade that we be privy to their love fest, matching Halloween costumes and PDAs on at least 3 continents. Part of their fame is in their ‘solid union.’ When Kobe bryant’s wife filed for divorce I said…yeah, that makes sense, and went on with my day. But from such a publicly affectionate couple as Seal and Heidi the questions and speculation will continue.
Very sad for their children…and for them.
Was Heidi perhaps lying to herself about how happy she really was?? Sad if true, but the thing is, I think she is and was happy but perhaps her expectations were to high. I am glad that she has not filed for divorce yet.
Gawd, he’s UUUUGLY!