Heidi Klum took the cover of two weeklies with the news of her sad split from her husband, Seal. We’ve already seen advance details from her People cover. Heidi is also on somewhat celebrity-friendly US Weekly with the ominous title “Heidi’s Private Hell.” The inside story does place some of the blame on Seal, but it’s not as scandalous as you might assume and just tells a very similar story as People about how they drifted apart and how Seal’s temper played a role. It’s very expertly written in that it makes you feel like you know them and have the inside story, but there’s nothing particularly damaging in it toward Seal. Heidi is playing the sympathy card, but she’s taking the high road, which seems to be the best decision for her kids. They’re going to look this up someday. This also bodes well for any custody agreement Heidi and Seal might reach. They both love their kids and I don’t think we’re going to see much fighting over custody rights. Here’s some of US’ report:

Inset: “They were so in love! But a lot happened behind the scenes. He’s a very tough guy in a lot of ways.”

Heidi Klum sat across from her husband, Seal, the day after Christmas, lunching with their foud children at the Buttermilk ski area, where the couple had rented a house for the holidays. “They didn’t speak to each other the entire time – for at least 45 minutes,” says a fellow guest. “You could tell there was a lot of tension between them.”

Perhaps there was nothing left to say. For all of their public displays of intense affect… the couple were privately grappling with marriage-breaking issues. Among them: Seal’s mood swings and his jealously about Klum’s skyrocketing career. “They had a rough road lately,” says a source close to the pair. They were so in love that they wanted to get married over and over again, but there were dark moments they didn’t want to expose to the public…”

While Klum, 38, and her 48-year-old husband were in Aspen for the holidays, all of their issues came to a head. “Aspen didn’t go well,” says another confidant. “They fought a lot it was a very hard trip.”

Friends say the fighting was part of daily life for the pair…

They fought a lot
Klum has admitted to having “ups and downs with Seal,” says another Klum source. “They were the kind of couple who could have a huge fight over an order at Nobu.” Adds another, “They just have a very tempestuous love. They’re either madly in love or having crazy fights…”

They’re so different
At the root of the blowups: the fact that they are two fundamentally different people. “She’s an upbeat, happy person,” says one friend. “He comes from a very troubled, sad background. It’s what makes him a very difficult person to be married to.” The London-bred singer was initially raised by a foster family, and a battle with discoid lupus left his facial scars. “He’s had a sad life,” says the confidant, adding that he grew up to become “volatile and moody.”

Seal is controlling and jealous
At times, his temper flared, according to sources. “He is not a nice person,” says one source, who claims that Seal “would often talk down to Heidi in public. He spoke to her at business functions like she was the help. It was so degrading.” When Seal felt she was holding court at a Victoria’s Secret show, says the source, he became incensed at the attention. “He was yelling at her for doing press and saying that she needed to calm down and why does she need to be in the spotlight all the time?” And as demands on her time increased, he seemed to want to make all the choices for her…

When he turned his focus onto his own career and began to tour heavily, Klum was left to watch the children – Leni, 7, Henri, 6, Johan, 5, and Lous, 2 – all alone in the months leading up to the blowouts in Aspen. [Ed note: 3 nannies isn’t exactly “all alone.”] “He’d been away for months and months on tour.”

Says a source close to Seal. “He tours, too, but most of the time he was home with his family while she worked.

“It’s hard to make a marriage work when one parent is with the kids most of the time. They always took turns and it led to separate lives…”

For now, as they decide whether to officially file for divorce, both Seal and Klum are taking the high road in public.

[From US Weekly, print edition, February 6, 2012]

I didn’t know all that about how Seal had such a rough upbring. Their split makes a lot more sense to me, and maybe things got incredibly bad before Heidi announced their separation. It’s unclear whether she’s going to go through with a divorce at this point.

Seal is still doing publicity for his new album, and he’s still speaking glowingly of Heidi and their kids and the life they have together. It really seems like he wants her back, but it could just be a clever PR move and it’s hard to tell. As we heard yesterday Seal is still wearing his wedding ring. I would love to see if Heidi is still wearing hers, but I haven’t spotted any paparazzi photos of her since the Golden Globes, where she was wearing her ring. (Update: She’s still wearing it! Thanks biteme.) On an appearance on Piers Morgan, Seal again explained why he’s kept the ring on and he gushed about Heidi and their kids.

Following his split from the Project Runway host, Seal has been relatively candid about discussing the break-up, but could reconciliation be on the horizon for the soul singer and Klum?

“Never say never,” Seal said, in a sit down with Piers Morgan that airs Friday.

“Obviously I can’t speak for my wife and I’m not gonna sit here and B.S. you and tell you we haven’t had problems,” the Grammy-winning artist said. “Of course we’ve had problems. Otherwise, why are we splitting up? This is not a charade. We have problems. We have issues. But, in our favor, I think that to our credit, we have always been able to talk about it. We have always been able to confront each other.”

When asked if he would like to get back together with Klum, Seal said, “I don’t know at this point, to be honest. If it were that easy, if there weren’t problems, we would still be together. That is the reality.”

So, what’s up with Seal still wearing his wedding ring in spite of the couple’s blatant separation?

“I still wear my wedding ring, because I’m still married to this incredible woman,” Seal said. “And you don’t all of a sudden one day to the next—unless you’re those type of people—just say I hate you and take off your wedding ring. What this means to me and what it stands for, it stands for respect. It stands for loyalty, it stands for incredible memories and it stands for these four little miracles and Heidi making five that have come into my life over the past eight years.”

And if you’re surprised that Seal referred to Heidi as a “miracle,” don’t be.

The “Kiss From a Rose” crooner has made it no secret that he still loves his wife, and further expressed that on Piers Morgan Tonight, telling the late-night host, “My love for her has not waned one iota. I love her with all my heart. How can you not love somebody that you have just spent eight years with?”

Sweet. The guy did after all sing “Let’s Stay Together” on Ellen Tuesday, right?

[From E! Online]

That’s really sweet and tugs at my heart strings a little. Heidi has reportedly hired a divorce attorney, but she hasn’t filed for divorce yet. I kind of hope she sits on it for a while and just takes a wait and see approach. Maybe things are much worse for these two than we can imagine though. There’s no way of knowing what goes on even inside your best friends’ relationships.

Heidi and Seal are shown on 2-13-11 and 12-26-10. Credit: WENN.com