Heidi Klum Says Daughter Leni Wants to Follow in Her Footsteps but Is 'Her Own Little Person'
Heidi Klum might soon be passing the style torch on to her daughter!
The Making the Cut star, 46, opens up about the show, family life and more in this week’s issue of PEOPLE alongside co-creator and co-host Tim Gunn, revealing that while her 15-year-old daughter Leni is “her own little person,” she does have a certain knack for her mom’s career path.
“The only one so far who wants to step in my footsteps is my oldest daughter, Leni,” says Klum, who’s also mom to daughter Lou Sulola, 10, plus sons Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo, 13, and Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu, 14 — all of whom “have been coming to set their whole entire life.”
Regardless of the fact that Leni feels she “has to do her own thing” in life (“I’ve never pushed [my kids] to do anything,” Klum says), her oldest child feels a natural pull toward the world of fashion.
“She just started where she said, ‘Okay, move over. Let me take this over,’ ” Klum tells PEOPLE of Leni, adding, “It’s definitely a ruthless business. It’s also changed a lot over the years. It was very different when I started in 1992.”
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RELATED: Heidi and Tim Are Back! Making the Cut Is Finally Available to Stream on Prime Video Today
As far as Gunn, 66, is concerned, Klum’s kids (whom she shares with ex-husband Seal) are his nieces and nephews, considering how far he and their mom go back in their friendship and careers.
“I hope they think of me as an uncle,” he tells PEOPLE. “I’ve known them since they were infants and it’s been wonderful watching them grow up.”
“What has been so reassuring for me in terms of the future of humanity is Heidi’s super parenting and the fact that her kids are so beautifully behaved and polite and respectful, yet you don’t feel as though they’re shackled or chained,” Gunn adds. “They’re just themselves, and it all comes from Heidi.”
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Breaking Down Tim Gunn & Heidi Klum's New Show 'Making the Cut' & Teasing What's Ahead
'Making the Cut' is streaming now on Amazon Prime
“You’ve seen me breastfeeding with all of them and pregnant with all of them,” Klum tells Gunn. “I was always pregnant when we were shooting [Project Runway]. I was always breastfeeding or I was on the stage with a big belly … I had to be very creative. At that time, there was not so much maternity wear that you could wear on a TV show.”
“What’s also remarkable was how quickly you weren’t pregnant,” Gunn says. “You’d have the baby and suddenly, ‘What do you mean you just had a baby?’ ”
“Yeah, I was always very lucky with that,” says Klum. “That belly just came and went.”
The first two episodes of Making the Cut are streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.
For more from Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
