Heidi Klum's Daughter Leni Looks Just Like The Supermodel

Heidi Klum — model, TV personality, and fashion designer — is a mom to four adorable kids. She shares her daughter, Lou, and her sons, Henry and Johan, with ex-husband Seal, according to Today. Meanwhile, Klum shares her eldest daughter, Leni, with Italian businessman Flavio Briatore, according to TMZ.

Interestingly, while Klum is a very public figure herself, boasting 7.3 million followers on Instagram, she's extremely private about her children. If any of her four kids appear on her social media, their faces are hidden or blocked out with emojis. For example, on a photo from Christmas 2019, Klum's children were all covering their faces with Santa hats and presents. Klum posted another photo in March 2020, where she was in bed with all four children, and everyone was peeking from under the covers.

It's obvious Klum is keeping her children out of the spotlight and giving them privacy as they grow into adults. This is partly due to Klum's desire to let her children choose their own paths. She told Hello! in July 2018, "I'm not putting any seeds in my kids' heads of what they should do. I want them to come up with their own things. They are not really stage kids."

Since Klum keeps her children so sheltered, fans will be shocked to see how much her eldest daughter, Leni, looks just like the supermodel mom.

As seen in the photos above and below, little Leni is totally her mom's doppelgänger. Heidi Klum had her oldest daughter in 2004 with Flavio Briatore, according to TMZ. However, the couple split up while Klum was pregnant with Leni, so she was raised and adopted by Klum's second husband, Seal. According to the outlet, it was clear Briatore was not a part of Leni's life in any big way until things changed in 2018. 

At the time, TMZ got footage of a family reunion in Italy and even snapped some photos of Briatore hugging Leni. The reunion reportedly took place at the Cala di Volpe hotel in Porto Cervo and included Klum's own parents and her three children with Seal.

In 2009, when Seal officially adopted Leni, after he married Klum, he told People, "It doesn't make [Leni] any more or less my daughter. She always has been." He added, "All it means is that both Heidi and I wanted her to have the same last name as the rest of us... It was about Leni. I don't want her to feel different because I know what that's like, being a kind of stepson. And I don't want that dynamic for my little girl."

When speaking of Leni's father, Seal said that Briatore "was a gentleman about the whole thing." The singer added that he has a "tremendous amount of respect" for the guy.

Things have changed for Heidi Klum in terms of her marital status. According to TMZ, in 2019, Klum married Tom Kaulitz, the guitarist for Tokio Hotel, in a secret wedding. Despite her new relationship status, Klum's kids are always her top priority.

However, just because Klum wants her children to have privacy in their adolescence and teenage years doesn't mean she won't support them choosing high-profile jobs one day. When asked by Hello! if any of her children want to be models like Klum, she said, "If they ask me one day, and they want to pursue it, I'm going to look into a modeling agency for them, but no one is asking."

In fact, out of all of her children, Klum's eldest daughter is most closely following her mom's path — but not as a model. Klum told People that Leni "is her own little person," but "wants to step in [her] footsteps." According to People, Leni's interest lies in fashion and Klum said she's quite bold: "She just started where she said, 'Okay, move over. Let me take this over.'"

It sounds like Leni has all the confidence she needs and a mom who will support her dreams, whatever those may be.

Heidi Klum has been very open about how strict she is when raising her children. In a July 2017 interview on Live with Kelly and Ryan, Kelly Ripa asked Klum about hiding her kids' faces on Instagram with emojis or other tactics. The supermodel admitted that her eldest daughter, Leni, wants to post her face on social media, but Klum tells her, "No, you're not allowed to."

Leni was 13 at the time of the interview, and Klum said she enforced this because she wants her children to have the chance to "still be kids." When Ryan Seacrest asked if she was a helicopter parent, Klum shamelessly admitted she was.

But parenting isn't done alone. In a March 2020 interview with Red, Klum spoke about the challenges she faces co-parenting with her ex-husband, musician Seal, who's the adoptive father of Leni and biological father to their three younger children: Henry, Johan, and Lou. "There's always a reason why you're not with someone any more, you know? It's not all rosy-rosy," Klum said. "It just isn't. So sometimes it's hard, but then you have to all come together as a family and sometimes everything is just like hopping on clouds. It's just the way it is."

It's awesome that Klum is so candid about her life — both the good sides and the tough times!