During an interview, 48-year-old Klum opened up about how hard she tried to make their marriage work.
It takes a lot to make a marriage work and no one can accuse Seal and Heidi Klum of being under-committed. Every year the German supermodel would renew her wedding vows with the music star in an annual anniversary tradition. What started as a beautiful ritual for the former couple to marry each other all over again in front of their loved ones every year soon became somewhat of a "circus." During an interview with the Sunday Times, 48-year-old Klum opened up about how hard she tried to make their marriage work. She also spoke about the "I dos" they said to each other every single year. "I think I got married eight times to Seal," she said according to PEOPLE. "I thought it would be kind of, like, fun. I thought it would be a fest of love. But you know, that doesn't work either. I tried, you can't say I didn't try!"
Back in 2010 when Klum and Seal were still married, she gushed about their annual vow exchanging tradition during an interview with Redbook. "We love to renew our vows. It’s our time – a lovely family time. It’s about remembering this moment of love we gave to each other and reinforcing it," she said. Apparently, the ceremony was also a special way for them to show their kids Leni, 17, Henry, 15, Johan, 14, and Lou, 11, how much they loved each other. "It’s so special to us, something we love and something our children have gotten accustomed to," said the judge of America's Got Talent. "It’s like, 'Hey, Mom and Dad love each other and they get married every year!'" Even Seal considered the tradition as a beautiful one. "Each year, Heidi and I get remarried. It’s a great party, but for about an hour, we go off on our own down to a private beach. We sit there with the kids and read vows to each other as the sun sets. It’s a very special moment to us," said the 58-year-old.
Unfortunately, the romantic annual ceremony was not enough to keep them together and Klum admitted that she had started losing faith. "This is really not working," she thought, but, "I tried." Klum and Seal tied the knot in May 2005 and continued getting married to each other every year to celebrate their anniversary. But in 2012, they separated and their divorce was finalized in October 2014, according to Page Six. The following year, Seal expressed his honest opinion about the vow-renewing tradition while on Andy Cohen's SiriusXM radio show. "That was my ex-wife’s idea, to be honest," he said according to HuffPost. "It kind of turned into a little bit of a circus, which I wasn’t terribly fond of because, by default, I’m quite a private person." Of course, their unusual annual tradition caused a media frenzy and when Seal was asked about the widespread coverage of the ceremony, he said, "That’s the thing I disliked most about it."
Although Seal had reservations about it, the tradition went on for years because it was about being a "team player," noted the Fly Like an Eagle singer. "You’re married and you become a team player You understand that each of you have different lives and you do whatever you can to support your partner’s life." However, he noted, "I don’t know how necessary [renewing our vows] was, but it was cool."
Since separating from one another, Klum went on to secretly marry 31-year-old Tom Kaulitz in February 2019. "I'm just a much happier person," she told PEOPLE about the new marriage in January 2020. "For the first time, I have a partner who I can discuss everything with. Someone who shares duties that we all have in our lives. I used to be on my own with everything. For the first time, I get to experience what it is actually like to have a partner."
References:
https://people.com/style/heidi-klum-married-seal-eight-times-try-make-marriage-work/
https://people.com/celebrity/heidi-klum-seal-make-vow-renewal-a-family-event/
https://pagesix.com/2021/07/05/heidi-klum-and-seal-renewed-their-vows-8-times-during-marriage/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photos by Jason Merritt (L), Mark Mainz (R)
