Klum's new Lifetime series "Seriously Funny Kids," which premieres tonight, is the latest program to elicit candid and hilarious remarks from young kids, following in the footsteps of Bill Cosby ("Kids Say the Darndest Things"), Art Linkletter ("House Party") and Allen Funt ("Candid Camera").
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She was silenced doubters and proved her business acumen when she ushered in "Runway" in 2004 (which ran on Bravo before switching to Lifetime in 2009). Now the 37-year-old is trying to further cement her post-modeling persona — and her relationship with the network — with this even more unlikely project.
"We thought it was a no-brainer," said JoAnn Alfano, Lifetime's head of entertainment. "As an ambassador for the network, we love being in business with [Heidi]. And it's a side we don't often see. She's someone mostly known as a supermodel. You don't think of her as being silly, and fun, and effervescent."
Although she's a mother to four children younger than 6, Heidi admitted that her interactions with the kids on the show were more difficult than she expected.
"When you deal with grown-ups, they always kind of know where you want to go when you ask a certain question," she said. "When you're talking to Jay Leno or [David] Letterman, there's this kind of routine about it. You're there to tell a funny story as you try to promote something. But when you do it with kids, it doesn't really work the same way. At all."
Klum insisted that her involvement in "Seriously Funny Kids" doesn't mean a death knell for "Project Runway," which will shoot its ninth season this summer.
"Look, 'Project Runway' isn't going anywhere," she said. "And I don't think if something ends that I have to hurry up and find the next thing. If 'Seriously Funny Kids' would have come to me four years ago, I would have done it then. I just thought it was a good idea."
It's an idea that further broadens her reach beyond the supermodel guise, in the vein of fellow-runway trotter Tyra Banks — who solidified herself as brand with "America's Next Top Model," "The Tyra Banks Show," philanthropic foundations and a production company.
Now she's extracting comical quips from children for "Seriously Funny Kids" — and finding that they really do say the darndest things.
"Yesterday I was talking with a kid and she was like, 'I know you! My mama told me that you sold panties!' " she recalled. "You can't control what your legacy is."
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