'Project Runway' Host Stands Up for Fashion Industry

BuddyTV - USA - German supermodel Heidi Klum, host of Bravo's hit reality series, Project Runway, recently came to the defense of the fashion industry following claims that it promotes eating disorders in young women.

Klum said that it is important for the audience to remember that what they see on runway shows is just a presentation, and often cannot be applied in real life.

"It's up to the viewer to see it for what it is and to be realistic; not many people can look like this,” Heidi Klum said.  "Everyone has to look in the mirror and say, 'This is who I am' and be happy.”

The 34-year-old Project Runway host, who started modeling at the age of 18, also said that she believes teenage girls in the business should make it a point to eat healthily.  She also said that accusing models of being anorexic is unhelpful, adding that some young models are just thin by nature.

"I think it's good when people are healthy and eat,” Klum said.  "But it's not for me to say that some very thin high-fashion models are anorexic.  I don't know them.  Some models are naturally thin.”

Klum herself came close to developing an eating disorder during the earlier stages of her modeling career.  However, she claims that she never wanted to become skinny for the sake of competing against others on the catwalk, adding that the more she tried to lose weight, the harder it was to keep her mind off of food.

“They'd say, ‘You have to lose weight', and I'd be like, ‘All I can think about is muffins!' I wasn't prepared to starve myself to be edgy,”  Heidi Klum told People magazine last month.  Now, she is among the World's 15 highest-earning supermodels, according to Forbes magazine.

Klum has also experienced enormous success as a television personality.  Project Runway recently earned its third Emmy nomination for Outstanding-Reality Competition Program.

“Third is our lucky number!” Klum told Usmagazine.com last month.  “[I am] very proud of our show! It's just an honor to be in the mix of all…  these big time shows that have been around for a long time with big budgets, and we're this little show.”