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Heidi Klum reveals secrets behind 20 wild Halloween party costumes

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Published Oct. 26, 2019, 12:51 p.m. ET

On Thursday, Heidi Klum is set to host her 20th Halloween party at Cathédrale in NYC.

Since 2000, the supermodel has been synonymous with the ghoulish holiday thanks to her often wildly elaborate costumes.

“I don’t want to let my Halloween fans down because there are so many people who love creativity as much as I do and are jonesing to see what I do,” said Klum, who has dressed as everything from an anatomically-accurate Jessica Rabbit to a “Thriller” werewolf.

“This is what this is about . . . it gives people an opportunity to be someone else for the day,” she said.

As for this year’s costume, she remains tight-lipped but did spill that she’d be dressing up with her new hubby, Tom Kaulitz. “All I can tell you is: My husband brought me for the humanity to see me.”

Here she reveals the stories behind each of her infamous costumes:

1 of 26
S&M dirndl: "I took a traditional German dirndl, and made it more punk," said Klum of her first party look. "I wanted to be Heidi, but a little bit more S&M." Get the look: Dress, wig, and leather cuff.
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Lady Godiva: Klum made a grand entrance galloping into her party atop a horse. "I didn't know how to ride a horse. [The NYPD] gave me one of the police horses and it was very nice. But I was still scared." Get the look: Wig and bodysuit.
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Betty Boop: The cartoon character was a turning point for Klum. "I put fake boobs on. I got rid of my eyebrows and [drew] them higher up. I was slowly but surely getting more involved with my costumes." Get the look: Full costume here.
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Golden Girl: "I wanted everything to be gold. I even had gold teeth -- a custom grille. I always have fake teeth when I do my costumes." Get the look: Bodysuit, gold grill and gold body paint.
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Witch: "I had to go to one of those medical-supply stores and get a big, heavy fake skeleton that doctors and nurses use to study with, and carry it on my back all night long," said Klum.Get the look: Skeleton bones, red wig and witch hat.
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Vampire: "I had wings and a bleeding heart and five wigs that I sewed together. I had help with the costume but didn't have [pro] hair and makeup until 2011!" Get the look: Dress, wig and bleeding heart.
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Eve and the forbidden fruit: "I was nine months pregnant. I thought, 'What can I be that is big and safe for the baby and comfortable for me?' We had to get a convertible because I couldn't fit through car doors." Get the look: Apple costume and Giant snake plush.
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Cat: "After being a big apple, I wanted to be a sexy little kitty cat," Klum said. "I wanted to show my body and just have a skin-tight cat costume." Get the look: Skin-tight catsuit.
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Kali, the Hindu Goddess: I looked into who in Hinduism is the scariest goddess, and I found Kali, the goddess of death and time. I had eight arms. That was the very tricky thing: You have this heavy backpack with eight arms you lug around all night." Get the look: Blue goddess with 6 arms costume.
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Crow: "I had just given birth. I was like, 'Black is slimming,' " Klum said. It was her first Los Angeles bash. "People in [LA] don't party the way New Yorkers do. At midnight, LA people are like, 'Good night, everybody.' I can't deal with that."Get the look: Feather cape and crow mask.
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Robot: "I go to Disney [World] all the time and I was watching a parade and saw these amazing dancers on stilts and I was like, 'I want to do that!' " Klum said. Unfortunately, "I lost my toenails when I was hopping on the stilts so much. It was horrible. I guess it happens to serious athletes all the time." Get the look: Space queen costume.
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Human Body and Ape: "It was stressful," said Klum of her dual Halloween costumes (a skinless human body for a party in Vegas and, with then-husband Seal, an ape for the next night in NYC). "I got the idea for the body after meeting the creator of the Body Worlds exhibition," said the supermodel, who arrived on a gurney alongside two doctors who ripped the sheet away to reveal the jaw-dropping look. "The ape took longer because . . . an ape has so many spots, all these little freckles, and then [prosthetics artist Mike Marino] had to glue all these little hairs onto the prosthetics." Get the look: Human body suit and gorilla costume.
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Cleopatra: "After being a dead body and an ape . . . I wanted to be royal and beautiful," Klum said. This time, she practiced her stilt-walking: "It gets harder when a little alcohol goes into those veins." Get the look: Full costume here.
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Old lady: This costume, Klum said, "was sparked by people telling me, 'Wow, you're 40 now, how are you feeling with being old in [the modeling] industry?' " She went all out: "I was in head-to-toe Chanel. I had a Rolls-Royce. I was like, 'I want to arrive in style.' " Klum had her arm covered in sunspots and her false teeth were cracked and aged. She even got yellow-tinted contact lenses to make her eyes look glassy. "I should be lucky to get this old," she said of what she calls her favorite costume. Get the look: Wrinkle makeup, Grey wig and tweed blazer and skirt.
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Butterfly: While her antennas glowed, Klum said "it was very hard to see. I had these plastic round eyes and behind that, the batteries for the lights." She added that her Victoria's Secret days came in handy for strutting in her supersized wings. Get the look: Butterfly wings and colorful bodysuit.
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Jessica Rabbit: "I was looking up who is the most well-known sex symbol -- and it's Jessica Rabbit," said Klum. "I said, 'Perfect.' What man doesn't want Jessica Rabbit? I wanted plus-plus everything: boots, butt, lips." But the rear-end prosthetics were a tad uncomfortable in the beginning. "It feels weird, like you're sitting on a cushion. But you get used to it. Everyone was grabbing my boobs and butt because they knew they were fake." Get the look: Full costume here.
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Heidi clones: "I had to find girls with the same height and body as me," said Klum. "If someone's thighs or hips are bigger, the effect doesn't work." Artist Mike Marino used prosthetics to make the faces match Klum's. Get the look: Thigh high boots, wig and bodysuit.
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'Thriller' werewolf: Klum even learned the dance from Michael Jackson's music video: "I rehearsed for four days." Asked if she would repeat the costume given renewed sex-abuse claims against Jackson, Klum said she tries not to get "too political" with her costume choices. Get the look: Full costume here.
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Fiona from 'Shrek': Klum loved driving around NYC in an onion buggy, like in the movie: "It was amazing!" Less cool? Removing the prosthetics glued to her face. "I had pieces of my chest skin rip off when removing Jessica Rabbit prosthetics -- you need to be very careful." Get the look: Full costume here.
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