Not holding back. Heidi Klum came clean about her departure from Project Runway after she announced that she would not return to host season 17 of the reality competition series.
“I don’t feel like they need advice,” Klum told reporters at the amfAR Gala in Beverly Hills on Thursday, October 18, when asked if she offered guidance to her replacement, Karlie Kloss. “I feel like I left Project Runway in great hands with Karlie and with Christian Siriano, and I think they’re going to do a great job and I can’t wait to see how they’re going to change it because it needed some changes.”
The 45-year-old supermodel elaborated: “You know, after 16 seasons, the show was becoming stale. It was great. But it needed something new to it. I feel like with new people and the way they do it [it] will have that. So I’m excited for that.”
Klum and longtime Project Runway mentor Tim Gunn revealed in September that they were leaving the Emmy-winning show to develop a new series at Amazon. “After 16 incredible seasons, I am saying ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ to Project Runway, a show that I was honored to host and help create,” she said in a statement at the time. “I am incredibly proud of the show, and it will always have a special place in my heart. I am so appreciative of the dedicated fans, and most of all, I am grateful that we could shine a light on creativity and help launch so many talented designers’ careers. I’m most excited that my journey with my dear friend and colleague, Tim Gunn, is far from over.”
Judge Zac Posen later announced that he would not return for season 17 either, leaving Nina Garcia as the only remaining main cast member.
Bravo, which will take over Project Runway from its previous network of Lifetime when the new season airs, confirmed earlier this month that the new slate will include Kloss, 26, as host, Siriano, 32, as mentor, and designer Brandon Maxwell and former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Elaine Welteroth as judges, alongside Garcia, 53.
Meanwhile, Klum, who initially suggested Siriano as 65-year-old Gunn’s replacement, opened up to Us about her Amazon series. “We cooked up something, I think, spectacular. We’re also now reaching the world, we’re going to 200 countries, going into people’s homes. I think the aspect that an audience could possibly buy what they love, what they’ve just seen, is not only best for the audience but also really is for the designers,” she said in September. “It’s really hard to break into this industry. You could even win a show but then if you don’t have backers to give you money and all the stuff that you can actually create a label and do all that — that hardly ever happens. You have to be really lucky.”
Season 17 of Project Runway will premiere on Bravo in 2019.
