A few weeks ago, ex-GNTM winner Barbara Meier announced that she would become a mother for the second time. The baby is due to be born in the fall. In an interview with BUNTE.de, she says that she already knows the sex of the child, but has not yet revealed this news to the grandparents.
Barbara Meier (35) was the second winner of Heidi Klum’s (49) talent show “Germany’s Next Top Model” in 2007. A lot has happened since then – professionally anyway, but also privately. Three years ago, the native of Amberg married the Austrian entrepreneur Klemens Hallmann (46) in a romantic ceremony in Venice. In July 2020 their daughter Marie-Therese was born.
Since then, Meier has been a working mom, she models and acts. On July 18, her second fashion collection with the “Green Button” seal will appear at the discounter Lidl. Barbara Meier also modeled together with children for the pictures. She reveals to BUNTE.de why she thinks her daughter Marie-Therese is a great model, but doesn’t want to be in front of the camera with her professionally. And of course she talks about her baby luck: in mid-May she announced that she was expecting her second child in the fall. She already knows the gender. It is also already certain that her husband should be present at the birth, as she says.
BUNTE.de: There are many exciting things coming up, professionally and of course privately. How are you?
Barbara Meier: I’m doing very well. Now at this stage I don’t actually feel any signs of pregnancy at all (laughs). Of course my stomach is getting bigger, but I’m not tired, nor do I suffer from nausea or back pain. In the first third of both pregnancies, I was pretty tired – so much so that I often thought in the afternoon that I would like to sleep now. Of course it didn’t go so well this time, because I have a small child. Sometimes I took a nap with Marie-Therese. But now in the second third I’m doing really well!
Are you more of a relaxed pregnant woman or do you worry a lot?
Actually very relaxed. Most of the first pregnancy took place during the corona lockdown, which is why most of the jobs didn’t come about. I had a lot of time to prepare myself, to pursue the nest-building instinct, to read guidebooks. A lot of fans said to me back then: Don’t read so many books. Now I know they were right. You have to find many things for yourself, as a mom you have incredible intuition. I’m a bit more relaxed now in that regard.
But on the other hand, my everyday life is of course a bit more turbulent this time because I work a lot. So that my body is okay, I don’t overexert myself. And I have a small child who, when I’m not away on business, gets my full attention and doesn’t want mom to sit quietly on the sofa, but there’s a lot of action. That’s why this pregnancy is just so different than the first.
You are a model, businesswoman, actress, traveling to many events, mom of course, now pregnant again – how do you manage to combine all of that?
And I am wife! (laughs) One shouldn’t neglect that. It must not fall behind that there is also a relationship that you have, independent of the child. This is also an area to plan for. Finding enough time for everything is a real challenge: I actually have to re-coordinate everything with every job I do. It’s not like I always have the same office hours, but sometimes I’m out for a night, sometimes I work during the day. Every job is different, sometimes I have to prepare a lot, sometimes not.
Things don’t always go according to plan, you have to be flexible. If the little one has had a vaccination, you have to take care of her in a completely different way. It’s not always easy for every mom who works. Most of the time you put yourself in the back. It’s doable, but always a challenge.
Who is helping you? Are the grandparents coming? Is there a nanny? Your husband is also heavily involved in his job.
My husband also works a lot, that’s true. But he also jumps in when it’s possible. Then he puts the little one to bed, for example, which he likes to do. Sometimes the grandparents are there, of course they live in Bavaria, so they are not always there. But then they come for a week or a week and a half, which is a great support. And from time to time we also have a nanny who has been with us from the beginning and has practically become part of the family. It was always important to me that when I’m not there, the little one is with someone who is just as nice. If not even prettier – with her grandparents she’s allowed to do things that I don’t think she’s allowed to do with me (laughs). Or she goes on a particularly nice trip with the nanny. You are doing very well then.
That’s why I can do it this way. If I wasn’t quite sure now if she was comfortable or if she was asking and crying a lot about me, then I probably wouldn’t be able to. But it all works very well.
Do you already know if it will be a girl or a boy this time?
We already know, but actually only my husband and I – even the grandparents don’t know yet. We said we wanted to keep it to ourselves for a bit longer. We share a lot with the others, but we wanted to save something that we say is still ours. We will of course communicate it at some point. Marie-Therese knows it theoretically – I’m a bit careful right now because I’m afraid that she’ll tell everyone (laughs). That’s why I usually talk about the “baby”.
Is Marie-Therese looking forward to her siblings?
Yes, that’s very cute. For example, she has white socks that are now too small for her. She then puts them in a pile, points to my stomach and says: “for the baby”. She already realizes that something is coming and is very caring, which is great. I told her that again and again and showed it in books and said: There is also a baby in Mama’s belly – and she accepted that very quickly. It’s easy for her to imagine.
Did you have a desired gender?
It didn’t really matter.
As I said, you are still very active professionally. Now, on July 18th, Lidl is launching your second clothing collection with the green button seal.
Exactly, we already had a mom and baby collection last year, so that was the start. I am a textile ambassador for the state quality seal Grüner Knopf for socially and ecologically sustainable textiles. Lidl was one of the first companies to be part of the Green Button, which is how the contact came about. I was very happy with last year’s collection. By the way, Marie-Therese also likes to wear the dresses.
Does she already have more precise ideas about fashion?
Yes, when she sees in the morning that Mama is wearing her blue and white floral dress, she wants to put hers on too. Only recently did she change a piece of clothing again. Of course she doesn’t say it in full sentences yet, but she said exactly: If mom wears the color, then I want it too.
It was clear to me that I wanted to do a second collection. It is no longer mom-baby, but is aimed at women and slightly older children. Of course you don’t have to be a mom to wear the clothes. But it’s nice that, if you want, you can stay in a partner look as a mother and child – as long as the children want it. You have to enjoy the time when this is still the case. I was again heavily involved in the design process and am happy that I can make sustainable clothing. And it was very important to me that the collection was wearable. For example, I wanted a dress that I could also wear to the playground.
Some prominent mothers dress their children in luxury labels from a very young age. You say you value down-to-earth parenting. Does this also apply to clothing?
Now that she’s so small, I think it’s okay if she wears a brand. Because she doesn’t know what’s behind it. I attach much more importance to the fact that what she wears every day is sustainable. But later I’ll try to stop a bit in terms of the label. A teenager has to know that you have to earn something like that first, that it’s not normal for such a branded item of clothing to suddenly appear. You have to understand the value behind it.
We all worked it out at some point. And if we wanted a specific bag or shoes or sweater, you had to work for it. Of course it will be a bit more difficult for us because Marie-Therese grew up in a different environment than I used to. But I want to try – that’s my challenge – to teach her that she has to do something about it, that she has to work, for example that she needs a holiday job. It’s a bit hard to teach her when your closet is full of designer clothes.
You also present your new collection with child models. Would it be conceivable for you to do the same with Marie-Therese? Or do you want to separate that?
I will always separate that. I don’t want to show her in public until she can decide for herself at some point. Maybe when you’re 16 you can talk about it. But until then, I want to keep them completely out of it. I know that going public simply changes life and that you can’t actually take this step back. And I don’t want to decide that for you. She has the right to privacy and to develop herself wherever she wants to go. And that’s good for me too. I think it’s nice that my private life is like this and my professional life is different.
Actually, I would of course like to take Marie-Therese to the set because she would be a great model and would look great in the pictures. As a proud mom, I also constantly show her pictures when I’m out. But it’s all about protecting them. I would definitely enjoy working with her. But I also had so much fun with the other children – they have a completely different energy and a completely different way of handling the camera.
On the subject of pregnancy again: Before the first birth you said that your husband would come to the delivery room with you. Is that planned again this time?
I think that’s important because a man can’t participate much in the pregnancy. Sure, he can put his hand on his tummy when the baby is kicking, but then it might stop just then. A man doesn’t experience the growing child as intensively as a woman can. In this respect, it was and is important to me that my husband is there on the day and that the child feels it immediately and that the connection between the two is there from the start. For me it was a great support the first time that he was there. And that’s the plan again this time.
Would you like to take a longer baby break after the birth?
I’ll take some time off. The body has to recover first. You have to get to know the child, you have a completely new family situation. But it was the same last time: at some point I said: I’m ready again. I think we will do the same this time. It’s very difficult to plan. We have to look first: What kind of child is this? Does it need more care? How does Marie-Therese deal with the fact that there is a second child? You don’t know all that. Then we will see when it was enough break. My job is also part of me, it is part of my identity. I want to keep it that way.
You once revealed that you want two or three children. Is it still relevant?
We said two or three, that’s right. We don’t really plan to have a third child at some point. Let’s just take a look at how we feel as a family of four. And if we say we feel just as complete, then maybe there won’t be a third. But if we say, somehow we have the feeling that there is still room for one, then maybe a third child will come. We also felt like a perfect little family with Marie-Therese. But at the same time it was also clear that someone else could join them.
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The original of this post “Barbara Meier already knows the gender of her baby” comes from Bunte.de.