Just eight years ago Heidi Klum was quite possibly one of the finest creatures to be gracing our humble planet. Now, we hope you can enjoy this nostalgic look back to the wonder years as much as we did...

TREASURE CHEST

Continuing December’s accidental celebration of the German belle, raise a glass of schnapps to the awesome combination of supermodel and rack that is Heidi Klum…

"There’s more to life than being really, really, really good looking,” says Zoolander, the hapless model hero of the latest Ben Stiller blockbuster of the same name. But after taking a gander at these pictures of German actress/model/goddess Heidi Klum it seems hard to figure out exactly what that would be.

There can be no doubt that Heidi – who has a cameo in the movie playing herself – is the finest of creatures. The 28-year-old began her career after winning a model competition in her native land back in 1992. Since then the New York-dwelling honey has become one the world’s biggest models, stomping her kitten heels all over fashion land, perhaps most memorably as the face (and body) of upmarket Yankee underwear dons Victoria’s Secret.

She’s taken the well-trodden path of model to actress, appearing in TV’s Spin City with Michael J Fox – playing the diminutive former time traveller’s girlfriend – and several movies including the disco excess flick 54 and hairdressing comedy Blow Dry. “I got to play a completely arrogant bitch,” she enthuses, adding, “and I liked it. You can interpret that however you want,” with a devilish look on her perfectly sculpted face.

But there’s no bitchiness from the tasty Teuton today. Only a smile capable of reanimating the dead, legs that go all the way up to her neck and a chest that could have been a personal gift from the gods after a generous whip round in the staff room. So despite her talents as an actress and businesswoman, Heidi has obliged us by doing what she does best: frolicking in an exotic location, wearing very little and being really, really good looking.

You’ve admitted a fondness for G-strings. Do you have problems with them sliding up your butt?

Yes I do like them, but you don’t seem to know what a G-string is. Let me explain. If it’s a good G-string then it doesn’t slide into the crack, it just nestles there and doesn’t move.

Thanks for that. In Blow Dry you brilliantly get your pubic hair shaven into a heart. Do you know a lot of women who have the odd snip and clip?

No, actually I don’t know anyone. But that wasn’t my real hair anyway, it was a specially made wig. If you can call it that. But that whole scene wasn’t about sex. It was just supposed to be funny.

Your husband is a professional hairdresser. Does he do your hair before you go out?

Either he does or I do it myself. Who else is going to do it for me?

Do other actresses give you a hard time about getting roles because you’re a model?

I’m very lucky. I get a lot of roles because of my name as a model and I probably wouldn’t have got them without it. You have to make the best of your situation.

You towered over Michael J Fox in Spin City. What do you think of short-arse men?

Michael J Fox is a great, sexy, funny, short man. I had so much fun on that show. There was this scene where we were lying in bed together after sex. But instead of having a cigarette I start yodelling, because I’m German, see? He kept making me laugh, we were cracking up.

Is it true your mother sends you sauerkraut soup to the US from Germany?

God, that story again. No, she does not. For a start, you aren’t allowed to import food to America. At the beginning of my career I once said that I miss my mother’s sauerkraut soup. Even today I still get people asking me this.

Finally, please tell us, what’s it like being so incredibly fit?

Well, thanks for the compliment but you must remember beauty is not everything. And it doesn’t last for eternity, either.