It appears Heidi Klum has wormed a little too close to the sun. It’s been almost three years since she encased herself in a worm costume for Halloween, and now, even though she dressed up as one, Klum is on a mission to rid herself of the worms she seems to think are inside her.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Monday, the supermodel and TV personality said mostly normal things about her return to Project Runway and her daily routine. Until, that is, she was asked about whether she follows any special diet, at which point she said, “I’m going to deworm and de-parasite for the first time. Everything I’m getting on my Instagram feed at the moment is about worms and parasites. So I’m doing a worm cleanse and parasite cleanse with my husband.” Klum added, “I heard that you’re supposed to do this once a year, and I’ve never done it. So I feel like I’m really behind. I don’t know what the heck is going to come out.”
Asked whether there’s any evidence she actually has worms or parasites, Klum responded, “Apparently, we all have parasites and worms.” She explained that they can apparently be the result of “eating raw things every now and then,” but that, luckily for us all, parasites hate clove and papaya seeds. She also encouraged people to start “de-metaling.”
Klum is apparently still at the beginning of her worm cleanse. “I’m starting this now, and you have to do this for months,” she told the WSJ. “It’s like a whole thing.” Indeed, it does seem like a whole thing — she posted a video of the process on her Instagram two weeks ago, which certainly did not clarify how this really works.
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“Today is day ten of parasite cleanse,” Klum said in the video, while pointing the camera at an ominously milky liquid she’s stirring. “And apart from this, this is yucky as hell.” Also visible on the table were an unidentified pill, a papaya with what looks like a grape on it, half a lime, a variety of berries, a few slices of watermelon, and several other pieces of produce strewn across the countertop.
It’s possible that, like many of us, Klum came across this concept on TikTok. The hashtag #parasitecleanse will turn up 33,400 TikTok posts and counting, many of which are evangelizing about why and how to rid your body of parasitic worms. According to Google Trends, searches for “parasite cleanse” first spiked in July 2021 and have steadily increased ever since. But as gastroenterologist Dr. Peter Mannon, M.D., M.P.H., delicately told Nebraska Medicine, “It’s unlikely that the average person is walking around with active parasites in their gut. I would question the usefulness of these parasite cleanses.” UCLA Health recommends that anyone with symptoms of a parasitic infection (gut issues, unexplained weight loss, exhaustion) seek a professional diagnosis and medical treatment specific to that diagnosis.
Listen, I’m sure this can all be explained in a perfectly reasonable way if we could just speak to Klum’s holistic-healer naturopath, but I’m not sure I’d be able to afford the hourly rate.
