Heidi Klum Transforms Into Mythical Medusa for Her 2025 Halloween Extravaganza

1 November 2025

Heidi Klum as Medusa. Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock

At her 24th annual Halloween gala in New York City, Heidi Klum once again cemented her reputation as the “Queen of Halloween” by emerging as the mythological figure Medusa her green-scaled body, mechanised snake-hair headpiece, and rattlesnake-inspired tail transforming the supermodel into a living legend of Greek myth.

The attention-grabbing costume, revealed at her party held on October 31 at the Hard Rock Hotel, was the result of months of planning and an intensive makeup process led by acclaimed special-effects artist Mike Marino, whose team spent hours crafting each detail of Klum’s metamorphosis. The ensemble also had a co-star: Klum’s husband, Tom Kaulitz, appeared as a Greek warrior turned to stone, playing into the myth that anyone who locks eyes with Medusa becomes petrified.

Klum teased the transformation beforehand via social-media snapshots of a 3-D mould of her face and a plaster cast of her back, signalling the level of commitment behind the look. With over 15 collaborators and a makeup timeline of nine to ten hours, the costume stood as a showcase of craft, vision and spectacle.

This year’s Medusa theme arrived as Klum celebrated the milestone anniversary of her Heidiween party which she first launched in 2000. Over the decades she has reinvented the concept of celebrity Halloween, dressing as everything from a giant worm to an eight-foot peacock and even E.T. in 2024.

The Medusa iteration stood out for its blend of horror and glamour. Rather than playing into cuteness or camp, Klum embraced the monstrous and the gothic, describing her intent to be “really ugly, really scary” for the evening. Her dedication emphasises that, for Klum, the annual costume is not just a look it’s a performance, a transformation, and an expression of creative ambition that fans have come to anticipate.

By stepping into the role of Medusa, Klum tapped into rich symbolism. In myth, Medusa is both victim and monster a figure of power, vengeance, and petrifying gaze. Klum’s version which included animatronic snarling snakes, fangs, and green mythic flesh turned the red carpet into something cinematic, mythic and cinematic. Meanwhile, her husband’s stone-turned warrior look completed the narrative of Medusa’s gaze freezing life into inanimate form.

The annual party itself remains a fixture of celebrity culture: guests this year included Darren Criss as Shrek, Maye Musk as Cruella de Vil and Ariana Madix as Lady Gaga proof that Klum’s Halloween universe continues to attract stars willing to play big.

For fans of Klum this costume was more than visual spectacle; it reinforced her status as a master of transformation, one who uses public event-costuming as art. The precision, narrative depth and theatrical ambition of her Medusa look stand out even in a career of highly elaborate Halloween ensembles.

As the night wound down the hashtag #HappyHeidiween filled social feeds with reaction gifs, backstage time-lapse clips and fans marvelling at each serpent in motion. Klum herself posted: “Don’t stare too long or you’ll turn to stone,” a playful nod to the mythic source that had fuelled her artistic vision.

In the end, Heidi Klum’s Medusa may draw on ancient myth, but it captures a contemporary truth: for certain celebrities Halloween is not only a holiday it is a stage, a statement and the annual chapter in a larger narrative of reinvention.