Who is the body? Elle or Heidi?

August 12th, 2006

“The Body” Elle Macpherson has accused fellow supermodel Heidi Klum of stealing her nickname, after the German catwalk queen called herself “The Body” in a television commercial. Australian Macpherson has used the moniker since it was employed to describe her in a Time magazine cover story in 1986. So she was baffled by the ad for Victoria’s Secret’s The Body bra, in which Klum claims, “They call me The Body - and now I have a bra named after me.” Melissa Edwards, spokesperson for Macpherson’s underwear company Elle Macpherson Intimates, tells the New York Daily News, “We saw that and were like, ‘Oh my god!’ We were initially flabbergasted. “We have numerous press clippings in the office referring to her as ‘The Body’. Everything from Harper’s Bazaar to Vogue to the recent Sports Illustrated calls her that. In terms of public record, that name belongs to Elle.” The 43-year-old Aussie is particularly riled because she uses her moniker on a range of products, including skin-care line Elle Macpherson The Body, her lingerie brand and a fitness video.