Claudia Schiffer just turned 56, and she’s marking it the way she’s handled most of her career — unbothered, confident, and still in front of the camera. New “Paradise”-themed beach photos of her went viral this month, with outlets calling her a “timeless beauty,” and her own comments about the birthday were simple: age should be celebrated, not hidden from.

Schiffer rose to fame in 1989 as the face of Guess and became Karl Lagerfeld’s muse at Chanel a year later. She holds the Guinness World Record for the most magazine covers by a model, with over a thousand to her name across a career spanning more than three decades. She’s stepped back from regular runway work, but never fully retired — she still models selectively and made a striking return to the catwalk closing Versace’s Spring 2024 show in Milan.

Off the runway, her life is quiet by design. She’s been married to British director Matthew Vaughn since 2002, and the couple have three children — Caspar, Clementine, and Cosima. They’ve largely raised their family away from the spotlight in the English countryside.

As for the surgery question fans always ask: Schiffer has been consistent for years. She’s repeatedly said she’s never had plastic surgery and doesn’t plan to, citing concerns about long-term health effects and a preference for letting aging happen naturally rather than fighting it. It’s become something of a signature stance for her — the original supermodel, aging visibly and openly, decades after her first campaign.