Heidi Klum Explains the Story Behind the Photos of Rihanna ‘Playing’ with Her ‘Silicone Nipples’ Inside the 2026 Met Gala

Klum attended this year’s Met Gala dressed in prosthetics that transformed her into a 19th-century statue

NEED TO KNOW

• Heidi Klum recalled the details of a cheeky encounter she had with Rihanna at the 2026 Met Gala in a new interview with Bustle
• The model and Project Runway host revealed that Rihanna had fun playing with her fake nipples that were a part of her 19th-century marble statue-inspired costume
• Klum wore a custom look by Mike Marino while Rihanna, who attended with A$AP Rocky, wore Maison Margiela

Heidi Klum’s encounter with Rihanna at the 2026 Met Gala is one she’ll never forget.

The Project Runway host, 53, attended the 2026 Met Gala in a marble-like ensemble inspired by Raffaelle Monti’s Veiled Vestal or Veiled Woman sculpture. Made by prosthetic makeup artist Mike Marino, the look was an homage to the night’s “Costume Art” theme and required a lot of moving parts, or shall we say fake parts, including breasts, made of latex, silicone and foam.

In a video clip posted by Bustle, Klum reflected on how mesmerized Rihanna was with her costume, saying that the “Work” singer, 38, couldn’t have “enough” of her throughout the evening.

“I only saw in the photos afterwards that she was playing with my nipples,” the model told the outlet. “Because they were silicone nipples, they were not my nipples, so it’s not like she was playing with them and I felt anything.”

Klum added that she couldn’t really see anything because of her gray contacts, so the NSFW encounter went completely over her head. “I was like, oh my gosh, look what Rihanna was doing with me. She was playing with my nipples the whole time.”

While the shocking outfit was a hit with Met Gala invitees, Klum did say she was worried it wasn’t going to bode well with the night’s head chairperson, Anna Wintour. Speaking with The New York Times inside the star-packed evening, Klum said, “I asked her if she liked it — she said yes,” in reference to Wintour, who has been a chairperson since 1995. “I was the most worried that she [wouldn’t] like it.”

And despite how they looked, the prosthetics really worked in Klum’s favor (for the most part). Chatting with Vogue on the red carpet, the reality star boasted about feeling like she could “do anything,” like eat and sit down in the costume, but later on TikTok, she admitted that she couldn’t go to the restroom.

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Rihanna too was dressed to impress, as was her partner A$AP Rocky. The pair arrived fashionably late, dressed in Maison Margiela and Chanel respectively. Her custom gown was designed with recycled metals and 115,000 crystal beads, while his bespoke pink look was complemented with Chanel High Jewelry pieces, per Vogue.

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