Barbara Meier (40) became known as the winner of the second season of "Germany's next Topmodel" in 2007 and has long since emancipated herself from the casting show. She has now established her career on multiple pillars. But above all, she is currently one thing, as she repeatedly emphasizes: a mother. And so she also regularly provides wonderfully honest insights into her everyday life with two young daughters on her Instagram account and in interviews. In doing so, she shows herself to be remarkably unpretentious - and quite relaxed about her new age number as well.
First model, then also actress and TV host
Already during the broadcast of "GNTM", it was clear: The Amberg native is different from many who seek the limelight. Mathematics student and very shy: Meier immediately stood out from Heidi Klum's often rather shrill or stereotypical candidates. That was perhaps also because she originally didn't want to become a model at all, but a programmer, and ended up in the TV format rather by chance. Out of curiosity about what it would be like at a television production, she attended a casting in Regensburg and was immediately persuaded by a model scout to participate. She won the season against around 16,000 applicants - and that without any previous modeling experience.
After her victory, many jobs followed. She appeared in magazines like "Vogue" and "Marie Claire", graced more than 15 covers and appeared twice on the cover of "Cosmopolitan". She advertised as a brand ambassador for various companies. She was also present on the big runways: In Berlin, she walked at Fashion Week several times, plus shows in New York, Los Angeles, Istanbul and Bangkok. She worked a lot abroad, which wasn't really noticed here in Germany, she recently reflected on the Joyn podcast "FrühlingsgeBlümel".
Little time for beauty routine
There, she also emphasized that she is glad to have long since expanded her profession in the public eye: As an actress and TV host, it's not so much about her appearance, but rather about what she achieves and how well prepared she is. Especially in light of turning 40, this leads to a sense of relaxation. While she used to pay very close attention to her appearance and weight and even literally "starved" herself, this is no longer such a strong focus for her. Only with her daughters, who were born in 2020 and 2022, did she develop a certain serenity on the subject. In the stressful everyday life as a mom, she also has little to no time for a beauty routine and is usually out and about without makeup.
Incidentally, Meier also started as an actress without any previous experience. In 2010, she landed the role of a deaf medium at the casting for the ProSieben thriller "Schreie der Vergessenen". To learn her craft, she then completed basic training at the New York Film Academy and took acting lessons in Germany and the USA. Appearances in ZDF crime series and international productions followed, such as in the historical Venice drama "The Aspern Papers" or alongside Famke Janssen in "Endless - Nachricht von Chris". Most recently, she appeared in front of the camera for series like "Dahoam is Dahoam", "Blutige Anfänger" and "Crystal Wall".
She always wanted to be independent
She also tried her hand at show television. In 2018, she danced in the eleventh season of "Let's Dance", was initially eliminated with professional Sergiu Luca, came back as a replacement for the injured Jimi Blue Ochsenknecht and ended up winning third place. In 2023, she returned to the dance show universe: as a guest juror on the Austrian version "Dancing Stars".
Meier, who has been married to Austrian real estate entrepreneur Klemens Hallmann since 2019 and has had her home base in Vienna for years, is also involved as a charity ambassador alongside her career. For her own daughters, it's important to her to model independence. She wants to show her children "that as a woman, you can also have your own things, your own friends, your own professional environment and still have a good partnership. One doesn't exclude the other", she once told the Austrian "Kurier".
Before her 40th birthday, incidentally, she was more concerned with the question of whether and how one should celebrate a milestone birthday than with worries about future wrinkles. In this regard too, she differs from many other celebrities.
