When your wife is a multihyphenate international supermodel, diamonds, designer bags and shoes, and even the cutest potbelly pig do not seem to be special enough as a gift.
So, when the Tokio Hotel guitarist Tom Kaulitz married the German fashion icon Heidi Klum, he needed to up his gift-giving skills and to think outside the box to impress his new wife who is a former Victoria’s Secret Angel member – and boy did he pass the test with flying colors.
A Constant Reminder
The America’s Got Talent judge posted a video on her Instagram account flaunting her hubby’s special gift to her just a month after their picturesque wedding on the Christina O. watercraft, which was followed by weeks of yacht-hopping across the Italian coast.
No, it’s not something sparkly or flashy like a ring or a sports car, in fact, for Heidi, it’s worth something more – it’s a wall.
Well, not just any wall but a piece of the Berlin Wall, which is of great significance since Heidi and Tom were both born in Germany.
In the caption of the video, which already has more than a million views in the image-sharing platform, the former Project Runway host and judge explained that Tom was born in East Berlin four weeks before the infamous wall that separated the East and West Berlin was demolished in 1989.
She continued explaining that with this turn in history, the pop-rock band guitarist experienced a different life compared to his parents’ and was able to lead a life filled with freedom, happiness, hope, and art.
The Emmy-nominated host ended her lengthy post by saying that the cherished piece, which will be placed on her garden, will be a constant reminder that walls are not to be built but torn down.
Wall of Shame
The Berlin Wall that symbolized the Cold War and the polarizing ideologies between the Eastern Bloc and Western Europe was built in 1961.
The East Berlin called the wall the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart, while the West called it the Wall of Shame.
As the years went by, anti-Wall sentiments grew with American presidents like John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan calling to the German government to tear down the wall.
Concerts from artists David Bowie in 1987, Bruce Springsteen in 1988, and David Hasselhoff in 1989 supporting these sentiments were also held in protest against it.
Following the fall of the communist government in the neighboring country Poland, increasing number of refugees from the East trying to escape to the West, left and right protest demonstrations, and the resignation of the East Germany leader, on Nov. 9, 1989, the wall that separated the polarizing East and West Germany for 28 years came down.
Mutated Wall
With its painful symbolism, the piece of the Wall Heidi received has the colorful artwork of French artist Thierry Noir.
Having no aim to beautify this representation of division in Germany, Thierry is one of the first street artists who in his own words mutated the wall as part of the protest to tear it down.
According to an interview, he, together with his partner Christophe Bouchet, painted the wall for five years, in which the artist developed his style.
To avoid arrest, Thierry had to paint fast so he created simple images in one continuous line using only one or two colors, a technique he called Fast Form Manifest.