Heidi Klum Addresses 'Frustrating' Controversy After She Said 'I'm a Mom and a Dad at the Same Time': I Was Not Maligning Seal

After her interview about parenting in the November issue of Redbook was met with massive backlash this week, Heidi Klum is speaking out to defend her comments about life after her divorce.

“It is frustrating to me that some other media outlets are taking what was said in the article to suggest that I was aiming to malign my children’s father. Because I was not!” the Project Runway host, 42, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “In the article, I say that, as a single parent, ‘I’m a mom and a dad at the same time.’ And that is the case when I’m alone with our kids … and I assume the same rings true when they are with their dad.”

She continues, “As a single parent, you have so many roles – you are wearing all the hats. The mom hat, the dad hat, the chef hat, the teacher hat, the disciplinarian hat, the clown hat and the work hat. You have your hands full, but you just try your best because it’s all about raising happy and healthy kids. That’s all we both want.”

Klum and musician Seal, who divorced in 2012 after almost seven years of marriage, are parents to Leni, 11, Henry, 10, Johan, 9, and Lou, 6.

In the Redbook interview, Klum said that being a single parent is not “drastically” different from when she and Seal, 52, were married.

“He was never your typical dad who left for work in the morning with his briefcase and would be home by dinnertime every night. He traveled a lot. The kids knew it was part of his job,” she said. “I’m a mom and a dad at the same time.”

After the interview’s publication, many thought it was evidence of bad blood between Klum and her ex-husband, but that is not the case at all, she says.

“I am very happy for Seal,” she tells PEOPLE. “I have met Erika [Packer, Seal’s girlfriend,] a bunch of times at my children’s birthday parties and she is lovely.”

Klum, who is currently dating art dealer Vito Schnabel, also spoke a bit about her own love life.

“My children always have come first and that is still the case. It feels amazing to be with a man who understands all of that, but we still find a lot of time to spend together, especially when the kids are spending time with their dad,” she shares. “During that time we love to go away, just he and I. That’s our special time together.”

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Schnabel has also helped Klum discover “a new love for art,” she says.

“I love going to museums and art exhibitions with him. It is a fascinating new world for me and I love learning new things every day through him.”