She was born in Rheinberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
In the early 1990s she starred in supersexy Guess jeans ads. One of these features her seated on suitcases outside a motel with her jeans tucked into cowboy boots.
Schiffer was long engaged to, but never married, the magician David Copperfield.
On May 25, 2002 she married film producer Matthew Vaughn. Matthew Vaughn was brought up to believe that his biological father was the actor Robert Vaughn, who played Napoleon Solo in the television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Matthew's mother, the actress Kathy Ceaton, had been in a relationship with Robert Vaughn at the time of Matthew's conception and birth, but the relationship was at it's breaking point and Robert Vaughn had always denied that he was Mathew's father. The paternity of Matthew Vaughn was resolved in the 1980s both scientifically and legally, in the Superior Court of Los Angeles. Matthew biological father is in fact George Albert Harley Drummond (also known as George de Vere Drummond) a minor British aristocrat who is the godson to the late King George VI and godfather to model Jodie Kidd. Following the resolution, Matthew adopted (for private use) the name Matthew de Vere Drummond.
It was widely reported at the time of Claudia Schiffer's marriage that one day she could become the Countess of Oxford because her father in-law was in line of succession to the Earldom of Oxford and Mortimer. In fact George Drummond is descended from the Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer through his son Thomas Harley (1730-1804) whose daughter Martha Harley (1760-1788) married one George Drummond (1758-1789) in 1779. Matthew's illegitimacy would bar him from succession. George Harley Drummond himself would not be in line for succession as he is not descended from the male line and furthermore the Harley family are no longer holders of the Earldom of Oxford and Mortimer. The male line ended with the death of Alfred Harley, 6th Earl of Oxford and Mortimer in 1853 and the title became extinct. A similarly named earldom, that of Oxford and Asquith, is now held by family of Herbert Asquith under the creation of 1925. It is impossible for Claudia Schiffer to become Countess of Oxford through her current marriage. George Albert Harley Drummond adopted the name 'de Vere' because that is the surname of the famous earls of Oxford who held the title (with interruptions) from 1135 to 1702 despite having no family connection with the de Vere family.
The son of Claudia Schiffer and Matthew de Vere Drummond (formerly Vaughn), named Caspar Matthew, was born in London on January 30, 2003.