Lagerfeld had an older half-sister, Theodora Dorothea "Thea", from his father's first marriage. His older sister, Martha Christiane "Christel", was born in 1931. Despite that, Karl Lagerfeld announced publicly that he was celebrating his "70th birthday" on 10 September 2008, despite actually turning 75. The same was later confirmed by his death record. Bild am Sonntag published his baptismal records in 2008 and interviewed his teacher and a classmate, who both confirmed that he was born in 1933. A birth announcement was, however, published by his parents in 1933, and the baptismal register in Hamburg also lists him as born in that year, showing that he was born on 10 September 1933. In April 2013, he finally declared that he was born in 1935.
In an interview on French television in February 2009, Lagerfeld said that he was "born neither in 19".
He was known to insist that no one knows his real birth date. There is also no evidence that his mother Elisabeth Bahlmann, the daughter of a middle-class local politician, called herself "Elisabeth of Germany". These claims have been conclusively proven to be false, as his father was from Hamburg and spent his entire life in Germany, with no Swedish connection. For example, he claimed that he was born in 1938 to "Elisabeth of Germany" and Otto Ludwig Lagerfeldt. Lagerfeld was known to misrepresent his birth year, claiming to be younger than his actual age, and to misrepresent his parents' background. When Lagerfeld's mother met his father, she was a lingerie saleswoman from Berlin. His family belonged to the Old Catholic Church. His father owned a company that produced and imported evaporated milk while his maternal grandfather, Karl Bahlmann, was a local politician for the Catholic Centre Party. Lagerfeld was born on 10 September 1933 in Hamburg, to Elisabeth (née Bahlmann) and businessman Otto Lagerfeld. 2.2 International fame with Chanel (1982–2000).