From her childhood in a small, middle-class town in Brazil to the upper echelons of the
modeling world, here is the stunning transformation of Gisele Bündchen.
Bundchen never expected to become a model. In fact, she was raised in a small town in
Brazil and didn't even know modeling was a job. She told The Wall Street Journal,
"I wanted to be a volleyball player."
On July 20th, 1980, Bündchen was born to a bank clerk and a university teacher, according
to Lifetime. Her childhood was spent in a small, three-bedroom white brick house in
a tiny town with her five sisters. According to her, she and her sisters got along like
"six best friends," and she claims she was a real tomboy as a child. Fond of climbing
trees and running around outside, it's easy to see why modeling wasn't initially in her
plans.
Bündchen's upbringing was Roman Catholic and she was raised speaking Portuguese as
her first language. She also has some German heritage from both parents, and she apparently
learned a little German in school.
Bundchen has been described by interviewers as speaking "a mile a minute." As it turns
out, the supermodel has always been highly energetic. She told Vanity Fair,
"I was extremely hyper when I was a kid, like bouncing off the walls. I think that if I
was in America they'd probably give me medication."
While Bundchen's energy might have been a lot to handle for her parents, it's clearly
a quality that's helped her get where she is today. Her twin, Patricia, told the publication,
"Unlike me, Gisele was very talkative, and she wasn't afraid to be away from home for
some time even when she was little."
Sounds like she showed signs of being a real personality even from an early age. Because
of her excessive energy, Bundchen's parents put her in lots of classes as a child — ballet,
gymnastics, and, you guessed it, modeling.
These days, Bundchen is known all over the world as being a gorgeous supermodel — but
it wasn't always this way. In fact, she revealed to Vanity Fair that as a child, she struggled
to get used to her striking looks. She explained,
"I was tall and really thin. The kids in school called me Olive Oyl and Saracura, which is
a bird with really skinny long legs."
While this classic model look eventually led to Bündchen's hugely successful career, she
was bullied and ostracized for her unusual appearance as a kid. Bündchen confessed that
she also disliked her nose. As she once explained to The Wall Street Journal, she thought she
was "strange looking."
Instead of focusing on her looks, Bündchen worked at getting good grades, making good
friends, and taking part in sports — she was even captain of her school's volleyball
team. Bündchen enjoyed her childhood, even if she was a little self-conscious. She added,
"If I were told I could come back as anything, I would have chosen the same life, the same
family, the same experiences, the same friends."
Bundchen's normal childhood was cut short when she was just 14. She was on a school
trip to Rio when a modeling scout spotted her. After that, Bündchen dropped out of
school and dove into the world of modeling, according to Vanity Fair.
In a letter to her younger self for CBS This Morning, Bündchen reflected on her meeting
with the model scout. She said,
"To your surprise a model scout approaches you because of your unique look. It turns
out, the bullies at school who tease you for being different are wrong."
Bündchen also recalled moving to New York City two years later, not knowing English.
She continued,
"In the beginning, jobs are scarce, and you'll have to learn how to manage your money so
you can have enough to eat."
At first, Bündchen did struggle to make it big. She told The New York Times,
"In the beginning, everyone told me, 'Your eyes are too small, the nose is too big, you
can never be on a magazine cover.'"
Of course, soon enough, she proved them wrong.
As a teenager entering the modeling industry, Bundchen was essentially clueless; despite
having taken a modeling course, she had a lot to learn. She confessed to Vanity Fair
that she had "no idea" what modeling was — but she soon learned that it was about becoming
something other than just yourself.
Even though Bündchen was new to modeling, she was hooked very early on. After years
of putting up with bullying and name calling, suddenly, people found her attractive and
beautiful. She admitted that "it was a different standard of beauty." As her twin sister said,
even though Bündchen was inexperienced, she was determined. Patricia recalled,
"Her willpower made her successful. She has never let the critics put her down, and this
has never changed."
Soon, Bündchen's hard work, perseverance, and thick skin paid off. More and more jobs
started to come her way, and her career seemed to be on course to take off.
"I feel like I was in the right place at the right time with the right attitude."
Once Bundchen found her feet in the modeling world, the jobs started coming in. Her first
big break was through Alexander McQueen when she was 17, and Bündchen is grateful to him
for it. She told Love magazine,
"The great thing about McQueen was that he wouldn't look at anybody's books. All he cared
about was that you could walk in impossible heels."
It was around this time that Bündchen became known as "the Body."
Another major moment in Bündchen's career came one year later, when Big magazine made
her the focus of an entire issue. Bündchen believes that it was these early opportunities
in the world of British fashion that catapulted her to stardom. She explained,
"Ninety per cent of the power people in fashion are British. I think people understood I could
be cool after that."
Soon enough, Bündchen was everywhere. In fact, her rise to fame in the late '90s is
often credited with the end of the heroin chic fad. A few years later, she was the highest-paid
model in the world, according to The Guardian.
For Bundchen, becoming a supermodel was both thrilling and a little dangerous. These days,
she's known for her healthy lifestyle, but it wasn't always this way. She explained to
The Guardian that early in her career, she was overly eager to do every job that came
her way. The pressure soon became too much and she started to experience panic attacks
— and her lifestyle didn't help. She admitted,
"I was eating steak and fries every night. I was drinking a bottle of wine and smoking
cigarettes and having a mocha cappuccino for breakfast."
Bündchen's unhealthy lifestyle soon sent her spinning into a cycle of insomnia and
anxiety. She finally realized she needed to make a change when she was 24, when she reached
her lowest point — as she confessed, she once even considered harming herself. She
said,
"What I realized was that I am creating this for myself: we are creating the lives we are
living with our actions and we have a choice."
Bündchen soon committed to a new routine of meditation, yoga, lots of sleep, and healthy
plant-based food — and she hasn't looked back since.
"The first thing I do when I wake up is I just have lukewarm water with lemon squeezed
in. It helps wake up your body and your metabolism, and it just kind of gets things started."
While Bundchen was on the cover of just about every fashion magazine out there in the 2000s,
she also graced plenty of tabloids. This was largely thanks to her relationship with superstar
Leonardo DiCaprio. According to The Sun, the pair dated from 1999 to 2005. However, the
relationship was definitely a pretty rocky one. As W revealed in 2002, they broke up
at least once. At the time, Bündchen stated,
"No time for boys. There's nothing else to say."
Then a few years later, there were rumors of marriage. As Bündchen revealed to Vanity
Fair, the relationship did have its positives. She admitted,
"We were very young, and we grew together in a lot of ways."
In the end, Bündchen realized that DiCaprio didn't fit into her new, healthier lifestyle.
In her memoir Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life, she explained that as she cleaned up
her lifestyle, she began to notice that DiCaprio wasn't keen on doing the same. She wrote,
"Was I alone in wanting to do some serious soul-searching while he stayed the same? In
the end, unfortunately, the answer was yes."
Part of Bundchen's healthy regime is a daily Buddhist meditation routine. As Love reported,
she even has a tendency to quote Buddhist texts in everyday conversation. Meditation
is a crucial part of feeling her best — in fact, without it, she wouldn't be who she
is today. In a chat with People magazine, she said,
"Meditation has been a great tool for me in my life. It helps to quiet my mind and helps
me see things more clearly. It brings a sense of peace to my day."
"It's a big difference when I don't, actually, I feel almost kind of like I'm playing catchup
when I don't meditate."
Over the years, Buddhism has brought Bündchen a greater sense of wisdom and healing, too.
She added,
"I have been meditating since my early 20s and I must say that words do not express enough
the significance of its gifts in my life."
Shortly after breaking up with DiCaprio, Bundchen met someone new — superstar quarterback
Tom Brady. As the model told Love magazine, all of her friends had been trying to set
her up. Eventually, she agreed to meet Brady on a blind date. She confessed,
"It was really like doing a favor for a friend."
Bündchen had set aside half an hour for the date, but it ended up lasting three hours.
In fact, as Bündchen confessed to Vanity Fair, she practically fell in love with Brady
on that first date. She claimed,
"I knew right away — the first time I saw him."
"When I saw those kind eyes I literally fell in love like right away, I was like 'what?'"
Even though Bündchen had been happily single for a year prior to meeting Brady, she was
totally smitten. Three years later, the pair married in a super private ceremony in Santa
Monica. As Bündchen explained, the wedding cemented their already strong relationship.
They'd been living together, and the ceremony simply made it a little more official.
Bundchen had two children with Brady: Benjamin and Vivian Brady. For most parents, having
children proves to be a momentous milestone in life. For Bündchen, motherhood was utterly
transformative. She told Love magazine,
"It's a cliche, but there is no bigger thing."
She also explained that having kids completely changed her perspective, adding,
"I don't want him to say his mom was a successful model. I want him to say that she took care
of him. [...] That she was a good person."
Of course, adjusting to life as a mother wasn't easy. As she wrote in her memoir,
"When I became a mom, I kind of lost myself. It was like a part of me died."
Bündchen had to get used to being responsible for someone else. She went on to say,
"I suddenly felt l couldn't do other things and that was very hard for me."
While she was thrilled, it was, as she put it, "a shock."
Bundchen turned 40 in 2020. And while she may be getting older, she appears to be doing
it with her usual dose of grace and enthusiasm. To celebrate her birthday, Bündchen announced
on Instagram that she would be planting 40,000 trees. She's carved out a reputation as a
passionate activist over the years. She even became a Global Goodwill Ambassador as part
of the UN's environment program. As it states on the UN's website,
"With a uniquely global reach, Bündchen uses her influence to bring attention to our planet
and how society can collectively work to protect it. She is often noted among the world's most
generous celebrities."
In an interview with The Guardian, Bündchen explained that the notion of aging doesn't
phase her — she plans to enjoy life as she always has. She said,
"I mostly like to be outside with nature, doing something physical like surfing, horseback
riding, I play volleyball, run around with my kids or take my dog for a walk."
Bündchen went on to explain that she had no intention of starting any new exercise
regimes or diets to stop the natural aging process in its tracks. As she put it,
"It's important to do those things that really nourish you, benefit you, make you feel good."
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