Background

Gisele Bündchen was born on July 20, 1980 in Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She is the daughter of Vânia (Nonnenmacher) Bündchen, a retired bank clerk, and Valdir Bündchen, a sociologist, teacher and writer. Gisele has five sisters, Raquel, Graziela, Gabriela, Rafaela and her fraternal twin, Patrícia.

Education

Since her youth, Gisele has been athletic and dreamed of playing professional volleyball, but a modeling class she took to improve her posture led to an offer from an agency in São Paulo.

Career

In 1994, at the age of 14, Bündchen was spotted in a shopping mall by a modeling agent for Elite Model Management, one of the largest modeling agencies in the world. The following year, she entered the agency's Look of the Year modeling contest (later renamed Elite Model Look), in which she placed second nationally and fourth globally.

In 1996, the model moved to New York City to start a professional modeling career and soon thereafter made her runway debut at New York Fashion Week - one of the industry's four major semiannual events. It was in 1997, that Gisele was featured on the cover of the Brazilian edition of the leading fashion magazine Vogue (October), gaining industry recognition. Despite a more curvaceous figure, that stood in stark contrast to the waifish frames then in style, Bündchen continued to appear on the covers of the industry's leading publications. She appeared in 1999 on the cover of American Vogue (July), which proclaimed the "Return of the Sexy Model," thereby marking the end of the then popular and controversial look known as "heroin chic" - an extremely thin physique, paired with pale skin, dark undereye circles, and often disheveled hair and clothing. The same year, she was named Model of the Year, an honour, jointly awarded by Vogue and the American cable-television network VH1. It was also in 1999, that Gisele left Elite Model Management to switch to IMG Models.

In 2000, the model became the face of Victoria's Secret and remained so until 2007. She soon became a household name, which many in the industry heralded as the return of the "supermodel" - a top fashion model, who appears simultaneously on the covers of the world's leading fashion magazines and is globally recognized by first name only. During this time, Bündchen also walked the runways of some of the world's top fashion houses, including Christian Dior and Valentino; in 2015 she retired from runway modeling.

During her lifetime, the model has appeared in a number of films, including Taxi (2004) - her debut film, The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Coração Vagabundo (2008), Kiss The Ground (2020), among others.

It's also worth mentioning, that Bündchen was featured in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition "The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion" (2009), which showcased the models, who epitomized fashion during the 20th century.

Being a businesswoman, Gisele launched several product lines, including footwear, clothing, jewelry, lingerie, and environmentally friendly skin care.

In 2018, the model published the book Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life.

In February 2021, it was reported, that Bündchen was leaving IMG Models after 22 years and that her twin sister, Patricia, would be taking over as her manager.

Achievements

• 

  Gisele Bündchen is a world-renowned model, activist, actress and businesswoman. She gained fame as the one, who ended the heroin chic era of modeling in 1999. In addition, from 2000 until mid-2007, Gisele was known as a Victoria's Secret Angel. Throughout her career, she was featured on more than 1,200 magazine covers.
  
  Gisele is one of the highest-paid models in the world and has earned the top spot on Forbes top-earning models list in 2012.
  
  During her lifetime, the model has attained a number of awards, including the Phytoervas Fashion Award, Vh1/ Vogue Fashion Award, Harvard Medical School's Global Citizen Award, International Green Award and Green Carpet Fashion Award. She was also nominated for Choice Movie Female Breakout Star and for Choice Movie Villain at the 2005 Teen Choice Awards for her supporting role in Taxi (2004).

Works

More photos

• book

  • Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life

    (Gisele Bündchen shares personal stories, insights, and ph...)

    2018

• movie

  • Taxi

    (A mouthy and feisty taxicab driver has hot tips for a gre...)

    2004
  • The Devil Wears Prada

    (A smart but sensible new graduate lands a job as an assis...)

    2006

Religion

Bündchen grew up in a Roman Catholic family. She remains to be a Catholic, but opposes the church's stance on abortion and birth control.

Politics

Bündchen isn't terribly involved in the political debate, but she has associated herself with one cause, that sounds liberal in some circles. She was named the Greenest Celebrity at the 2011 International Green Awards for her environmental activism, including, among other things, preventing deforestation and protecting waterways in the Amazon. She also started a "Green Blog" on her website to try to bring awareness to a broad range of environmental issues from protecting animal habitats to reducing resource consumption.

Though Gisele's husband Tom Brady has been friends with Donald Trump for many years, she emphatically denied supporting him.

Views

Since the 2000s, Gisele has been actively involved in social and environmental causes. In 2009, she was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme.

Bündchen is the founder the Luz Foundation, which strives to empower young women both mentally and physically through its sponsorship of various self-esteem-building programs.

Gisele has also supported the Save the Children Fund, Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. In addition, she has supported the Breast Cancer Campaign to educate women on how to perform a breast self-exam.

Quotations: "The more you trust your intuition, the more empowered you become, the stronger you become, and the happier you become."

"Beauty is something inside of us. If you love yourself and accept yourself, that shows on the outside. Beauty is an act - it's how you carry yourself."

"I believe in taking chances and living your life. Sometimes doors open and others close and you have to figure out which one you're going to take. I'm always for the one that's challenging."

"If you are happy, you can give happiness. If you don't love yourself and if you are unhappy with yourself, you can't give anything else but that."

"Our health depends on the health of our planet."

Personality

In addition to her native Portuguese, Bündchen can also speak English, Italian, Spanish and some French.

Gisele considers Brazilian actress Carolina Dieckmann to be the most beautiful woman in the world.

Physical Characteristics: Gisele is 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) tall. She has light brown hair and blue eyes.

Interests

• Reading, horseback riding, Kung Fu, Anusara Yoga

• Writers

  Self-help books; Life of Pi by Yann Martel, The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

• Sport & Clubs

  Volleyball, soccer; Grêmio

• Music & Bands

  Jack Johnson, Caetano Veloso, Marisa Monte

Connections

During the period from 2000 to 2005, Bündchen dated Leonardo DiCaprio. It was in late 2006, that the model started a romantic relationship with Tom Brady. The two got acquainted thanks to a blind date, organized by their mutual friend. On February 26, 2009, Bündchen and Brady married. Their marriage produced two children - son Benjamin Rein and daughter Vivian Lake. In addition, Gisele is a stepmother of Brady's first son from a previous relationship with actress Bridget Moynahan.

Father:

Valdir Bündchen

Valdir Bündchen is a sociologist and writer. He was employed as a university teacher.

Mother:

Vânia (Nonnenmacher) Bündchen

Vânia (Nonnenmacher) Bündchen worked as a bank clerk.

ex-partner:

Leonardo DiCaprio

(born November 11, 1974)

Leonardo DiCaprio, in full Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio, is an American actor, film producer, and environmentalist.

husband:

Tom Brady

(born August 3, 1977)

Tom Brady, in full Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr., is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL).

Son:

Benjamin Rein Brady

(born December 8, 2009)

Daughter:

Vivian Lake Brady

(born December 5, 2012)

stepson:

John Edward Thomas Moynahan

(born August 22, 2007)

colleague:

Kate Moss

(born January 16, 1974)

Kate Moss is a well-known English fashion model, designer and businesswoman, whose waifish figure and natural look redefined the industry in the 1990s and who later became a cultural icon.

colleague:

Christy Turlington

(born January 2, 1969)

Christy Turlington is an American supermodel, charity-founder, campaigner, and filmmaker.

colleague:

Iman (Zara Abdulmajid)

(born July 25, 1955)

Iman is a notable former Somali fashion model, as well as a philanthropist, activist, actress, author and entrepreneur. She was discovered while attending university in Kenya by an American photographer and moved to the United States where her exotic looks set her apart on the runway and in fashion magazines. Iman established a prosperous cosmetics firm - Iman Cosmetics. She is a widow of English rock musician David Bowie.

colleague:

Naomi Campbell

(born May 22, 1970)

Naomi Campbell is a notable English model, actress, businesswoman and philanthropist. She became the first black woman to appear on the cover of French Vogue en route to iconic status in the modeling industry. In addition, Campbell has made a number of acting appearances in film and television.

colleague:

Claudia Schiffer

(born August 25, 1970)

Claudia Schiffer, in full Claudia Maria Schiffer, is a renowned German model, actress, and fashion designer, who resides in the United Kingdom. It was in the 1990s, that she gained prominence as one of the world's most successful models. Schiffer has appeared on the covers of such magazines, as Elle, Vogue, among others.

References

• Gisele Bündchen's Instagram
• Gisele Bündchen's Twitter
• Gisele Bündchen's Facebook
• Gisele Bündchen's Official Website