In 2016,Forbesnamed Bundchen one of the 100 top-earning celebrities.
So, how did Bundchen achieve this meteoric rise?
Well, as the star explained toVanity Fair, it’s been quite the journey.
And she certainly has grown.
“I wanted to be a volleyball player,” she toldThe Wall Street Journal.
On July 20, 1980, Bundchen was born to a bank clerk pensioner and a university teacher.
“We all got along like six best friends,” she continued.
Bundchen’s upbringing was Roman Catholic and she was raised speaking Portuguese as her first language.
Sounds like she showed signs of being a real personality even from an early age.
However, it wasn’t always this way.
“I was tall and really thin,” she recalled.
Bundchen confessed that she disliked her nose.
As she once explained toThe Wall Street Journal, she called herself “strange looking.”
Bundchen enjoyed her childhood, even if she was a little self-conscious.
After that, Bundchen dropped out of school and dove into the world of modeling (viaVanity FairandIGN).
“To your surprise a model scout approaches you because of your unique look,” she said.
“It turns out, the bullies at school who tease you for being different are wrong.”
Bundchen also recalled moving to New York City two years later, not knowing English.
At first, Bundchen did struggle to make it big.
Of course, soon enough, she proved them wrong.
“I thought I was being very smart,” she continued.
However, it turns out, a pickpocket stole Bundchen’s wallet and she lost all of her money.
In the end, she had to walk to her new home.
“There was a lot of those times, but I learned pretty fast,” she added.
It sounds like life in the big city taught Bundchen a lot about being street smart.
“I had no idea what modeling was,” she confessed toVanity Fair.
However, soon, Bundchen learned that it was about becoming something other than yourself.
“It’s not you,” she continued.
However, even though Bundchen was new to modeling, she was hooked very early on.
After years of enduring bullying and name calling, suddenly, people found her attractive and beautiful.
“It was a different standard of beauty,” she added.
As her twin sister said, even though Bundchen was inexperienced, she was determined.
“Her willpower made her successful,” she recalled.
“She has never let the critics put her down, and this has never changed.”
Soon, Bundchen’s hard work, perseverance, and thick skin paid off.
All he cared about was that you could walk in impossible heels."
It was at this time that Bundchen became known as “the Body.”
Bundchen believes that it was these early opportunities in the world of British fashion that catapulted her to stardom.
“Ninety per cent of the power people in fashion are British,” she explained.
“I think people understood I could be cool after that.”
Soon enough, Bundchen was everywhere.
A few years later, she was the highest-paid model in the world (viaThe Guardian).
In 1999, Bundchen was named Model of the Year at the VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards (viaVanity Fair).
These days, she’s known for her healthy lifestyle, but it wasn’t always this way.
The pressure soon became too much and she started to experience panic attacks and her lifestyle didn’t help.
“I was eating steak and fries every night.
Bundchen’s unhealthy lifestyle soon sent her spinning into a cycle of insomnia and anxiety.
This was largely thanks to her relationship with superstar Leonardo DiCaprio.
According toThe Sun, the pair dated from 1999 to 2005.
However, the relationship was definitely a pretty rocky one.
AsW Magazinerevealed in 2002, they broke up at least once.
At the time, Bundchen stated, “No time for boys.
There’s nothing else to say.”
Then a few years later, there wererumors of marriage.
As Bundchen revealed toVanity Fair,the relationship did have its positives.
“We were very young, and we grew together in a lot of ways,” she revealed.
In the end, Bundchen realized that DiCaprio didn’t fit into her new, healthier lifestyle.
“Was I alone in wanting to do some serious soul-searching while he stayed the same?”
“In the end, unfortunately, the answer was yes.”
AsLovereported, she even has a tendency to quote Buddhist texts in everyday conversation.
“It helps to quiet my mind and helps me see things more clearly.
It brings a sense of peace to my day.”
Over the years, Buddhism has brought Bundchen a greater sense of wisdom and healing, too.
It sounds as though discovering Buddhist meditation completely transformed Bundchen’s life for the better.
The film received numerous scathing reviews.
“I’m not an actress, I never had an acting class,” she said.
“I was like, ‘Okay, I hope I don’t screw this up!'”
Bundchen decided she could make a difference.
“I’ve been advocating for social and environmental causes ever since,” she explained.
Bundchen even became a Global Goodwill Ambassador as part of the U.N.’s environment program.
As it states on theU.N.
She is often noted among the world’s most generous celebrities.”
Bundchen was only 19 when she signed a contract with the iconic lingerie brand.
“I closed my eyes and set an intention,” she said.
Bundchen pulled out “No” and subsequently ended her commercial relationship with Victoria’s Secret.
As the model toldLove, all of her friends had been trying to set her up.
Eventually, she agreed to meet Brady on a blind date.
“It was really like doing a favor for a friend,” she confessed.
Bundchen had set aside half an hour for the date, but it ended up lasting three hours.
“I knew right away the first time I saw him,” she continued.
Even though Bundchen 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 Bundchen explained, the wedding cemented their strong relationship.
“We’ve been together over two years; we’ve been living together,” she added.
The ceremony simply made it a little more official.
For most parents, having children proves to be a momentous milestone in life.
For Bundchen, motherhood was utterly transformative.
“It’s a cliche,” she toldLove, “but there is no bigger thing.”
She also explained that having kids completely changed her perspective.
“I don’t want him to say his mom was a successful model,” she explained.
Of course, adjusting to life as a mother wasn’t easy.
It was like a part of me died."
Bundchen had to get used to being responsible for someone else.
“I suddenly felt l couldn’t do other things and that was very hard for me.”
In a promotional video on Sejaa Pure skincare’s launch, Gisele set out her ambitions for the product.
The line has since been discontinued (viaPopSugar).
To celebrate her birthday, Bundchen announced onInstagramthat she would be planting 40,000 trees.
The couple married in 2009 and have two children: Benjamin, 12 and Vivian, 9.
One source toldPeoplethat the couple “agreed to joint custody of the kids.”
However, a legal document obtained byTMZofficially declared the marriage as being “irretrievably broken.”
Brady and Bundchen have asked for privacy during this transition.
