First reaction to seeing Gisele Bundchen on the July cover of Vogue? I laughed. I laughed because of the cover line “Modelling never defined me.” Gurl, you were arguably the last of the true “supermodels.” You were also really, really famous for banging Leonardo DiCaprio back when he had some semblance of hotness (it all went downhill post-Gisele). So, I’ll give her half-credit: she wasn’t completely defined solely as a model. She was also defined as Leo’s girlfriend, and then as Tom Brady’s wife. Still, the best cover line is probably “vibrant scarf dressing.” Like, are we just going to dress in vibrant scarves now?? So many questions. In any case, you can see Gisele’s full Vogue cover package here – no shade, this is actually a good interview. Some highlights:
Why she lives in Boston: “Why do I live here? It’s called love. I love my husband. My kids were born here, in our old apartment on Beacon Street. They’re little Bostonians, and they love the weather. But I’m not going to lie. Cold is not my flavor. I’m Brazilian. I’d rather live barefoot in a hut in the middle of the forest somewhere.”
She’s not a model: “I’m not a model. Modeling is a job that I do, a career that I’ve had. It allowed me to see the world, and I was well paid for it. But it never defined me.”
On the current environmental situation: “There are enough signs that we can’t keep going in this direction. People forget that without a healthy environment, there are no healthy humans, because last time I checked, our life depends on the health of our planet, period. At the end of the day, the Earth will be fine. If we are gone, she’s going to regenerate herself. So we have to think about how we’re going to survive on it. How can we have the least impact?”
At fifteen she was reading books by Lao Tzu, and at 16 she was living in NYC with other models: “I was watching all the chaos but never getting that close. Drugs. Girls coming and going, some making it, some heading down a bad path and going home. I was never a party girl. You can’t be reading Lao Tzu and partying. The environment I was living in wasn’t matching the things I was interested in. I was wondering, How is it that we’re all floating on this blue dot in space? I’ve always been a curious person, and I’ve always asked the big questions. What else? What more? This can’t be all there is.”
She teaches her kids to garden, compost & keep bees: She has her husband, Tom, well trained too. He now uses a lemon tincture to flavor his water, lest the trash fill up with plastic bottles, and the kids police their dad when he falls short. “They’re the little defenders. When you have privilege, you have to work extra hard. You want to give to your children because you love them, but is that really what’s best for them? Growing the garden with my kids, they understand they have to nourish it from tiny seeds. Ooh, here comes a frost. We lose our plant. And now what? Start again, figure out a new way. Nature is the biggest teacher: She’s always teaching you how to adapt.”
Her sister started her Instagram account for her: “If it was me, it would only be pictures of sunsets. It’s not my generation—I have to be honest about that. I’m older, wiser. If I had to promote myself in the way girls modeling now have to do, forget it. I wouldn’t do it.”
She doesn’t mix with the other football wives & girlfriends: “My husband is 40, and most of the guys playing with him are 20. Their girlfriends are probably nineteen, with different interests. I go to the games with the kids every Sunday so that Tom feels we’re here for him, and that’s the extent of what I know about football.” She is close to several mothers at her children’s school, where she has also been involved in implementing a meditation program.
Gisele got a lot of crap once upon a time for not really seeming like she was putting down roots in Boston – she wasn’t befriending other Patriots WAGs, she didn’t like the weather, she was always traveling. But I think long-term, she’s done what was comfortable for her – she doesn’t want to be a huge part of Tom’s football life, and maybe he doesn’t want that either. And yeah, she obviously isn’t crazy about Boston in general. I also like what she says about how she’s an entirely different generation that Generation Instamodel – and I do wonder if Gisele would have “happened” in this current age of Instamodels and do-it-yourself stardom. Of course, that part about the Instamodels caused some “backlash” though, even though what she said was the truth. So Gisele apologized:
— Gisele Bündchen (@giseleofficial) June 14, 2018
It’s fine. Here’s Gisele’s “73 Questions With…” Vogue video. Her face is so… different.
Cover courtesy of Vogue.
Modelling is a job. She’s also a sister, a mum, she wasn’t just another Leo’s girl, they spent years and years together.
I get what she’s saying. Modelling made her famous, but she’s not definted by it.
They spent years together but she did not flaunt her relationship or use him to propel her career frankly. If anything it was an on/off thing where I felt she was in control of her relationship with him. I.e being Leo’s girlfriend definitely did not define her – I’ve been a fan since before she started going out with him. Plus when she started going out with him the age gap was much less than it is with him and his girlfriends now!
@Milla: I am right there with you!
I am a scientist. It is my job. It doesn’t define.
I certainly have traits that contributed for my career choice. But it is not the other way around…
Is it just me, or is that an awful photo of her? She has a gorgeous face, but the picture doesn’t reflect that fact at all.
I agree with you. Looks like she’s had some work done or they photoshopped that pic of her.
I get what she’s saying. But being a model has gieven you what you have and in a way, it has defined her. We all are touched by events in our lives and our careers leave their imprint on us.
I think she looks like that when she is more natural – there is always photoshop but in a lot of her candid shots she is a little more mousy. I quite liked it and thought she was pretty in motion and in the photograph.
She had facework and her eyes show it more than anything else.
Don’t forget that French boob job, where she tried to hide (was it leaving or going into the surgeon) wearing a burka. Chica has had work, period. I wish these models would just own up. It’s like a house: you have a GREAT foundation (genes), and you’re “remodeling/renovating” a bit. And that’s fine, but don’t give young girls complexes by thinking you’re this “perfect” naturally; they can NEVER measure up to this.
magnolia: No, she didn’t. Her face looks the same. Just a boob job.
I don’t like that cover. I don’t like that natural look.
I think people who have had plastic surgery should somehow admit it. Because us non-plastic-surgeries have to compete with them and that ain’t fair. Also it would be fair towards customers to admit that it wasn’t this face cream or that body lotion which gave this or that model this lovely body / wrinkle-free complexion but good old plastic surgery.
That cover is absolutely gorgeous!
Came here to say this.
before ppl in the comments start going in on her.
Word.
Yeah I think she’s a little conceited. I think as a supermodel you have to be though kinda sorta. It’s kool. She’s an amazing model.
Yeah I don’t think you can be a supermodel like she was/is and NOT be conceited, or at least supremely confident.
It is lovely cover, summery and natural.
I don’t care she did some work, she’s been modeling over two decades. She’s retired as a model, she has her own business, more power to her.
Her husband seems like a piece of work. But that’s their problem.
Yes, because she has been working in a lab during her off hours for years to find a cure for arrogance.
Actually, I do understand what she means, though.
It’s just she really wouldn’t have a voice to speak out for the causes she espouses except by virtue of her modeling career.
There are lots of things that define Gisele
– Modeling
– dating dicaprio
– marrying brady
– environmentalism
– business
– having children
– yoga and meditation
and more. and modeling is definitely one of the things that define and shape(d) and influence Gisele.
She is trying to broaden her range into something else but modeling. Acting didn’t work. So now she is positioning herself in a new place by claiming “modeling never defined me” aka “i can do much more than modeling” aka “I am looking for new job(s)”
My first instinct is to say UGH GISELE IS THE WORST.
but I actually can see what she means about modeling not defining her. Maybe other people defined her by modeling, but that was never how she defined herself.
I do kind of roll my eyes at the implication that all Brazilians live in huts in the middle of the jungle.
And beyond that – her points about privilege are interesting, and I like her point about the age difference. Tom Brady is “old” for football. I don’t expect him or Gisele to hang out and party with the newcomers to the team. They’re at very different places in their lives and career. Some mentoring and advice would probably be beneficial though.
Right?? I’m brazilian and I love cold weather, snow… you get the point. Generalizing makes her sound kinda dumb – but well, she never was the smartest cookie, I guess.
Yeah, and she is from the south. Being from the south myself we get way more cold weather than heat, so I don’t understand her point.
I actually suffer more from cold where I live in Brazil than when I lived in Canada and US due to the fact that not every place has central heating and all contructions are made with bricks (no good for keeping the cold out)
yasmin: She IS smart. And she didn’t say Brazilians love those things. She was talking about herself. She loves those things.
There’s nothing wrong with this interview. Generalization? You should read interviews with Adriana Lima. Her interviews are so bad.
Kath: I live in Brazil (South). It’s very cold today and I can’t imagine how hard it must be to live in Boston.
I believe she was being sarcastic and hyperbolic with her language to make a point. She was using the most opposite example from Boston to demonstrate her meaning. She tends to talk like that and get in trouble for it.
She really isn’t a high glam person, so I believe that was her point. I don’t think for one moment she would ever denigrate Brazil or misrepresent it when she is VERY proud of her country and roots.
Oh I wasn’t criticizing her, I actually quite like her. I think being able to understand her interviews in portuguese helps me with that.
I especially adore how she had a mate (chimarrão) in the vogue interview. I do believe she is proud of her country
I think she used to say some things that were offensive bordering on bat sh*t crazy, and now people are just hyper critical. Cause I can’t see how people don’t see she was giving her personal opinion, and she is from Brazil and prefers warm weather, not the weather in Boston. I know a bunch of born and bred Bostonians who don’t like the weather either, so not sure how that or anything she said in this interview is controversial. She certainly has gotten a lot better at interviews, but I guess it took her long enough. She used to be good for at least one large WTF did she say moment in an interview, and now not so much.
I will say this too, as opposed to a lot of the models today. She looks stunning. Sure she may be tweaked to the max, but so are they all and they don’t look that good.
Well, Gisele can afford the best plastic surgeons and filler sculptors. She has got the money. And she has money to pay people to get an accurate fact sheet about doctors.
Still, she often promotes an unhealthy body image and often she promotes unhealthy ideas like when she said about giving birth that it wasn’t called labour for nothing. As if women who had trouble in labour just didn’t work hard enough or as if they hadn’t put in enough effort.
Lately there were reports about her’s and Brady’s diet. Nope, not healthy either. A lot of foods were excluded.
Brady isn’t exactly a saint either. His TB18-method is likely no good. And despite him claiming it he can’t protect himself against concussions. Not possible.
I totally rolled my eyes at that too. AND she’s from the south which has COLD weather. It’s not like she’s from north or northeast Brazil that are hot and warm basically the whole year. Please…
Sometimes I think I’m the only brazilian that doesn’t like her and it’s hard
Fun fact: Here, very few people care about American football and Tom Brady is known as “Gisele’s husband”
Perception is a very funny thing, because I agree, if there is one last Model with Supermodelstatus it is Gisele, maybe Kate Moss too. But Gisele has always struck me as being generally businesssavy, with her shoes and deals, so I can see where she’s coming from.
Her kids are definitely Little Bostonians; she’s a hockey mom.
Yeah, it will be interesting to see what happens once he retires. Presumably they’ll not want to uproot the kids, and they live a pretty comfortable life here.
She’s so full of herself, it’s hilarious. I laughed out loud at ‘You can’t be reading Lao Tzu and partying.’ Gurl, you’re not the first one to read about Buddhism in your teens, it’s not a big deal and THAT does not define you either.
Also, if she’s so worried about the state of the environment, why keep the job that she has? She’s flying all over the world for her photoshoots, I’m willing to bet that her carbon footprint is a thousand times higher than mine, in spite of her ‘people forget that without a healthy environment, there are no healthy humans,’- preaching.
Ah, but she’s teaching little children in private school to meditate…yeah, it made me smirk too…
Such a hypocrite, just like her old beau Leo.
Well, it might be necessary to fly for professional reasons. And perhaps she does offset her carbon footprint by buying rainforest by the square miles.
but it definitely ain’t necessary to fly into the carribean for a 1-week-holiday. There are plenty of nice places closer to home.
today’s cosmetics industry is filled with a lot of chemical environmentally damaging compounds and often it is mere lazyness on their part. why put silicone oil (dimethicone or siloxane) into conditioner? Some of it will stick to the hair and make it shinier. But most of it goes into the canalisation and does damage in the water cleaning plant and afterwards. Because it is very difficult to get those silicones out of the water.
does Gisele ever think about that when she represents some cosmetics / hair / skin … care company?
gisele has a line of flip flop sandals. How much rubber and plastic is in those flip flops?
Btw. pets are an environmentally damaging luxury, too. The consume resources (fodder, medicine) and they are strictly speaking not necessary in a functional way. A shepherd needed a dog to steer his flock of sheep and that is what I mean by functional. But most dog owners don’t really “need” a dog for functional purposes like a shepherd.
Well, and if you think about for example how many pet dogs there are today and how much meat they need to consume … well, that adds up.
Nope, no sainthood from me.
Also I have the line from Moana in my head. “but this does not define you….you know who you are!”
God all that I’m not a model talk is ridiculous. You worked as a model for years, it earned you a lot of money, own it. Nobody said you’re not a mother, businesswoman etc., but you are/were also a model.
Exactly. I mean it may not be who she is now, but it’s how she got to where she is. My first reaction when reading the title and excerpt was “bitch please”
Exactly! And don’t we only identify Tommy Boy as nothing but a football player? Oh, and Giselles husband! LOL
What on earth was offensive about what she said regarding the models today?
It doesn’t matter what she said – every tiny thing she says is picked apart by the internet and this place included, because she’s Gisele and she’s so full of herself and so awful, and the root cause of all evil for fighting for the environment, and so arrogant for trying to be herself, or confident or whatever. Ok – so I’m a Gisele fan but the diatribe is so one sided given the hundreds of people who have met her have always said incredibly kind things about her. People’s opinions of her are extremely one sided in my opinion – I don’t think she’s perfect but today’s anger at her comments is an example of the bias.
Yup, I’m not even a fan of her’s, but this article immediately started shading her. For nothing, really. She’s a model, but she’s also a businesswoman and mother. Toning wrong with that.
@Red Nothing. We just live in a time where people go out of their way to find something, anything offensive about what others say, or for not using the “right” words to express an opinion which then results in a kind of forced apology for not saying exactly what others think you should have actually said. It’s quite exhausting and getting ridiculous.
Oh Gisele right,it doesn’t define you.All the crap you say does it though…
Ha ha ha! So true! She’s one of those people (hi also, Gwyneth) who simply can’t speak a sentence without sounding self-righteous and smug. And utterly delusional.
*eyeroll*
She’s a brilliant business woman, but god it must be exhausting to be that pretentious all the time. Work went into her career, sure, but so did genetics – in other words, luck.
She’s very modely with the Cover Girl inspired video. But I can’t help liking her somewhat. At least she cares about the environment (in a rich person, high consumption kind of way) and sounds reasonably intelligent.
Now those strange Hadid sisters, I don’t get their appeal at all.
That’s so funny that she is saying that, because the other day I just watched “The Women” with Meg Ryan, and the ‘model’ in the movie pretty much said the same thing that Gisele said. Is this something all models say?
I will say from experience there is a low level of embarassment about the job because of the stereotypes. It is a constant fight to be taken seriously as a person and there are so many negative opinions about models though some of them are well earned. Some models see it as a paycheck but their main focus is on everything else in their lives. Gisele is not Kate Moss who lives for fashion, fame, and modeling. She loves all of it including the rockstars and fast party life. Two different types. Gisele is a businesswoman and professional. That is what I have always liked most about her.
I never loved it but at 16 when you get your first paycheck and it is substantial then it is incentive to keep going and then it keeps coming and then why not keep going? But there is a price to pay for that and it means missing out on college and young adulthood. There can be gaps and problems with dealing with reality and maturing in a healthy way. It becomes a challenge to keep growing intellectually and it means making it a priority. but it also means being VERY sensitive about being seen as a stupid waste of space whose only purpose is to look good in clothes. There is also the truth that some models fit the stereotypes though and like it. If people immediately recognize you then some of them start with the a-hole routines right away and it gets tiring and old. Women can become nasty and project their insecurities and self righteous opinions right on you with glee not even giving the model a chance to be a decent cool person who isn’t a starving idiot.
Genetics make a model look like model physically but it doesn’t have anything to do with her/his personality, values, character or intelligence.
I get what Gisele is trying to say here. I put my job in a category and I didn’t let it define me either. I don’t mean to imply my career was close to what Gisele’s was because I mean really. No. But I did well enough and I am proud of some parts of it. It afforded me extraordinary independence at a very young age and I learned a lot and saw so many great things. It would be insulting to act as if I suffered greatly and hadn’t been VERY lucky but it had drawbacks and still does.
I get what she’s saying, however it doesn’t define her to herself, but for everyone else, still does. That’s how the world is always going to think of her, especially when she saying that while modeling on the cover of another magazine.
Gisele is a beautiful woman but every time she opens her mouth I cringe, just to pretentious imho
I watched that Vogue video ONLY to see her house. I used to live in Boston and I’m pretty sure her pantry is bigger than my whole apt. was. #jealouzzzzz
Not a Gisele fan, as she seems incredibly arrogant, but she’s right about the instamodel thing. The unfortunate thing about this generation of models is that their popularity amongst designers and booked jobs are generally a result of social media following, not actual talent. That is why Gisele is considered the last supermodel. Younger models just can’t accept that (not that I blame them, but it’s still the truth).
I like what she says.
I think she’s one of the very few ‘new’ faces on the block that totally warrants and deserves ‘supermodel’ status. And I love that she’s confident enough to know that.
Nature lovers are usually annoying, and she’s not an exeption. My problem with her is that she represents the racist beauty standard that curses my country. We are not blonde, tall, blue-eyed, neither we have european names. I think it’s pretty bad for women in general, although I wouldn’t put the blame on her, since she’s just a result of it all.
It is true about Brazil. It is a beautiful country full of beautiful brown people who have been shut out of the privilege. I think if I were Brazilian her comment wouldn’t seem so innocent and would read as more obtuse. The racism in Brazil is ugly and harsh.
For blonde models, South America is very lucrative. Brazil in particular.
I was schooled (I deserved the sharp lesson) this evening by a South American who dislikes her strongly. Perspective is everything.
Does she ever mention the Marialle Franco who was assassinated? I can’t defend her anymore about anything unless she starts discussing Brazil for real and stops acting like the at large ambassador for white Brazilians.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/18/marielle-franco-brazil-favelas-mourn-death-champion
I apologize for defending her in any way that may have been dismissive or ignorant on my part.
Your comment is great and shows a lot of intelligence from you. This woman doesn’t represent Brazil in any form: she doesn’t live here, neither she faces what brazillian women do, women as Mariele, as you wisely pointed out.
She should have married dicaps.
check list:
– environmentalist
– tall blonde slim model
– not too educated but making money
– loves nature and beaches
– loves animals
– interested in acting but not much talent