Gisele Bundchen

Gisele Caroline Bündchen is a Brazilian fashion model and businesswoman who became one of the most successful and highly paid models in the world. For much of the 2000s and 2010s she was a dominant figure in the fashion industry, and she has also been active as an environmental and humanitarian advocate.

Early life

Bündchen was born on July 20, 1980, in Horizontina, a small town in southern Brazil, and grew up in Rio Grande do Sul as one of several sisters, including a twin. She was discovered by a modeling scout while still a teenager during a school trip and began her career in São Paulo before moving abroad to pursue international work. Tall and athletic, she entered the industry at a time when a different physical type predominated on the runway, and she has often been credited with helping to broaden the look favored by designers.

Career

Bündchen rose to prominence in the late 1990s, walking runways for leading designers in Milan, Paris and New York and appearing in major fashion campaigns. She became closely associated with Victoria's Secret as one of its long-running brand models and was widely credited with helping shift the aesthetic favored by the industry during her peak years, a period some commentators dubbed the return of the "sexy" model. Across her career she appeared on the covers of numerous international editions of Vogue and other major magazines and fronted advertising for a wide range of luxury and consumer brands. For several consecutive years she was ranked among the highest-earning models in the world by industry publications, and she became one of the most globally recognized faces in fashion.

Recent work

After scaling back her runway appearances, Bündchen focused on entrepreneurship, brand partnerships and advocacy. She has worked on environmental causes, including efforts related to clean water and conservation, and has served in goodwill roles connected to the United Nations environmental program, drawing on her concern for the rainforests and ecosystems of her native Brazil. She published a memoir reflecting on her life and career, in which she discussed the pressures of the modeling world and her personal growth, and she has promoted wellness, yoga and sustainability initiatives. Bündchen was married to NFL quarterback Tom Brady, with whom she has two children, before their divorce, and she has remained a prominent public figure in fashion, philanthropy and lifestyle media, periodically returning for high-profile campaigns and appearances.