Gisele Bündchen Discusses How She Contemplated Suicide
Gisele Bündchen participates in a meditation at the Gisele Bündchen x Gaia Herbs Launch Event on September 15, 2023 in New York City.
In a new interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Gisele Bundchen says, “I’m in a different place in my life. I’m able to choose more of what I want. I think before I was more surviving, and now I’m living, which is different.” Stepping back from the fashion world, the supermodel wants to fully be herself. Not the “spotlight-loving personality” you might think. Embracing her Cancer traits, Gisele, 43, says, “I’m a little crab, I like my home.”
As an introvert, modeling was challenging for Bundchen. She found herself drinking a mocha Frappuccino with three cigarettes for breakfast, then a bottle of wine at night to calm down from all the coffee she was drinking. On top of that, she hardly slept, traveled often, and worked a lot. “I basically burned down my adrenal glands, and my nervous system couldn’t take it anymore.” However, Gisele felt ashamed to tell people what she was going through because they placed her on such a high pedestal, she thought they wouldn’t understand.
Reflecting on how her anxiety started to present itself at this time, Gisele recalled having to take the stairs to her ninth-floor apartment. She was afraid she would be stuck on the elevator and hyperventilating. “Because if you know you can’t breathe even if your windows are open, you feel like, ‘I don’t want to live like this.'” Host Lee Cowan asked a teary-eyed Gisele if she really thought about jumping, ending her life, and she responded, “Yeah, for like a second. You know, because you’re like, ‘I can’t!'” To move past this, Gisele stopped everything in a single day — completely detoxing from caffeine, sugar, and most of her drinking. She also took up a new morning ritual: meditation. Now, the mom of two wakes up at 5 a.m. to “greet the sun.”
In 2018, she told People that she “actually had the feeling of, ‘If I just jump off my roof, this is going to end, and I never have to worry about this feeling of my world closing in.'” Reflecting back on that 23-year-old girl, Gisele said, “In that moment, the only answer seemed to be to jump.”
Watch the full interview below:
Gisele Bündchen Living Her Best Life in 2023: Photos
Gisele Bündchen is more than Tom Brady's ex-wife. She is a Brazilian supermodel with a heart of gold. Since 2001, she has been one of the highest-paid models in the entire world. Six years later, she became the 16th-richest woman in the entertainment industry and earned the top spot on Forbes’ top-earning models list in 2012. Gisele and Tom were married since 2009 but faced “marital issues” since his un-retirement and they began living separately in 2022. Brady, 45, had retired from the NFL in February, only to reverse that decision a month later. The former couple share two children together: Vivian Lake and Benjamin Rein. The pro footballer is also dad to son John “Jack” Edward, whom he shares with ex Bridget Moynahan.
Family Over Everything
In an October 2022 interview with Elle, Gisele told the publication that she’s done her part in being there for the New England Patriots quarterback. She said at the time, “I moved to Boston, and I focused on creating a cocoon and a loving environment for my children to grow up in and to be there supporting him and his dreams. Seeing my children succeed and become the beautiful little humans that they are, seeing him succeed and being fulfilled in his career—it makes me happy. I have a huge list of things that I have to do that I want to do. At 42, I feel more connected with my purpose.”
Growing up in the small rural town of Horizontina, in southern Brazil, Bündchen was always outside. Some of her favorite memories include riding bikes with her five sisters and eating vegetables from her grandmother’s garden. At just 17 years old, she had her breakout moment as a model when she hit Alexander McQueen’s 1998 Spring runway in Milan, Italy, topless, covered only by white paint. Two years later, she became one of Victoria’s Secret’s famous Angels. In 2004, she appeared in Taxi alongside Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon, and two years later, she had a minor role in The Devil Wears Prada.
Take a look below at five photos that show off that Gisele has been living her best life and thriving in 2023.
Laila Abuelhawa is the Top 40 and Hip-Hop pop culture writer for Beasley Media Group. Being with the company for over three years, Laila's fierce and fabulous red-carpet rankings have earned her a feature on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!' Her favorite stories are those surrounding the latest in celebrity fashion, television and film rankings, and how the world reacts to major celebrity news. With a background in journalism, Laila's stories ensure accuracy and offer background information on stars that you wouldn't have otherwise known. She prides herself in covering stories that inform the public about what is currently happening and what is to come in the ever-changing, ever-evolving media landscape.
