Gisele Bündchen, the renowned supermodel and former spouse of American football legend Tom Brady, has opened up about her struggles with anxiety and thoughts of suicide during the pinnacle of her fame.
During an interview with CBS Sunday Mornings, Bündchen candidly shared her experiences, saying, “Everyone looked at me from the outside and thought I had it all, right?” She continued, “And I was feeling like I was living this life that was just, like …”
Host Lee Cowan interjected, suggesting, “Killing you?” to which Bündchen responded, “Exactly. You know, drinking mocha frappuccinos for breakfast with three cigarettes; drinking a bottle of wine at night to calm down from all the coffee I was drinking. Not sleeping and traveling and working.”
“I essentially burned out my adrenal glands, and my nervous system couldn’t handle it anymore. I felt guilty about it; I felt like I couldn’t confide in people because they looked at me and thought, ‘She has everything.’ They wouldn’t even comprehend.”
Bündchen, now 43, was discovered in a mall at the age of 14 and quickly rose to become one of the most sought-after models in the industry after relocating from her hometown in Brazil to the United States.
Cowan inquired, “How did the anxiety start manifesting itself?”
“You know, I was in tunnels; I couldn’t breathe,” Bündchen shared. “And then, I started being in studios, and I felt, like, suffocated. I lived on the 9th floor, and I had to take the stairs because I was afraid I’d get stuck in the elevator, and I’d start hyperventilating. Because when you can’t breathe, even when the windows are open, you think, ‘I don’t want to live like this.'”
When asked if she had actually contemplated jumping, Bündchen admitted, “Yeah, for a moment, because you think, ‘I can’t.'”
However, the supermodel revealed that she took charge and underwent a complete detox. She eliminated caffeine, sugar, and alcohol from her routine and began practicing daily meditation.
“I wake up at five,” she remarked. “Yes, I like to wake up early, I like to greet the sun. You know, sometimes you’re tired, and you’re like, ‘Okay, I’ll sleep in a bit,’ but I feel a difference when I do that.”
Reflecting on her life, Bündchen shared that she met her ex-husband Tom Brady shortly after adopting her new lifestyle. The couple knew each other for 16 years and were married for 13 before announcing their divorce in October 2022.
“I look at my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she affirmed. “I wouldn’t have a different life. I wouldn’t have done it differently. If someone asked me, ‘Can you change something in your life?’ I wouldn’t change a single thing.”
Gisele and Tom confirmed their divorce after 13 years of marriage. Gisele expressed that their decision to divorce was “not what I dreamed of and what I hoped for.”
She added, “My parents have been married for 50 years, and I really wanted that to happen. But I think you have to accept, you know, sometimes that the way you are in your 20s, it’s sometimes you grow together, sometimes you grow apart. I mean, he’s the father of my kids, you know? So, I always wish him the best, and I’m so grateful that he gave me wonderful children.”
Tom and Gisele share two children, a son named Benjamin Rein, aged 13, and a daughter named Vivian Lake, aged 10.
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