Birthday wishes are in order for Gisele Bündchen, who turns 45 today. Discovered in a mall as a teen, the Brazilian-born supermodel has since spent much of her life in the spotlight—from her New York Fashion Week debut in 1996 to campaigns and runway walks for Alaïa, Balmain, Chanel, Ferragamo, Givenchy, Versace... the list goes on and on. Amid fluttering her Victoria’s Secret Wings, Bündchen was often lensed for Vogue, including for the April 2010 issue, when she was a new mother living in Boston with then husband Tom Brady.
At the time, Bündchen was just starting to return to modeling after giving birth to her son Benjamin. “I’ve been really inside with my husband and my baby, and everything is changed,” she told Joan Juliet Buck. “But the client still deserves respect and professionalism, and I got a little bit concerned because I wasn’t feeling it.” She no longer saw her model alter ego. “For the first time, I think I actually saw me—the inside—instead of the persona.”
Much has changed in the years since—Bündchen and Brady had a daughter in 2012 before divorcing in 2023; she welcomed a baby with Jiu-Jitsu instructor Joaquim Valente earlier this year—but the model remains one of the most recognizable faces in fashion. (In case you missed it, see her Vogue France June/July 2025 cover here.) In honor of Bündchen’s birthday, revisit Buck’s 2010 profile of the star, “Earth Mother,” ahead. |
