Gisele Bündchen
Brazilian bombshell Gisele Bündchen was born on July 20, 1980, in the southern Brazilian town of Horizontina. As one of six girls in the Bündchen family, which included sisters Raquel, Graziela, Gabriela, Rafaela, and her fraternal twin Patrícia, Gisele excelled in sports and originally dreamt of becoming a professional volleyball player. Standing at five feet and seven inches when she was just thirteen years old, Gisele’s classmates nicknamed her “Olívia Palito,” Portuguese for “Olive Oyl.” The statuesque schoolgirl was discovered on a class trip to São Paulo when she was fourteen years old; a modeling agent approached her while she was eating a Big Mac.
At age sixteen, Gisele moved to New York City, where she made her modeling debut during New York’s Fashion Week. The model stood out amongst the heroin-chic crowd, radiating an exotic glow and lioness looks. Designers took notice, and Gisele began receiving offers to endorse all of the top brands in fashion, such as Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Givenchy, Bulgari, Guerlain, Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, and Louis Vuitton.
As Gisele’s career picked up steam in the late 90s, she was recognized with the 1999 VH1/Vogue Model of the Year award, and was chosen to co-host the ceremony the following year with actor Cuba Gooding Jr. In 2000, Gisele became the fourth model in history to grace the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. She has also been featured on the cover of Vogue, ELLE, Allure, Flare, Time, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Newsweek, Esquire, GQ, and Marie Claire. Also in 2000, Gisele landed a contract with Victoria's Secret for $5 million dollars per year, plus a percentage of sales from the products she endorses – reportedly the highest-paid contract in fashion history.
In 2002, during the taping of Victoria's Secret’s annual Fashion Show, Gisele was targeted by members of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) who protested her endorsement of fur fashion designers, Blackglama. Four female protestors stormed the runway, holding signs which read “Gisele: Fur Scum.” Ever the professional, Gisele continued strutting on the catwalk to audience applause, while several security guards detained her detractors.
For five years Gisele was involved in a high-profile relationship with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, whom she met in 2000 at a fashion party in Los Angeles. The following day, Leonardo had flowers and a dinner invitation sent to Gisele, which she turned down. The actor pursued the supermodel, and she eventually accepted his invitation a month later and the couple began dating. Public interest in the pair was fueled by their private nature, shunning the spotlight together and not making their first public appearance together until 2005. That same year, the couple also called it quits. Since then, Gisele has been romantically linked to actor Chris Evans and is currently said to be dating NFL Patriot's quarterback Tom Brady.
In 2004, Gisele made her silver screen debut in the comedy Taxi, alongside Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon. More offers for film roles followed; however, Gisele chose to concentrate on her modeling career instead. In 2006, she made an appearance as Meryl Streep's snooty assistant in The Devil Wears Prada, which she shot in one day.
In August of 2006, Gisele indicated that she had run out of steam on the runway, telling the press: “Enough, it's over. It's the end when it comes to catwalks.”
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