Family and early life

Bündchen is a sixth-generation Brazilian of German descent, born in Três de Maio, Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, to Vânia Nonnenmacher, a bank clerk pensioner, and Valdir Bündchen, a university teacher and writer, who are both of German descent. Bündchen was raised in Horizontina, a southern region in Brazil where there is a large population of German ancestry. She grew up with her five sisters—Raquel, Graziela, Gabriela, Rafaela, and her fraternal twin Patrícia, her junior by five minutes. She speaks Portuguese as her native language, in addition to Spanish, English and Italian. She studied German in school.

In 1993, Bündchen joined a modeling course with her sisters Patrícia and Gabriela at their mother's insistence. The following year, Bündchen was discovered by the Elite modeling agency at a shopping mall in São Paulo while on a school excursion. She was subsequently selected for a national contest, Elite Look of the Year, in which she placed second. Claudia Menezes from Bahia took first place. Bündchen placed fourth in the Elite Model Look world contest, held in Ibiza, Spain. At the age of 14, she then moved to São Paulo to launch her modeling career. In 1996, Bündchen had her first New York City break at Fashion Week.

Career

1997-2000: Career beginnings

In 1997 Bündchen traveled to London, where she auditioned for 42 shows. She got her big break when chosen for her ability to walk in towering heels—on a slippery runway—for Alexander McQueen's spring 1998 "rain" ready-to-wear show. Echoing similar accolades for Elle Macpherson a decade earlier, McQueen dubbed Bündchen "the Body", immediately boosting her bookings. In 1998 she secured her first British Vogue cover, and became the most in-demand cover girl of her generation with 10 covers in fewer than four years—even Kate Moss has never featured on more than nine in the same period according to Vogue.co.uk. In 1998, she posed for Missoni, Chloé, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Gianfranco Ferré, Ralph Lauren, and Versace campaigns. She made the cover of the French edition of Vogue, and fashion magazine i-D featured her on its cover, profiling "A Girl Called Gisele." The Vogue online encyclopedia of models states, "As the year 2000 approached, Gisele Bündchen was the world's hottest model, opening up a new category in the popular imagination: the Brazilian bombshell."

She appeared on the cover of Vogue in July, November, and December 1999. She won the VH1/Vogue Model of the Year for 1999, and a January 2000 cover gave her three consecutive Vogue covers. In December 2009 she appeared alongside her husband Tom Brady on the cover of book The World in Vogue—People, Parties, Places. In 2000, she became the fourth model to appear on the cover of the music magazine Rolling Stone when she was named "the most beautiful girl in the world". Bündchen has been on the covers of many top fashion magazines, including W, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Allure, international editions of Vogue, as well as style and lifestyle publications such as i-D, The Face, Arena, Citizen K, Flair, GQ, Esquire, and Marie Claire. She appeared in the Pirelli Calendar in 2001 and 2006, and in broader publications such as TIME, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Newsweek, and Veja, for a total of more than 600 magazine covers throughout the world—a total that is only second to Princess Diana's. She simultaneously featured on the covers of both the US and British editions of Vogue in January 2000, the first issue of the new millennium.

2000-2009: Modelling breakthrough and acting debut

By 2000, her record-breaking contract with Victoria's Secret helped solidify her status as the world's top model. She has been on numerous book covers such as MaRIO DE JANEIRO by Mario Testino and a Russell James retrospective. She is the fourth model to feature on the cover of Rolling Stone, in which she was named "the most beautiful girl in the world" in 2000. Also that year Time said she was "one of the few runway models whom straight men can name". For spring 2000 fashion week she opened Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Dior, and Valentino shows in New York, Milan, and Paris. From 1998-2003 Bündchen was in every Dolce & Gabbana fashion campaign, totaling eleven consecutive campaigns with the brand. In 2006-2009, she returned as the face of the brand's fragrance, in a campaign titled "Dolce & Gabbana The One".

In 2000, Bündchen wore the most expensive Victoria's Secret Fantasy bra of all time, the "Red Hot Fantasy Bra", worth $15 million and listed in Guinness World Records as the most expensive lingerie ever created. In February 2001 her Got Milk? ad campaign debuted in the 2001 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Bündchen was invited to host the Brazilian version of the reality-show "America's Next Top Model" in 2003, but she refused. According to her sister and public relations manager, Patricia Bündchen, she did not want to pursue a career on television. Photographed by Steven Meisel, she was presented on the September 2004 cover of American Vogue as one of the "Models of the Moment". In 2004, Bündchen co-starred with Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon in the 2004 remake of Taxi. In 2005, she was chosen to wear the Victoria's Secret Fantasy Bra again, the Sexy Splendor Fantasy Bra. At the time, it was the second-most expensive bra ever made, valued at $12.5 million. In its December 2005 issue, New York magazine chose and publicized a list of 123 reasons to love New York City, with reason number 43 being that Bündchen lived there.

In 2006, she played Serena, a minor character in The Devil Wears Prada. In February 2007, Bündchen returned to the Milan runway by opening and closing Dolce & Gabbana's show. She was chosen by Time magazine in 2007 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In September 2007, Bündchen was featured on the cover of Vanity Fair's style issue, photographed by Mario Testino. The issue was one of the bestsellers that year.

2009-2011: Continued success

When she reappeared on the cover in 2009, the issue was the lowest selling for the magazine in nearly two years. On 26 August 2008, the New York Daily News listed Bündchen as the fourth-most-powerful person in the fashion world. On 12 May 2009, The Independent called her "the biggest star in fashion history". In 2009 Harper's Bazaar rated her among the top 26 greatest models of all time.

In 2010, she made Vogue's best-dressed-of-the-decade list for her 2008 and 2009 Met gala appearances, as well as for her bikini-clad, logo-tattooed appearance in a 2000 fashion editorial. In April 2010, she was photographed for the cover of American Vogue for the eleventh time. In September 2010, she led a group of top models for Vogue's Fashion's Night Out runway show at the Lincoln Center in New York. She then made a surprise appearance on Balenciaga's runway, closing the show. In 2011 she participated and represented Pantene in the Brazilian Rio Carnival 2011 parade.

She ranks first on models.com's the Money Girls list and second on The Sexiest Models list. In 2011 CEOWorld Magazine ranked her among their Top Accomplished Women Entertainers. She was ranked number 95 in FHM magazine's 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2011. In 2007, Bündchen was named "The World's Richest Supermodel". On 11 April 2008, a black-and-white photo of Bündchen shot by Irving Penn was auctioned for US$193,000 (£96,000). The picture was one of dozens from the collection of Gert Elfering that were sold at Christie's International in New York. Bündchen's picture sold for the highest price.

As of 2010, Bündchen has appeared on two Vogue Shape issue covers, more than any other celebrity or model. She ranked No. 45 in the 2011 FHM Australia list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World". In 2011, Men's Health named her one of the "100 Hottest Women of All Time", ranking her at No. 25. In October 2011, Bündchen made a surprise runway appearance during Paris Fashion Week, closing the Givenchy spring-summer 2012 fashion show.

In 2011, she participated and represented Pantene in the Brazilian Rio Carnival 2011 parade. In 2011, she appeared on eight Vogue covers, more than any other model or celebrity that year. Her July Vogue Brasil 2011 cover shot in the Amazon was the magazine's highest-selling issue ever, selling 70,743 copies. The record was later broken by model Karolína Kurková, who appeared in the November 2011 issue, which sold 70,991 copies.

2012-present: Modelling campaigns and music endeavours

In spring 2012, Bündchen won three major spring campaigns - Versace, Givenchy, and Salvatore Ferragamo. In early 2012, it was announced that she would be the face of Banco do Brasil's first global ad campaign, with the tagline "Bank of Brazil. From Brazil to the world. From the world to Brazil." April 2012 Time listed her on their All-TIME 100 Fashion Icons list of the 100 most influential fashion icons since 1923. In August 2012, in honor of the 120th anniversary of Vogue, the magazine spotlighted the ten women who had most featured on the cover of the magazine, Bündchen being on the list with 11 covers total. As of 2011, there had been 29 persons to have appeared on the covers of Vogue Paris, Vogue Italia, American Vogue and British Vogue; Bündchen being one of them.

In 2012, she declined an invitation of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, the COB, to participate in the closing show alongside other national stars such as Marisa Monte and Seu Jorge. In 2012, she made 5,600 appearances in commercials in her native Brazil. In August 2012, it was reported that she had replaced Kate Moss as the face of David Yurman. She was shot by famous photographer Peter Lindbergh for the fall 2012 campaign. As of the end of 2012, she had appeared on 120 Vogue covers. She also holds the record for the most Brazilian Vogue covers of all time.

In February 2013, it was announced that she had become the face of Chanel's new make-up range, Les Beiges, a campaign which was shot by Mario Testino. This was her first time as a spokesperson of the brand. It was reported later that she beat Rihanna and other celebrities to star in the campaign, being chosen by Karl Lagerfeld himself. For the brand's spring/summer 2014 campaign, Marc Jacobs chose Bündchen along with Catherine Deneuve, Sofia Coppola, Fan Bingbing, Caroline de Maigret and Edie Campbell as his muses for his last collection for Louis Vuitton. In December 2013, Bündchen was announced as Pantene North America's newest ambassador.

In 2014, Bündchen and French music producer and DJ Bob Sinclar recorded a cover version of Blondie's 1979 classic "Heart of Glass" for H&M. She was credited by her mononym Gisele. The new version turned out to be an international hit charting in a great number of European singles charts including France, Germany, Spain, Austria and Belgium. The song was Bündchen's charity single for the H&M 2014 campaign. A year earlier, she released a cover version of the Kinks "All Day and All of the Night" as her contribution to H&M 2013 charity campaign.

In May 2014, Bündchen was chosen as the new spokeswoman for the iconic fragrance Chanel No. 5. She was chosen for her "natural beauty and modern femininity", according to the company. By June, Bündchen had appeared on 17 different international editions of Elle over the preceding three months, including the Brazilian, German, Italian, Canadian, Japanese and Chinese editions. September 2014 The Baltimore-based company, Under Armour signed Bundchen to a multiyear deal as the latest addition to its list of female endorsers. In October 2014, Bündchen stated that she practices Transcendental Meditation. By the end of 2014, Gisele appeared in 6,013 television commercial spots in the course of one year in Brazil. More than any other Brazilian celebrity, even outranking Neymar who made 5,625 TV commercial spots.

Gisele was featured in the 2015 Guinness World Record book as the model who earns the most money each year.

Gisele's $700 Taschen book released in celebration of her 20th year career sold out in one day, before hitting shelves.

In 2015 Gisele again was the Brazilian celeb who appeared on the most TV commercials in Brazil, with 8527 commercial spots for brands such as; (Carolina Herrera, Colcci, P & G and Sky).

As of 2015, in 20 years Gisele has appeared in more than 350 ad campaigns,over 1,200 magazine covers,over 450 magazine editorials, and appeared in more than 470 fashion shows throughout her career.

Reception

In September 2000, Newsweek drew attention to a craze for modeling in Brazil because of Bündchen's success:

Capricho, a glossy teen magazine, recently asked 1,100 Brazilian teenagers if they wanted to become fashion models. Eighty-six percent said yes.

The reason for this craze stands 1.77 meters tall and has smoldering blue eyes. Her name is Gisele Bundchen—known to all as Gisele—and she is the most celebrated Brazilian since Pele. First introduced by designer Alexander McQueen two years ago, Gisele, now 20, is the world's top cover girl, taking to more than 1,600 catwalks and earning a reported $7,000 an hour. When she struts her trademark runway walk—sassy and high-stepping, like a filly in tall grass—hearts beat faster from Milan to Manhattan. She has become an international icon: Vogue put the Brazilian bombshell on its cover three times last year and in December crowned her "Model of the Year."

Bündchen pioneered the "horse walk", a stomping movement created when a model picks her knees up high and kicks her feet out in front.

As of 2014, she is listed by Forbes as the 89th most powerful woman in the world.

Gisele is #2 biggest Brazilian celeb of 2015 according to Forbes Brasil, based on media presence and overall influence in Brazil.

Public image

In 2000, Bündchen was dubbed the "Boobs from Brazil" for inspiring the 36,000 breast enhancement surgeries performed that year in Brazil. In 2006, Elle surveyed the American leading stylists and asked them to name the star whose hair was a favourite for their clients. More than 50 percent gave Bündchen the title of best hair in Hollywood. In February 2008, a survey by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) asked the question, "What influences do celebrities have on the decisions patients make?". The survey was sent to more than 20,000 plastic surgeons in 84 countries. Bündchen was among the most frequently mentioned celebrities. Bündchen won the abdomen and hair categories and took second place in the breasts category. 2008 saw a black-and-white photo of Bündchen, shot by Irving Penn, auctioned for $193,000 (£96,000) alongside images of other models and celebrities, including Carla Bruni. Bündchen's fetched by far the most on the night.

She was voted second place on Vanity Fair's World's Most Beautiful poll in 2009. On January 2011, Bündchen came in first in the most desired female body on the 14th Annual Famed Hottest Looks survey, compiled by Beverly Hills plastic surgeons Richard Fleming and Toby Mayer. Even after giving birth in December 2009, her body was the most requested by the doctors' patients. "Different body types are represented on the list because most women are shaped differently and want to look naturally beautiful," explained Dr. Fleming. "Some women want the lean look like Gisele ."

In 2011, AskMen.com revealed their annual "Most Desirable Women" list. Bündchen, along with Angelina Jolie and Beyoncé Knowles, are the only women to have made the list every year for ten years in a row. Singer Beyonce in a 2011 Harper's Bazaar interview named Gisele as one of her fashion inspirations stating that "I always admire Victoria Beckham and Gisele . Their style is modern but always classic." A designer the Tibi Spring/Summer 2012 fashion show at New York Fashion week in fall 2011 explained, "The inspiration is taken heavily from the '90s—a freshly scrubbed Gisele from the pages of Vogue—clean, crisp, sporty looks and relaxed styles you want to live in." Vogue editor Anna Wintour called her the "model of the millennium," and the magazine called her "The return of the sexy model". Rolling Stone declared her "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" in 2000 and Vanity Fair published an article titled "... And God Created Gisele" in 2009. In 2012, the 26th edition of Casa Cor in Brazil, one of the world´s biggest decorating, landscaping, and architecture events, paid tribute to Gisele with a wood sculpture in her image. She was ranked No. 9 on Men's Health Magazine's list of The Hottest Women of 2013. In 2013 GQ Magazine listed her among The 100 Hottest Women of the 21st Century.

Bündchen is ranked No. 4, behind Pelé, Paulo Coelho and Neymar on Forbes Brasil's list of the 100 most influential Brazilian celebrities.

In May 2014, Gisele was ranked #89 on Forbe's 100 Most Powerful Women in the world list from the success of her various brands. She is the only model on the list.

In November 2014 Gisele was ranked #5 by Forbes Brasil, as the 25 biggest celebrities in Brasil in 2014.

After Super Bowl 49, The Rails LA shirt Bundchen wore sold out in two days and the Stuart Weitzman boots she wore saw an increase in sales.

Based on media presence and overall influence, Bundchen ranked #2 biggest Brazilian celeb in 2015, according to Forbes Brasil.

Criticism

In November 2002, Gisele was paid a reported £320,000 and given two black mink coats by the American fur company Blackglama to head its new advertising campaign. Activists from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), invaded the runway during the Victoria's Secrets show in New York and brandished placards saying "Gisele: fur scum". The Brazilian was one of the most prominent models to wear fur since it began to creep back into acceptability in fashion circles. Dawn Carr, a Peta spokesman, said: "By getting into bed with the fur-pushers Gisele has become Peta enemy number one. Every time that Gisele or anyone else wears furs they are sentencing countless animals to a violent and cruel death."

In August 2010, she was highly criticized after saying that breastfeeding should be law. She told Harper's Bazaar UK, "Some people here think they don't have to breastfeed, and I think 'Are you going to give chemical food to your child when they are so little?'...I think there should be a worldwide law, in my opinion, that mothers should breastfeed their babies for six months." Bündchen posted a statement on her own blog "My intention in making a comment about the importance of breastfeeding has nothing to do with the law," she said. "It comes from my passionate beliefs about children. Being a new mom has brought a lot of questions. I feel like I am in a constant search for answers on what might be the best for my child. It's unfortunate that in an interview sometimes things can seem so black and white."

In February 2011, she infuriated cancer experts when she said of sunscreen: "I cannot put this poison on my skin...I do not use anything synthetic." The statement was made as she launched her own organic skin care line Sejaa. Gisele has made advertising for Nivea Sun in the past. Gisele's publicist Amber Clapp, added, telling StyleList: Gisele would never say not to use sunscreen because she has had family members who have had skin cancer. She simply stated that her all-natural skin-care line does not have SPF because there is not an all natural SPF available....When using sunscreens, she selects ones that are free of parabens, oxybenzone, PABA and retinyl palmitate.

In February 2012, after the Patriots lost in Super Bowl XLVI and Bündchen was heckled by several New York Giants fans, she was caught on video saying, "My husband cannot fucking throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time!" The comment, which was widely publicized both in the traditional media and the blogosphere, caused a media stir.

In January 2014, the model was criticized after being photographed in Costa Rica riding an ATV while carrying her 13-month-old daughter Vivian in one arm. She was slammed for what many called dangerous behavior. People were outraged that she would disregard the safety of her child by taking her on an ATV ride. This is the second time Bündchen was caught with her daughter on an ATV. On 13 March 2013, when Vivian was just 3 months old, she was photographed doing the same thing. Bündchen was not wearing a helmet in either incident, and it is illegal in Costa Rica to ride an ATV on public land without one.

Endorsements

After C&A Brazil hired Bündchen as a spokesmodel and began airing television commercials, sales increased by 30 per cent. In 2012 The Hollywood Reporter stated Bündchen became C&A's biggest booster in Brazil and even helped with European sales. In 2001, Bündchen launched Ipanema Gisele Bündchen, her own line of flip-flop sandals in association with the official Ipanema brand of flip-flops. In three years, sales topped $30 million, with a portion of proceeds going to green causes. Forbes put her 53rd on their 2007 list of the most powerful celebrities. Ipanema Gisele Bündchen made an estimated £152 million with over 250 million pairs sold in 2010. Bündchen told Vitals magazine in 2005 that she has been involved in business and investing in real estate since she was 18 years old. She has said modeling is only 40 per cent of what she does, the rest being contracting. On 1 May 2007, it was announced that Bündchen had ended her contract with Victoria's Secret. According to a stock market analysis in 2007, when Bündchen terminated her agreement with Victoria's Secret, which is owned by Limited Brands, Limited was selling for $26.80 per share. Soon thereafter, the stock declined to $18.36 per share, a 31.5% drop.

American economist Fred Fuld developed a stock index to measure the profit performance improvement of companies represented by Bündchen compared with the Dow Jones Industrial Average. According to Fuld, the Gisele Bündchen Stock Index was up 15 per cent between May and July 2007, substantially surpassing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was up just 8.2%. In 2010, Bündchen introduced her own skin care product line, named Sejaa Pure Skincare, which according to Forbes had been in talks with Shiseido for over a year on an acquisition deal. In early 2011, Procter & Gamble's Pantene shampoo sales increased 40 per cent in Latin America after Bündchen started representing the product. Edward Razek, chief marketing officer of Limited Brands, who worked with Bündchen during her Victoria's Secret career says, "She's an international icon who can also move product, from shampoo to couture." The lingerie brand "HOPE" increased turnover by 40 per cent after contracting Bündchen as its representative. According to Grazia daily UK in January 2012, her lingerie label "Gisele Bundchen Brazilian Intimates", has already proved to be a sell out in Latin America, Portugal, Japan, and Israel.

In February 2012 the website Vogue.it stated "the Brazilian model is the King Midas of fashion. Everything she touches turns to gold and companies that have invested in her have reaped the rewards." An Esprit public awareness campaign featuring Bündchen helped raise consumer awareness of the Esprit brand, with a 9 percent rise in Germany, and a 19 percent rise in China. She was ranked No. 61 on Forbes' Most Powerful Celebrities list in 2012. In May 2012 she was ranked fourth on the World's Most Powerful Latino Celebrity list by Forbes.

In 2013 she ranked No. 5 among the most successful Brazilian Business Women list. Forbes reported that, the products that bear her name... in Brazil - including Grendene's Ipanema sandals. She has her own lingerie line called Gisele Bundchen Intimates. She still collects big fees to lend her image for the likes of Chanel, David Yurman and P&G.

The brand of products for teeth Oral B Brasil grew considerably since hiring Bündchen. She takes home $4 million a year from her Procter & Gamble contract.

Bündchen's jelly sandals Ipanema by Gisele Bundchen sell as much as 25 million pairs annually and accounted for more than 60% of Grendene’s annual exports of about $250 million in 2013.

February 2014, it was documented that the Gisele Bundchen stock index was still outperforming the Dow industrial average, up by 93%.

May 2015 Brazilian magazine Istoe Gente reported that Bundchen's line of INtimates, Gisele Bundchen INtimates has been lucrative. "As of May 2015 especially in e-commerce, it was recorded to have an increase of 181% in one year. We went from 30,000 visitors per month to 100,000," says Vanda Dias, e-commerce manager for Hope, which manages the top brand.

In 2016 Gisele signed with Braziian shoe company Arezzo. According to fashion website glamurama, Gisele made shares of Arezzo go up on the São Paulo Stock Exchange.

In 2016 CEO of Under Armour Kevin Plank mentioned that Under Armour's women's brand was the number one selling category with ecommerce, and that's growing more rapidly than either men's or the youth category. A large part of this growth was by using what Plank called "personalities" — namely star ballerina Misty Copeland and supermodel Gisele Bundchen.

Philanthropy

Charitable activities

Bündchen donated $150,000 to Brazil's Zero Hunger program. She designed a limited necklace edition for Harper's Bazaar, crafted by jewelers Gumuchian Fils. These necklaces were sold to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. She contributed an autographed iPod loaded with a personal playlist to be auctioned off, with all proceeds benefiting Music Rising, a campaign founded in 2005 to replace lost or destroyed instruments of musicians in the Gulf Coast Region after the hurricane disasters. In 2006, Bündchen became the face of American Express Red, part of the Product Red initiative. A portion of earnings from this credit card are donated to HIV/AIDS victims in Africa. In 2009, she appeared on 30 covers of the international issues of Elle wearing Product Red clothing and posing with products from companies who support the same cause.

She has helped raise money for cancer research and treatment, victims of Hurricane Katrina, and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami for which she donated a check for $1 million to the earthquake fund created by the Japanese Red Cross Society sending $250,000 to the Pacific Tsunami Fund and Save the Children and another $250,000 to a Japanese Red Cross earthquake fund. Bündchen opened The Luz Foundation in 2007, a grant-making organization advocating the empowerment of young girls. She donates a percentage of her earnings to help with their projects. In 2008 Bündchen auctioned a collection of diamonds for charity. The collection featured a 6-carat diamond ring worth $120,000 - $150,000, and a 3.35-carat Sabbadini diamond ring worth $15,000 - $20,000. A percentage of the proceeds from the auction went to Russell Simmons' Diamond Empowerment Fund, whose mission is to raise money to support education initiatives in countries where diamonds are a natural resource. In 2010 she wrote a $1.5 million check to the Red Cross to aid the relief effort in Haiti after seeing the devastation done by the earthquake.

Bündchen made a surprise visit to patients at the Jimmy Fund Clinic at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. In 2011, Bündchen was added to The Giving Back Fund's list of celebs who made the largest donations to charity. In June 2012 she helped launch a beauty contest in Brazil, Top Kufa Brazil, to find new faces in Brazilian favelas. This was the first national competition of beauty played exclusively by candidates between 18 and 22 years who live in underserved communities, created by the Central Union of Slums and Pantene, the brand which Gisele is the face of.

Bundchen ranked No. 15 on Forbes's 30 most generous celebrities list in 2012.

On 26 December 2013 Bündchen surprised Karina Moreira, a local Boston teen at her home, who is battling bone cancer. Before then, they had met once, two years ago at a Dana Farber event. Moreira and Bündchen talked about fashion and shared makeup tips.

As of April 2014, Bündchen is one of 22 designers to design a collection for the charity Born Free Africa, an exclusive collaboration from Shopbop, Vogue, and 22 designers. 100% of the profits from this women's and children's collection will go toward Born Free's mission to end mother-to-child HIV transmission at birth.

Environmental work

Bündchen dedicates part of her website to environmental issues. She launched a "green" blog in 2008 with the aim of "reflecting on socio-environmental issues that we can do something about". In May 2009, she co-hosted the Rainforest Alliance's annual gala to honor leaders in sustainability. Bündchen has also supported a variety of environmental causes, including clean water initiatives, environmental sustainability, and preservation of South American rainforests. In 2007 she took part in eBay Giving Works, eBay's program dedicated to charity listings online auction for the WWF, with 100% of the proceeds going to the World Wildlife Fund's global conservation initiatives, especially those involved in the fight against climate change. In 2008 she appeared on the cover of US magazine American Photo to promote her Forests of the Future project for the reforestation of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The initiative, which was set up with SOS Mata Atlantica in 2004, has planted over 1 million new trees in Bündchen's name to start reforestation of the Brazilian rainforests. In May 2011 Bündchen was named Harvard's 2011 Global Environmental Citizen in recognition of her eco-efforts. In November 2011, she was awarded Greenest Celebrity at the 2011 International Green awards at the National History Museum of London. Each year the Green Awards honors a celebrity who has been the most creative and innovative in the approach of sustainability of the environment. An online public vote took place and Bündchen was the winner, beating Paul McCartney and Miguel Bose.

Goodwill ambassador

In 2008 Bündchen and Brady dished out turkey and all the trimmings unannounced to over 400 job trainees in Roxbury Massachusetts for Goodwill Industries International. On 20 September 2009, she was designated Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In January 2012, Bündchen made her first official visit to Africa as UNEP Goodwill Ambassador. Bündchen chooses a different charity each year to which proceeds of sales from her sandals are donated. The 2011 donation went to ISA - the Socio-environmental Institute. In January 2012, Bündchen visited Kenya on a goodwill mission to improve energy poverty. She spent a day with a family in a village in Kisumu County and helped them with tasks such as carrying firewood to their hut - while discussing the dangers of using firewood inside homes that do not have energy. She danced with the locals and visited various homes, as well as teaming up with UK NGO Practical Action during the course of her stay. In April 2012 she donated money for AIDS research. On the eve of World Environment Day 4 June 2012, Bündchen, who is Goodwill Ambassador of the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), went to Rio de Janeiro to plant the first of a series of 50,000 trees in a degraded area.

In January 2014, Bündchen joined the Rainforest Alliance board of directors.

Personal life

In 1998, Bündchen dated the American model Scott Barnhill and, in 1999, the Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro From November 1999 to February 2000, she dated the Brazilian businessman João Paulo Diniz. In 2000, she had a brief relationship with American actor Josh Hartnett From 2000 to 2005, Bündchen was in a relationship with American actor Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2004, Bündchen and DiCaprio made People's annual Most Beautiful Couples List. Bündchen dated the Brazilian businessman and polo player Rico Mansur for six months between 2002 and 2003, after Gisele and DiCaprio broke up for the first time. In 2006, she dated the American surfer Kelly Slater.

Family

Bündchen began dating New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in December 2006. In 2009, Brady revealed they had been set up on a blind date by a mutual friend. Bündchen and Brady married on 26 February 2009 in a small Catholic ceremony at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, California. In April 2009, the couple held a second marriage ceremony, in Costa Rica. Bündchen and Brady have two children: son Benjamin Rein (born December 2009) and daughter Vivian Lake (born December 2012). In 2010, Bündchen told Harper's Bazaar how important breastfeeding is for her.

Gisele and Tom's Los Angeles home uses solar energy, a gray water system, lighting systems that reduce energy consumption, a rainwater recovery system, and waste reduction and recycling programs. They have their own vegetable garden, where 90% of the food they eat comes from. The house uses recovered stone, wood, insulation, household appliances with a green seal and other sustainable products, and 80% of the construction waste was reused or recycled. Subsequently, the family bought a $14 million condominium at One Madison in Manhattan in October 2013. They are building another home near Boston.

Wealth

In 2015, Forbes estimated Bündchen's annual income at $44 million.

In August 2011, Bündchen ranked 60th on the Forbes list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women. She ranked third on The 20 Youngest Power Women of 2011 List at age 31. In 2011 Forbes named Bündchen and Brady as the World's Highest Paid Celebrity couple, beating Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as well as Beyoncé and Jay-Z. In August 2012 she was one of four people in the fashion industry and the only model to be ranked on the Forbes list of "The World's Most Powerful Women" at No. 83. She ranked in the top 10 of the Forbes list of "Entertainment's Highest-Paid Women" in 2012, at No. 8.

In July 2007 Forbes named her the world's top-earning model. By 2008, she continued to dominate the Forbes list of the world's highest-earning models, and appeared on the magazine's list of the Top 20 Richest Women in Entertainment. During 2009-2010, she was the top earning supermodel. In 2010, she retained the top spot as Forbes's highest-earning model. On May 2011, Forbes ranked her as the world's top-earning model for the fifth consecutive time. Her earnings climbed over the previous year, thanks to an economic boom in Brazil, coupled with a 10 per cent surge in the value of the Brazilian real against the dollar. Also in 2013 she ranked No. 3 on the 16 most successful female entrepreneurs list by Forbes.

Bündchen, however, disputes the number telling WSJ. magazine in November 2013, "Who are they speaking to when they come up with these numbers? Not my accountant, that's for sure."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Taxi	Vanessa	Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Breakout Performance - Female Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Bad Guy
2006	The Devil Wears Prada	Serena
2008	Coração Vagabundo	Herself	Documentary

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	MTV al Dente	Presenter	Season 3
2010-11	Gisele & the Green Team	Gisele	Voice (Portuguese version); Also executive producer

Discography

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications

Title	Year	Peak chart positions								Album
		AUT	BEL	FRA	GER	HUN	POL	SPA	US
"All Day and All of the Night"	2013	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	39	Non-album singles
"Heart of Glass" (with Bob Sinclar)	2014	63	66	31	73	31	31	27	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Music videos

List of music videos, showing director

Title	Year	Director
"All Day and All of the Night"	2013	Amir Chamdin
"Heart of Glass"	2014	N/A

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Nominated work	Category	Result	Ref.
2005	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Breakout Performance: Female	Taxi	Nominated
		Choice Movie Villain		Nominated
2006	Premios Juventud	Supermodel	Gisele Bündchen	Nominated
2007	Premios Juventud	Supermodel		Nominated

Charities

Gisele Bundchen supports the following charitable causes: Teens, ALS (amyrotrophic lateral sclerosis), Women's Issues, WWF, Environment.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]