Gisele Bündchen is setting the record straight about everything going on in her life.
The 42-year-old supermodel is the cover model for Vanity Fair‘s April 2023 issue! Along with a super-sexy set of snaps, the mag dove deep into the A-lister’s high-profile love life and career as part of a wide-ranging profile.
Related: Gisele Works The Pole In Very Sexy New Ad Campaign!
The Brazilian-born bombshell has, of course, been in the news quite a bit recently. That’s because of her surprise 2022 divorce from NFL star Tom Brady, as well as its still ongoing aftermath. Considering all the speculation, it was only natural for VF to ask her about specifics in their interview. And boy, did Gisele open up!!
The NFL of it All
Off the top, the proud mom stated once and for all those rumors about her supposedly giving Tom an ultimatum last year to leave the NFL are DEAD wrong! She insisted her split from the former New England Patriots quarterback is “not so black and white” as football-or-family. Gisele called those baseless claims “very hurtful” and also “the craziest thing I’d ever heard.”
Rather than work against her now-ex-husband, Bündchen says she has “always cheered” for the gridiron GOAT. Also, she is not “somebody who is against football,” despite their marriage running its course while Tom was playing out his final season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Instead, Gisele insisted it’s all about well wishes and good fortune, even in divorce:
“If there’s one person I want to be the happiest in the world, it’s him, believe me. I want him to achieve and to conquer. I want all his dreams to come true.”
So what caused their split, then?
The Real Reason
As Gisele puts it, relationships are “a dance” and “a balance.” Meaning sometimes things get out of balance. To that end, her connection with Tom simply changed past the point of no return after 13 years of marriage:
“When I was 26 years old and he was 29 years old, we met, we wanted a family, we wanted things together. As time goes by, we realize that we just wanted different things. … It just means that in order for you to be authentic and truly live the life that you want to live, you have to have somebody who can meet you in the middle.”
The “wanted different things”?? That’s it? After all these headlines, all these whispers, all we’re going to get is that they wanted different things?
Related: Tom Got Gisele’s Advice On His Second Retirement Because She’s Still His ‘Rock’
But they still share plenty they care about. And even as single people now, they are still “a team,” too. That makes sense, considering they still have to co-parent! It sounds like Gisele is now well-adjusted with the end of the relationship and the next phase of her life:
“We’re not playing against each other. We are a team, and that’s beautiful. I look back and I have no regrets. I loved every bit of it.”
Wow!
Dating Rumors
So who is Gisele in a relationship with, then? Could it be jiu jitsu instructor Joaquim Valente, to whom she’s been recently connected after Costa Rica hangout pics surfaced??
Not so fast, the supermodel said in the VF feature. Referring to Joaquim and his two brothers Pedro and Gui as martial arts “senseis,” Gisele detailed her frustration with being romantically linked to somebody she considers a friend:
“I think, at this point, unfortunately, because I’m divorced, I’m sure that they’re going to try to attach me to anything. I’m so grateful to know all of them, because not only have they helped me and helped my kids, but they have become great friends, and Joaquim especially.”
Reflecting on the connection Joaquim has with her kids — 13-year-old son Benjamin and 10-year-old daughter Vivian — the model momma added:
“He’s our teacher and, most importantly, he’s a person that I admire and that I trust. It’s so good to have that kind of energy, to have my kids around that type of energy.”
OK, just to be clear, none of that is mutually exclusive from the two of them boning like rabbits. But she certainly seems to be brushing off the rumor. Just not all that hard.
Related: Gisele Offers Thoughts On When ‘Life Gets Challenging’ After Tom Brady Split!
If you ask your boyfriend if he’s having an affair with a woman, and his answer is that she’s “a person that I admire and that I trust” that man is cheating. Just sayin’. We don’t know for sure what’s going on, but if she wanted to say there was nothing sexy going on, she very easily could have done it.
Case in point, the question of a relationship with billionaire Jeffrey Soffer! As Perezcious readers will recall, Gisele was recently romantically linked to Elle Macpherson‘s ex-husband — who has long been one of Tom’s pals — in a shocking new report. That speculation she seemed downright upset by:
“I have zero relationship with him in any way. He’s Tom’s friend, not my friend. I wouldn’t be with his friend. I wouldn’t be with this guy. They were saying I’m with this guy, he’s old, because he’s got money. It’s ridiculous.”
Very obviously feeling vexed by the rumors, Gisele added:
“Who benefits from this? Why would somebody plant something like this? There’s only one reason. They want to make me look like something I’m not.”
Huh. There are denials and there are DENIALS. One of those is the latter. Take from the very different responses what you will…
Tom’s Other Ex
There was one more really interesting part of the feature: a frank discussion on co-parenting Benjamin and Vivian alongside Tom’s other kid, 15-year-old son Jack, whom he shares with ex Bridget Moynahan. In fact, Gisele said a lot about her relationship with Tom’s ex.
The supermodel opened up about how she had to really work at her relationship with Bridget from way back when she was first building a romantic connection to the football star:
“You know, I have a great relationship with her. Everything in life comes with work. You have to go through the roller coaster. You have moments where you get to the sticky points and you’ve gotta overcome it.”
Admirably, Bündchen explained that her experiences working through tension with Moynahan years ago while trying to focus on what was best for Jack have made things much smoother for everybody in the long run:
“My goal was always, ‘how can I be the most helpful? How can I make it the easiest I possibly can?’ I put myself in her shoes and I was like, ‘how can I support her?’ Because in the end of the day, we are team players in, ‘how are we going to do this so [Jack] can have the best life?’”
Jack’s entrance into her life even prompted Gisele to move quicker into her own motherhood realm! Calling the teenager her “bonus child,” the proud parent explained how his presence has affected her:
“Jack came into our lives and I felt so blessed and it kind of awakened in me this desire of being a mom. I’ve always dreamed of being a mom, but I think that happened a little faster than I thought, because now I have this beautiful little angel that I get to care for and love.”
Awww!
Love that. Definitely a positive closer! Snaps and claps for co-parenting!! You can read the Vanity Fair feature HERE.
And in a little bonus clip, you can also watch a brand-new VF video in which Gisele teaches us all some slang words and phrases from Brazil:
LOLz! Fun!!
Reactions to the feature, Perezcious readers?? Do YOU read into anything Gisele said about Tom or those potential suitors?
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