‘It was the death of my dream’: Gisele says she still loves ex-husband Tom Brady but they ‘grew apart’ – as she denies giving him ultimatum to choose between her or NFL in wide-ranging Vanity Fair interview

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen has finally opened up about her divorce from NFL star Tom Brady, describing the split as the ‘death of her dream’ – while blasting rumors that she gave the football pro an ultimatum forcing him to choose their relationship over his sporting career. 

Speaking to Vanity Fair for an interview to accompany a stunning cover shoot for the magazine’s April issue, Gisele, 42, described the speculation surrounding her split from Tom, 45, as ‘very hurtful’, while insisting that she has only ever ‘wanted all his dreams to come true’. 

‘Listen, I have always cheered for him, and I would continue forever,’ she said. ‘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. That’s what I want, really, from the bottom of my heart.’

While vehemently denying that her divorce had anything to do with Tom’s decision to U-turn on his retirement from the NFL, Gisele – who added that the split has been ‘like a death and a rebirth’ – said that the reason behind their split after 13 years of marriage was much more innocent, claiming that the pair simply ‘grew apart’ and realized that they wanted ‘different things’.  

The 42-year-old – who has two children with her ex-husband – described the split from Tom, 45, as the ‘death of her dream’ 

‘Sometimes you grow together; sometimes you grow apart,’ she said. ‘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, and now we have a choice to make. That doesn’t mean you don’t love the person. 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, right? It’s a dance. It’s a balance.’

The supermodel – whose fashion career has seen a massive resurgence since her split from Tom – also furiously shut down any suggestion that she is ‘against football’, saying that she ‘loved’ watching her former husband on the field.

She even spoke out to defend his lackluster final season with the Buccaneers, seemingly placing blame for their losses on Tom’s teammates, saying: ‘It’s a team sport and you can’t play alone. I think he did great under the circumstances. I mean, he had no offensive line.’ 

Tom and Gisele finalized their divorce on October 28 last year, calling time on their marriage with a gushing public announcement shared on social media. 

The NFL star wrote: ‘In recent days, my wife and I finalized our divorce from one another after 13 years of marriage. We arrived at this decision amicably and with gratitude for the time we spent together.’

Tom and Gisele’s announcement of their split came after weeks of speculation that their marriage was on the rocks – with many rumors suggesting that the tension between the pair was caused by the NFL player’s shock decision to reverse his retirement plans and return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for another season. 

The model is adamant that her ex’s career had nothing to do with the end of their marriage – despite telling Elle magazine in September 2022 that she ‘would like [Tom] to be more present – stating that she ‘did everything she could’ to make their ‘fairytale’ marriage work. 

She also furiously denied speculation that her marriage to Tom had ended because she gave him an ultimatum forcing him to choose between their relationship and his NFL career  

Since her divorce, Gisele has been romantically linked to two men, including her hunky jiujitsu instructor Joaquim Valente (seen) – however she insists that the pair are not dating 

In fact, she even made an elusive comment on Tom’s previous claims that she gave him a boot on the football field with some ‘witchy’ rituals, including building altars for him, confirming that she did give him spiritual support in the form of homeopathic floral paths, an onyx protection stone, and a statue of Hindu deity Ganesha. 

She stops short of calling herself a ‘witch’ however, insisting that she simply ‘loves astrology, loves crystals… and believes in the power of nature’. 

Since the split, Gisele has been linked with two men – first, her jiujitsu instructor Joaquim Valente and then Elle Macpherson’s billionaire ex-husband Jeffrey Soffer – however she insists that she is not dating either person. 

‘I think, at this point, unfortunately, because I’m divorced, I’m sure that they’re going to try to attach me to anything,’ she said. 

However Gisele was full of praise for Joaquim, who trains her and her children in the art of jiujitsu and has regularly been seen spending time with the fashion star and her kids during their frequent trips to his native Costa Rica. 

Speaking about Joaquim and his two older brothers – alongside whom he runs a jiujitsu training center – the model said: ‘They’re awesome people. They have created this safe space.

‘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.’ 

Since her divorce, Gisele has reignited her fashion career – posing on the cover of Vogue Italia last month – and her agent hinted there are more ‘really big fashion moments’ in the works

She has also appeared in two high-profile campaigns, posing topless for Louis Vuitton (left) and dancing on a stripper pole for shoe brand Arezzo (right) 

Instead of romance, Gisele says she is focusing her full attention on two key aspects of her life: her role as a mother to the two children she shares with Tom – Benjamin, 13, and Vivian, 10 – while also reigniting the fashion career she put on hold for so many years while supporting her spouse’s football dreams. 

The model has already appeared in a high-profile campaign for Louis Vuitton, another for shoe brand Arezzo, and starred on the cover of Vogue Italia since she and Tom announced their divorce – and her agent vowed to Vanity Fair that there are more ‘really big fashion moments’ in the works for the former catwalk star. 

During her marriage to Tom, Gisele took a step back from her high-profile career, leaving New York and moving to Boston, then Tampa, where her then-husband played for the Patriots and the Buccaneers, respectively. 

Still, while Gisele’s own career was put on the backburner while her husband claimed several Super Bowl titles, she insists that she felt no bitterness over her role as a wife and mother – saying that she actually relished the opportunity to focus on her kids full-time. 

‘Do you know how grateful I am that I got that time for myself?’ she told the publication. ‘I breastfed my kids until they were almost two years old. I was taking them to school every day. I was making them breakfast, lunch… I was there.’

Gisele is clear that she has her own goals for the future however, explaining that she has ‘her own dreams’ and wants to show her children that it’s important in life that you ‘find real fulfillment’. 

Gisele also opened up about her relationship with Tom’s ex Bridget Moynahan and what it has been like to step into the role of stepmother to their son, Jack, now 15  

Speaking about her children, the model includes Jack, 15, Tom’s son with his model ex Bridget Moynahan – who revealed to the football star that she was pregnant while he and Gisele were in the beginning months of their romance. 

Although she described the moment as a ‘challenging situation for all of us’, Gisele said that she has always felt ‘blessed’ to have Jack in her life, adding that his birth in 2007 ‘awakened in me this desire of being a mom’. 

Although she and Tom have now split – and will reportedly share custody of their two children – Gisele suggests that she still very much wants Jack in her life, adding that her co-parenting dynamic with Bridget is helping her to navigate her new dynamic with Tom and their children. 

She describes her relationship with Bridget, 51, as ‘great’, but admits that it was not always smooth sailing between them, noting that ‘you have to go through to roller coaster’ and hinting that the two women have had their fair share of ‘sticky moments’. 

Gisele says that her goal with Bridget and Jack was always to ensure that she was ‘being the most helpful’ when it came to alleviating the stress on the new mom, saying that she was determined that they all work together so that Jack ‘could have the best life’. 

Details of Gisele and Tom’s divorce arrangement, particularly the details regarding the split of their $700 million shared fortune, have not been made public – however it’s understood that the pair are sharing custody of their two children, who have both been staying with their mom in Costa Rica for the past few weeks. 

Prior to their divorce, it was revealed that Gisele’s net worth was actually estimated to be higher than her husband’s; Tom was reportedly worth $333 million, while she had a suggested fortune of $400 million, thanks in large part to the many lucrative deals and campaigns she netted during her decades-long fashion career. 

But while Gisele is now throwing herself back into the fashion fray, the model is candid about the darker experiences she went through at the start of her career, having left home at 14 to take on her first jobs. 

She spent several years as a teen model living in New York City’s now-infamous ‘model apartments’, during which time she experienced situations that she says brought to life the phrase ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. 

Although she ultimately became one of the most prominent supermodels in the world, Gisele says that in the earlier stages of her career – during which she was trying to navigate jobs all over the world while speaking very little English – she found herself being treated ‘like an object… like she had no feelings’. 

She admits that the brutal underbelly of the fashion world pushed her to the limits – but says she didn’t want to quit because she couldn’t stand the idea of going back to her family in Brazil ’empty-handed’. 

Instead, Gisele persevered, and when she turned towards more spiritual outlets that helped her to overcome the panic attacks she began suffering from when she was in her 20s – something that led to her love of yoga, meditation, and her exotic escape in Costa Rica, where she is now spending much of her time.