PORTER’s first-ever cover girl, the world’s top-earning supermodel for 15 years straight and business powerhouse, Gisele Bündchen, returns to talk to the global fashion magazine for the title’s fifth anniversary issue about the power of female solidarity, her husband Tom Brady’s love of fashion and the crisis that led her to rethink her entire life: “No longer numbing myself with smoking, drinking and too much work, I was becoming more and more aware of things that I’d chosen not to look at”.
The 38-year-old Brazilian supermodel talks candidly to Carolyn Kormann for the Spring issue (on sale February 8). Photographed in New York by fashion heavyweight Mario Sorrenti and styled by George Cortina, Bündchen is shot in a series of natural portraits showcasing her lioness beauty and pure spirit.
The model’s Zen like approach to life was not always the case, and it was the difficult decision to walk away from a relationship that ultimately changed her course [In 2005 Bündchen and Academy Award winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio ended their six-year relationship]. Reflecting on that decision, she tells PORTER, “Was I alone in wanting to do some serious soul-searching while he stayed the same? In the end, unfortunately, the answer was yes.”
The married mother of two [Bündchen and Brady married in 2009 and have two children – Benjamin Rein, aged 9, and Vivian Lake, aged 6] says she will forever be a jeans and T-shirt type of girl but laughs at her husband’s extensive wardrobe: “Tom actually loves clothes more than I do. Sometimes I am like ‘What is all this clothing?’ He just loves it.”
Following last year’s powerful #MeToo movement, the model says she has seen a significant shift in the landscape for women –
This movement has united women. It’s a beautiful thing. We are stronger when we are together
Speaking candidly about the power of female solidarity, Bündchen tells PORTER it wasn’t always the case – specifically amongst her peers, “I come from a family of six strong, beautiful women. The way I grew up, we always supported each other, we helped each other, we loved each other. But when I left home, that’s not what I felt with the other models.”
To mark the fifth anniversary of PORTER, Bündchen will cover both the print and weekly digital edition magazines. For the first time in PORTER’s history the digital cover, shot by Sorrenti, will be animated showcasing the multi-platform capability of this truly innovative title.
