Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen (Instagram and Getty Images)
“I think when you’re 46, you definitely have gone through a few of those, but I would say one of the most intense ones for me was when I had panic attacks, and I was dealing with it in my early 20s for about two years. The couple married in 2009 and became parents to Benjamin and Vivian. Their divorce in 2022 marked another difficult transition. Her 2024 book, Nourish , further explored those ideas and encouraged readers to think differently about their relationship with food and wellbeing.
“I feel like there is many deaths and rebirths in my life,” she shared on the i-D podcast, answering a fan’s question. “It was a challenge,” Brady told FOX News. “It’s tough because you imagine your life was going to be a certain way, and you did everything you could, you know?” she told Vanity Fair. Join conversation Share your thoughts in the comments Be respectful · TOI community guidelines “This is my temple,” Bündchen said on GMA.
Gisele Bündchen has spent much of her life in the public eye, but some of her hardest battles happened away from the cameras. The former supermodel has opened up about the panic attacks she faced in her early 20s, describing the experience as a turning point that changed how she viewed her body, choices and future. Years later, after her marriage to Tom Brady ended, those lessons continued to shape the way she approached life and wellness. Bündchen entered modelling as a teenager and quickly found herself living at a pace few people could sustain. Success brought travel, work and global attention, but the pressure also took a toll. By her early 20s, she was dealing with severe panic attacks for around two years. Instead of simply trying to push through them, Bündchen eventually began looking at what was happening beneath the surface. She recently reflected on that period during an appearance on the i-D podcast. Her description was not simply about anxiety. It was about losing touch with herself and then slowly finding her way back. I think I was living so much outside of myself, almost detached and trying to be a pleaser. “It’s when I really had to dive deep, and I discovered who I was, and I realized that my body was my temple and I could be the director of my own movie, that I could create my life, and that was very powerful moment. So I’m very grateful. That’s why I say, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’” That period became a foundation for Bündchen’s approach to wellness. She later made changes to her diet and daily habits, placing greater importance on health rather than simply maintaining the image expected of her. Bündchen’s personal journey took another major turn through her marriage to Tom Brady. Their relationship brought family life into an already demanding world of professional sports and modelling. Brady later acknowledged how deeply the separation affected him, including its impact on his football career. “It just took a lot out of me in terms of my ability to continue to play. Bündchen also spoke about the emotional weight of seeing a future she had imagined take a different path. Rather than allowing those experiences to define her, Bündchen continued building a life around health and self-awareness. “I only get one, so I how can I nourish it? And how can I love it? If it’s not nourishing me, then I’m not going to eat it. I think that’s the number one thing. Making a commitment to your health. For Bündchen, the biggest lesson from those difficult chapters appears to be ownership. Fame, marriage and major life changes brought challenges she could not always control. But she found a way to regain control over how she cared for herself and what came next. Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.