Gisele Bündchen opened up about her mental health struggles at the height of her modeling career due to the pressure she felt in her early days as a model.
The 43-year-old supermodel, whose future plans include collaborating with Gaia Supplements and publishing her own cookbook, said CBS Sunday morning about the paralyzing fear twenty years ago that caused suicidal thoughts.
“You know, I was in tunnels. I couldn’t breathe,” she told host Lee Cowan, who visited Gisele at her part-time home in Costa Rica.
“And then I started working in studios, and I felt like I was suffocating,” she explained.
‘I lived on the 9th floor and had to climb the stairs because I was afraid I would be stuck in the elevator and start hyperventilating. … You know, when you can’t breathe, even with the windows open, you feel like, I don’t want to live like this, you know what I mean?’
Opening: Gisele Bundchen opened up about the crippling anxiety that plagued her early 20s in an interview on CBS Sundat Morning
“Have you really thought about jumping?” she was asked.
‘Yes. Just for a second,” she replied.
Gisele discussed the issue in her 2018 memoir, Lesson: My Path to a Meaningful Life.
She said she went to a doctor who gave her anxiety medication for her panic attacks.
Instead, she decided to combat them by turning to yoga, meditation and breathing exercises.
She also quit smoking and caffeine and cut down on sugar.
During her marriage, she and ex-husband Tom Brady, 46, were also known for their primarily plant-based diet.
Now a single mother, who shares her children Vivian, 10, and Benjamin, 13, with the former quarterback, says looking back she wouldn’t change a thing, including her very public divorce.
Anxiety: Gisele may have looked calm on the catwalk, but she has revealed that as a model in her early 20s she suffered from crippling anxiety and panic attacks (pictured in Sao Paulo in June 2003)
Hyperventilate: ‘I would hyperventilate. … You know, when you can’t breathe, even with the windows open, you feel like, I don’t want to live like this, you know what I mean?’ she said (pictured in London in 1998)
“I mean, it’s not what I dreamed or hoped for,” the model admitted.
‘My parents have been married for fifty years and I really wanted that. But I think sometimes you have to accept that being in your twenties, sometimes you grow together and sometimes you grow apart.”
“I mean, he’s the father of my kids, you know? That’s why I always wish him the best, and I’m so grateful that he gave me wonderful children.”
No changes: Gisele said she wouldn’t change anything about her life, including her marriage to ex Tom Brady, 46. ‘I mean, it’s not what I dreamed and hoped for… sometimes… like you are in your 20s , sometimes you grow together, sometimes you grow apart’ (pictured in New York in May 2019)
Motherhood: Gisele shares her children Vivian, 10, and Benjamin, 13, with the former quarterback. “I always wish him the best, and I am so grateful that he gave me wonderful children,” she said
As she looks at what awaits her, the cover model thinks about what will make her happy.
‘I’m in a different place in my life. I can choose more what I want,” she explained.
“I think before I was more surviving, and now I’m living, which is different.”
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, text or call 988 to speak to someone at the National Suicide Hotline.
Gisele’s interview on CBS Sunday Morning airs September 24 at 9:00 AM and streams on Paramount+.