Gisele Bündchen has lived a busy few decades in her life. She was once among the most sought-after models in the fashion industry, and she also had to deal with the constant scrutiny of being Tom Brady’s partner. Now in her 40s, and a long time away from all this hubbub, Bündchen spoke about a troubling time in her life.

“I feel like there is many deaths and rebirths in my life,” she shared on the i-D podcast, answering a fan’s question. “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. 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.’”

This is not the first time that Bündchen opened up about her mental health struggles. She started her modeling career and lived in Japan at 14 years old without her family. Taking on such a demanding job at such a young age, she began suffering by the time she was in her 20s, when depression and anxiety kicked in. Bündchen once mentioned she was doing 360 days of work a year. 

“I started having severe panic attacks … I didn’t know what do,” she shared in another interview with People in 2024. 

While she never mentioned what led to those panic attacks, Bündchen shared how she brought them under control. 

“I wanted to feel better, I didn’t know what to do, so I found this amazing naturopath, and he said to me, ‘Gisele, we have to change your diet.’ And I was like, ‘Diet, what does that have to do with panic attacks?’ And he’s like, ‘No, it has everything to do with it,’” she once shared.

Bündchen admitted that in that phase of her career, she ate whatever was readily available to her. She said that whatever was available in the supermarket, she considered okay to eat. But to control her mental health, Bündchen had to drop that attitude.

That exposure flipped Bündchen’s life completely, as she found a new passion outside modeling, towards a healthy lifestyle through diet and workouts.

Bündchen tied the knot with Tom Brady when she was 28, in 2009. Her first child, Benjamin, was born in 2009, and she welcomed her second child, Vivian, in 2012. However, the couple grew apart and wanted to pursue different paths in life after 13 years of marriage, splitting in 2022.

The divorce was hard on both Brady and Bündchen.

“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.

“It was a challenge,” Brady told FOX News. “It just took a lot out of me in terms of my ability to continue to play.”

But Bündchen did not let this setback affect how she prioritized her mental and physical health. In 2024, she released her book, Nourish: Simple Recipes to Empower Your Body and Feed Your Soul: A Healthy Lifestyle Cookbook, driven by her love for a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

“This is my temple,” Bündchen said on GMA. “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.”

Over the years, Bündchen has channeled her energy in a way that helps her find inner peace.