Gisele Bundchen has opened up about her decision to stop drinking and how it’s affected her two years later.
In an interview withPeople published on Monday 18 September, the supermodel, 43, explained that she’d wanted to fix her sleep schedule when deciding to stop drinking. “Right after I turned 40, actually, I felt a huge difference between when I had the glass of wine and when I didn’t have the glass of wine,” she said.
“It’s socially accepted to have a glass of wine. And people even say: ‘Oh, it’s healthy for you.’ Well, it is not healthy for me. If you want to ask of your body what I ask of my body, which is a lot, I can’t be having all these things (alcohol, caffeine) because they add up,” she continued.
After cutting alcohol from her diet, Bundchen recalled seeing a difference “immediately”. “I became more clear. I felt a bit more foggy before. Now I’m very sharp and very present and I notice things that I didn’t notice before,” the supermodel said. “When I’m not drinking, I’m sleeping much better. You have to be loving to yourself. You ask a lot of your body, you’ve got to do a reset. You have got to take care of this only vehicle you got, right?”
Bunchen had been married to retired NFL player, Tom Brady, for 13 years before getting divorced in October 2022. At the time, the supermodel said in a statement: “The decision to end a marriage is never easy, but we have grown apart.”
Last month, in an interview with Vogue Brasil, she explained how she was trying to maintain a positive mentality since the breakup. “Breakups are never easy, especially when the media is speculating every step of the way,” she told the outlet. Although their combined celebrity status has put the split under the microscope, she has adopted the philosophy that “every situation, no matter how challenging, teaches us something and helps us grow”.
Since the divorce, she has focused on both self-care and paying attention to her mental health. “Sometimes, we can get so disconnected from our bodies because we are running away from ourselves, so we just keep adding more things for us to do,” she told People. “Give me anything to eat, give me anything to drink. You’re just in this mode. I feel like whenever you can bring yourself back into feeling your body and just being present, it’s great.
“You’re kind of in your body and you’re really present. You’re breathing, you’re connecting.”
She said that a common misconception amongst mothers is that self-care is selfish because it is assumed that her children should come first. Bunchen’s goal is to show mothers that there is nothing wrong with spending time on yourself.
“It’s not a selfish thing. People have been teaching us that it’s selfish if you take care of you. How is that selfish?” Bunchen said. “When you feel good, you’re a better mom, you’re a better friend, you’re calmer, you’re more patient, you’re more loving, you’re more grounded. So you can’t feel guilty about prioritising yourself. Because that’s loving you and loving the people you love the most, which are going to be impacted by how well you are. Because if you’re sick, everyone’s hurt.”
Bunchen and her ex-husband Brady share two children: Benjamin, 13, and Vivian, 10, while the former NFL pro is also dad to 15-year-old Jack, who he shares with actress Bridget Moynahan.
