In the late 1990s, Bündchen became the first in a wave of Brazilian models to find international success.
In 1999, Vogue magazine dubbed her "The Return of the Sexy Model" and she was credited with ending the "heroin chic" era of modeling. Bündchen was one of Victoria's Secret Angels from 2000 until 2006.
Since 2004, she has been the highest-paid model in the world and the sixteenth richest woman in the entertainment industry (as of 2007) with an estimated $570 million fortune.
Models Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell have stated that Bündchen is the only true remaining "supermodel" and according to Forbes she may become the world's first ever billionaire supermodel. In June 2011, Forbes magazine estimated that Bundchen's total earnings over the last 10 years have passed the $550 million mark.
As an occasional actress, she had supporting roles in Taxi (2004) and The Devil Wears Prada (2006). From 2000 to 2005, Bündchen was in a much-publicized relationship with American actor Leonardo DiCaprio. She married New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in 2009.
n 1998, she posed for Missoni, Chloé, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Gianfranco Ferré, Ralph Lauren and Versace campaigns. In addition, she made the cover of the French edition of Vogue, and Cult fashion magazine i-D also added her on its cover, profiling "A Girl Called Gisele."
An article on Vogue magazine's on-line encyclopedia of models stated "As the year 2000 approached, Gisele Bündchen was the world’s hottest model, opening up a new category in the popular imagination: the Brazilian bombshell." By the year 2000, her going rate was reportedly already up to $7,000 an hour.
She is the fourth model in history to grace the cover of Rolling Stone, in which she was named "the most beautiful girl in the world", in 2000. Also that year "Time magazine said she was "one of the few runway models whom straight men can name."
She appeared on the cover of Vogue in July, November and December 1999. She won the VH1/Vogue Model of the Year for 1999, and a January 2000 cover gave her three consecutive Vogue covers and in December 2009 she appeared alongside of her husband Tom Brady on the cover of book The World in Vogue – People, Parties, Places. In 2000, she became the fourth model to appear on the cover of the music magazine Rolling Stone,[citation needed] when she was named "the most beautiful girl in the world."
Bündchen has been on the covers of many top fashion magazines including W, Harper's Bazaar, ELLE, Allure, international editions of Vogue, as well as style and lifestyle publications such as i-D, The Face, Arena, Citizen K, Flair, GQ, Esquire, and Marie Claire. She has been featured both in the Pirelli Calendar 2001 and 2006 and in broader market publications such as TIME, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Newsweek and Veja, more than 600 magazine covers throughout the world.
A total that is only second to Princess Diana's. By 2000, her record breaking $25 million contract with Victoria's Secret helped solidify her status as the world's top model. She has been on numerous book covers such as "MaRIO DE JANEIRO" by Mario Testino and Russell James Retrospective book.
In 2000, she opened[when?] the spring Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Dior, and Valentino shows in New York, Milan, and Paris.
From 1998–2003 Bündchen was in every Dolce & Gabbana fashion campaign, totaling 11 consecutive campaigns with the brand. In 2006–2009, she returned as the face of the brand's fragrance titled "Dolce & Gabbana The One".
Bündchen was invited to host the Brazilian version of the reality-show "America's Next Top Model" in (2003), but she refused. According to her sister and public relations manager, Patricia Bündchen, she did not want to pursue a career on television.
Photographed by Steven Meisel, she was presented on the September 2004 cover of American Vogue as one of the "Models of the Moment". In the December 2005 issue, New York magazine chose and publicized a list of 123 reasons to love New York City with reason number 43 being that Bündchen lived there.
Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisele_B%C3%BCndchen
