Rise to Fame
Forty-two rejections before a single booking. That's the raw math of her early years in New York, where agents told her she was a good walker but not pretty enough for print. Alexander McQueen put her in his spring 1998 show, and American Vogue credited her the following year with ending the 'heroin chic' era. The Victoria's Secret contract in 2000, reportedly $25 million, drew side-eye from high fashion. She ignored it, and spent the next 14 consecutive years as the highest-paid model in the world.
In the Spotlight
The divorce from Tom Brady in October 2022 rewrote her story. He unretired from the NFL just 40 days after announcing he was done. She called the split 'the death of my dream.' The pivot came fast: within two years she was publicly dating Joaquim Valente, a jiu-jitsu instructor originally hired to teach her son. A baby followed in early 2025, then a quiet marriage in December 2025. Her net worth sits around $400 million, most of it built independently of her ex-husband.
Side Notes
Her mother enrolled her in a modeling course for posture, not a career. She wanted to play volleyball. At 14, she took a 1,000 km bus to Sao Paulo alone and eventually left for New York knowing almost nobody. The Ipanema sandal line she launched in 2001 has sold over 100 million pairs. She's sixth-generation German-Brazilian, speaks five languages, and has a fraternal twin sister who also models. She didn't inherit a platform. She built one from bad posture and worse odds.