Gisele Bündchen on modeling, divorce, and her true self

As one of the world's leading supermodels, Gisele Bundchen has never been shy about life in the limelight. Or so you'd think. Leigh Cowan caught up with her far from the beaten path. To see a sunset like this, off the coast of Costa Rica, takes a bit of effort. The Nicoya Peninsula is not the easiest place to get to. It's home to a beautifully chaotic town called Santa Teresa, full of expats and world-class surfers. And once we arrived, we realized that being far from everything is exactly the point, especially for the person who invited us here, Gisele Bundchen. This is a bit of a sanctuary for you, is it? Look at it. This is her home away from home. And she says the perfect place for this supermodel to find renewal. I'm in a different place in my life. I'm able to choose more of what I want. I think before I was more surviving, and now I'm living, which is different. Go get it! At 43, a mom of two, she still has one of the most sought-after looks in the business. That said, though, she's largely pulling back from the runway, not because she had to, but because she says it's now about time to show the world what all those designers and all those photographers missed, her true self. You know, they weren't hiring Gisele, but they didn't even know me. They just liked the way I looked, and they liked the way my body looked and clothes, I guess. I've done that. I understand that. And now I get to be me. And what me is, she says, is not the spotlight-loving personality you might think. I'm a Cancer. I like my home. I'm a little crab. I like my little home. You know, the crab, he has a little shell. He likes to go in her shell and feel. That's me. But being an introvert and then becoming a supermodel seemed like- That was a very challenging thing, too. Entirely opposite. But I had her. Her, yeah. Her. She saved me. Her. That's how she refers to the alluring chameleon who's been staring back at her from billboards and glossy magazine covers for decades. Why was that? Because it was so- For many reasons. It was easier to deal with criticism that way as well. You know, we need to change the hair. It's not working. We need to change the makeup or the clothes. Everything is terrible. And then if you're young and this is, you're thinking, I'm terrible. Like, I'm doing something wrong. So- But I can't imagine, though, you know, you were 14 and people are talking about your eyes are too close or your nose is too big. I still have the same nose and the same eyes. I'm not gonna keep- But I grew into it, too, you know? So it's- Right, but like, that's hard to hear at any age. But if you were 13 or 14 years old- This is why the her was very important for me. It was a veneer that did shield her from the often brutal side of the fashion business while also allowing her to flourish in it. Her long list of lucrative contracts made her one of the highest paid models in the world. Seems like she had a talent for the business side of show business, too. But it was between the glitz and the glam, the rare times when she was alone, that she sometimes wished she'd never been discovered at all. Everybody looked at me from the outside and thought I had it all, right? And I was feeling like I was leading this life that was just like- Killing it. I was, exactly. Drinking mocha frappuccinos for breakfast with three cigarettes, drinking a bottle of wine at night to calm down from all the coffee I was drinking. Not sleeping and traveling and working. Like, I basically burned down my adrenal glands and my nervous system couldn't take it anymore. I felt bad about it, you know? I felt like I couldn't tell people that because they looked at me and they're like, she has everything. Like, they wouldn't even understand. So when did the- How did the anxiety start to present itself? You know, I was in tunnels. I couldn't breathe. And then I started like being in studios and I felt like suffocated. I lived on the ninth floor and I had to go up the stairs because I was afraid I would be stuck on the elevator and I'll be hyperventilating. Because, you know, if you can't breathe even when your windows are open, you feel like, I don't want to live like this. You know what I mean? Did you really think about jumping? Yeah, for like a second, you know? Because you're like, I can't. She didn't jump. Instead, she says she stopped everything in a single day. A complete detox. No caffeine, no sugar, hardly any alcohol. And she began a new morning ritual, meditation. You know, I wake up at five. Yeah, I like to wake up early. I like to greet the sun. You know, sometimes you're tired and you're like, okay, like I'm just going to sleep in a little bit. But I feel the difference when I do that. A few years later when she met NFL superstar Tom Brady, she says she was a different person, happy and healthy and looking to focus less on modeling and more on motherhood. Do you miss the spotlight though a little? No. Not at all? No, not at all. I was there to take my kids to school every day and make them breakfast every morning and just be with them. And just, I mean, what a gift. They grow up so fast. And it's like that, you know? Like you wake up and you're like, what happened? She and Brady now share custody of those children. After 16 years together, their divorce was as public as their careers. Painful for everyone, she says. And yet. I look into my life and I wouldn't have it any other way. I wouldn't have any other life. I wouldn't have done it. If they say, can you change something in your life? I wouldn't change absolutely anything. Not even getting divorced? I mean, it's not what I dreamed of and what I hoped for. You know, my parents have been married for 50 years and I really wanted that to happen. But I think you have to accept, you know, sometimes that the way you are in your twenties, it's, you know, sometimes you grow together, sometimes you grow apart. I mean, he's the father of my kids, you know? So I always wish him the best. And I, I mean, I'm so grateful that he gave me wonderful children. And I think, you know, when a door shuts, other doors open. One of those doors opened onto this blooming field of echinacea. Nature is my happy place. Anytime I'm in nature, I'm happy. This is the Gaia Herbs Farm, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. It's been organically growing any number of healthy herbs to be turned into supplements for nearly 40 years. And for Bunchen, it's as much a brand as it is a lifestyle. That's how I treat my kids. You know, we use elderberry syrup, like, which is a huge, amazing immune booster. And my kids and I love it. We always- Are your kids on board with all this? Are you kidding me? My kids have been taking it since they were born, you know? They're like, mama, I wanna eat this food. I'm like, well, if you can tell me what that is, then you can. She just signed on to be the wellness ambassador for Gaia Herbs. I feel like it's a combination of the journey I've been on. A role, she says, that's less about business and more about teaching what she calls the wisdom of plants. So there is different herbs that might have a bigger impact on your system than others, right? So you have to kind of like- Experiment a little bit. Experiment it, and this is what I've done. I've been taking herbal remedies pretty much all my life. She grew up in a rural town in Southern Brazil where her late grandmother had an herb garden of her own. Bunchan fondly remembers how what her grandmother plucked from it seemed to be able to cure almost any ailment. She was magical for me because she could fix anything. She could plant anything. She could make anything grow. She could heal anything. She was just amazing, right? She was just like, she's amazing. Sorry. Well, you're doing her proud. That's for sure. Thank you. She was so special. It's emotional, she says, because after touring the world- Do you like this, sweet baby? She's like, yeah, life is good. She now realizes that her ultimate destination may have always been home. I'm a small town girl. You know, you can take this girl out of the small town, but not the small town out of the girl. As a model, Giselle Bunchan called herself a silent actress. She hopes that silence, though, is now no more. I just think now I'm allowing myself to come out as Giselle versus as her. I don't have to play a character. I can be me, and that's liberating. Do you like the water, though? Oh, there you go. Oh, that's amazing. Give us a little refreshment.