Supermodel Gisele Bundchen covers the October 2022 issue of ELLE US, styled by Alex White in ‘Gisele Rides Again’. Photographers Inez & Vinoodh [IG] are behind the lens with creative direction by Stephen Gan./Hair by Didier Malige; makeup by Fulvia Farolfi

Gisele shares a sweet story with ELLE’s Chantal Fernandez about taking daughter Vivian to Paris recently. As a baby Vivian had been on set with Gisele, but then the supermodel put marriage and mom duties ahead of her other fashion model priorities.

Back full-throttle, Gisele’s daughter, now age 9, was opinionated about the whirlwind of activity swirling around her mom. “She saw me with all these different hairdos and makeup—she didn’t understand why,” Bündchen tells Fernandez. “She’s like, ‘Mommy, you look so much prettier without all that! Why are they touching you? Can they stop?’ ”

To answer “This is fashion” sounds a bit trite, considering the world in which Gisele has traveled.

“I feel very fulfilled, as a mother and as a wife. And now it’s going to be my turn.”

There are parallels between Gisele’s interview and also Kim Kardashian’s Vogue US March interview about deciding to choose herself now. Both women are devoted to their kids and both have limelight-needing, macho guys as husbands.

Both women adored their husbands by all accounts.

However, with Kanye just being insufferable in his demands as “leader of the family” in and out of his mental episodes, and Tom Brady taking forever to consider his retirement and then reneging on his official retirement once he did leave Tampa Bay, Gisele — like Kim Kardashian — is doing much soul-searching.

The Bundchen-Brady marriage is under considerable stress.

Bündchen has often been depicted by the media as desperate for Brady to call it quits.

Fernandez tells her the characterization seems sexist, and the supermodel agrees. “I think this is the system we’ve been living in. That’s what society has accepted and what society hasn’t accepted.” Ultimately, she wants Brady to be happy and she knows better than anyone how much he loves the sport.

“Obviously, I have my concerns—this is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I would like him to be more present,” she says. “I have definitely had those conversations with him over and over again. But ultimately, I feel that everybody has to make a decision that works for [them]. He needs to follow his joy, too.”

Gisele’s recent departure to Costa Rica after a huge fight in which she says apart from this interview that what really cause the big uproar was the way Brady treats the kids when he is home. Like most successful men, everyone is supposed to understand that dad is ‘beat’ or ‘busy’, with a lot on his mind. Or he just wants to chill and not be on dad duty.

After all the compromises Gisele happily made in her own career — she still outearns Brady in AOC’s latest dig — and knowing how strongly the supermodel environmentalist feels about positive parenting and engagement, her husband’s harsh retorts to their kids about his needs was a bridge too far for this strong backbone woman. From the sounds of it, all hell broke loose, causing Brady to depart from the Buccaneers training camp for about 11 days in intense marriage counseling.

All parties are very circumspect; Gisele wished her husband a win on Sunday, when the team beat the Cowboys 19-3. But she wasn’t there, and it’s not at all clear that they are still living under the same roof, after 15 years of marriage. She says:

“I’ve done my part, which is [to] be there for [Tom]. I moved to Boston, and I focused on creating a cocoon and a loving environment for my children to grow up in and to be there supporting him and his dreams. Seeing my children succeed and become the beautiful little humans that they are, seeing him succeed, and being fulfilled in his career—it makes me happy. At this point in my life, I feel like I’ve done a good job on that.” Looking forward, Bündchen is going to make more space for her dreams, too. “I have a huge list of things that I have to do, that I want to do,” she says. “At 42, I feel more connected with my purpose.”