After 20 years rocking the runway, 34-year-old supermodel Gisele Bundchen has confirmed rumors that she will be retiring from the runway after Brazil's São Paulo Fashion Week.
Bundchen, who has two children with husband Tom Brady, confirmed the news via Instagram on Wednesday:
"I am grateful that at 14, I was given the opportunity to start this journey. Today after 20 years in the industry, it is a privilege to be doing my last fashion show by choice and yet still be working in other facets of the business. #firstrunway #14yearsold 🙏🙏🙏"
"I don't see how to continue (modeling on the catwalk) ... and stopping will leave room for other projects I have for myself. Automatically my body tells me if what I do is worth it, and it asked to stop. I respect my body, it's a privilege to be able to stop," Bundchen explained in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper interview, which was syndicated by Yahoo.
According to Forbes’ 2014 Celebrity 100 list, Bundchen is 42nd highest-paid celebrity in the world, and the highest-paid supermodel, a title she has held for the past eight years in a row.
In addition to her runway gigs, Bundchen is the U.S. face of Pantene, the face of Oral-B in Brazil, and much of her income comes from licensing fees and lucrative contracts for H&M, Chanel, Procter & Gamble, and Carolina Herrera, among others. Bundchen will continue to work in print and other facets of the fashion and beauty industry.
In 2000, Bundchen signed a $25 million deal with Victoria's Secret, where she was an Angel until mid-2007.
Since Forbes began tracking Bundchen’s financials in 2001, "her estimated total earnings over the period totaled $386 million,"reports the magazine. "If corrected by US inflation based on the buying power of the dollar over time, that sum goes to some $427 million."
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