Gisele Bundchen covers the latest issue of WSJ. Magazine, which is paywalled for subscribers only. Thankfully, Gisele is always good for a quote, so there are big chunks of the interview online on other sites. Gisele is in a pretty good place right now – she’s retired from being a full-time model but she still has businesses and tons of other interests, plus she’s got two kids (three if you count Jack, which no, I don’t count Bridget Moynahan’s son). Basically, her biggest concern these days is when Tom Brady is going to retire and whether or not she can get a steady supply of Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts.
Her love of Dunkin Donuts Munchkins: “Do you know those things called Munchkins? Oh, my God. I cannot have one. I have to have, like, 10. They’re so tiny…. It’s a guilty pleasure.”
On Tom Brady’s retirement: “I’m entitled to have my concerns because my husband is the father of my children. If you don’t have your health, what do you have? [But] It’s not my decision to make. It’s his decision, and he knows it. It wouldn’t be fair any other way. He’s so focused right now. He has a laser focus on just winning and being the best, and I said, ‘You know what? This is what you’re doing right now in your life, and you need to feel complete in it, because if I’m the one who comes and says something and then you make a decision based on something that I said-’” He’d resent it? “Yeah, and I would never in my life, ever. I want him to be happy. Believe me, I’ve been with him when he’s losing. Try to be with him after you have lost [Super Bowls]. I mean, I had my fair share, OK? As long as he’s happy, he’s going to be a better father, he’s going to be a better husband, and I just want him to be happy. I do have my concerns, like anyone would.”
On her family dinners: “No phone, no electronics. Let’s be present. Let’s share. That’s the most important thing for me…. I come from a family of eight and it was the best time when we all sat together. Everybody would want to talk. My dad would be like, ‘Raise your hand.’”
She doesn’t dress or style Tom: “I’ve never in my life told him to wear anything. You should see our closets….It’s so funny. I would say that he likes fashion more than I like fashion. I would say he’s changed his haircut in one year more than I’ve changed in my whole life.”
Living in Boston: “There are deep roots—not to mention an emotional connection with a sports-mad region.” And she said she can’t do the accent but said, ‘I know “wicked awesome.”‘
[From The Daily Mail & Boston.com]
Lord, I have not had a Munchkin in years! I’m so thankful that I don’t live close to a Dunkin Donuts, because I would probably eat those nonstop too. I think Gisele probably threw that in there just to look “normal,” like she doesn’t subsist on a diet of tree bark and pollen. She might have eaten a Munchkin once and it became, like, an anthropological lesson in Boston culture.
As for what she says about Tom and how he’s not retiring… “Believe me, I’ve been with him when he’s losing. Try to be with him after you have lost [Super Bowls]. I mean, I had my fair share, OK?” Oooh, she sounds… over it. Like, she’s concerned about his health, obviously, but she’s at the point where she’s not even going to fight with him about retirement because she’s already seen what a moody, morose bastard he can be when he’s not playing or when he’s losing. That statement wasn’t so much about “I love him and support him” as much as it is a statement of “I’m tired of having this fight with him, if he wants to give himself brain damage, it’s his call, not mine.”
Photo courtesy of Getty, cover courtesy of WSJ. Magazine.
10? a box of it my corner of the world is at least 24, and i’ve always thought that’s single serving #sorrynotsorry
Not everyone eats all 24 of them. She’s a liar because she only eats 10? I’m a junk food junkie, and I don’t eat all of them
Stuff like that freezes really well. So if you can get home with some left, you can wrap them up in a plastic bag and toss in the freezer and pull them out individually if you’re worried about sugar overload. I even wrap up individual small items (cookies, mini donuts, etc.) to make me work harder to eat more. Those foldover plastic sandwich bags work well, just twist and knot the remainder of the bag.
No Dunkin’ Donuts here, but my current temptation is the Irish Soda Bread the local grocery store sells for a while before and after St. Patrick’s day… It’s the sweet American version with raisins. No need for a spread. I try to wrap up most of the slices for the freezer, but it’s hard. I’ve been to the store three times in the last couple of weeks and got another loaf every time. And of course the rule is that any slice that is imperfect or broken in any way has to be eaten right away. Just like cookies, right?
That munchkin bit doesn’t ring true. I doubt she doesn’t have them more than once a year if that.
I’ll grab a donut there. I’m mostly a clean eater and those always taste too sweet or more chemical. Like most candy. Like if you remove salt from your diet reintroducing is overwhelming from very little.
I think she wants him retired. He won’t. He’s actively fought against a successor. Brady will be that QB that retires a few years too late. And comes out of retirement at least once only to be forced back by scandal or injury.
You can buy single munchkins. My son loved them but I’m not big on sugar for little ones, soI’ve purchased two munchkins for my munchkin many times.
Interesting! I tried to buy just one once and they told me they only sold them in denominations of three!
Exactly. I buy 4 at a time for my daughter.
yeah, you can also get a “cup” of them at the DD around here.
but I’m with you, it’s 24 (or 52!) or nuttin’. they are so good, much better than Tim Horton’s whatever they call them. those aren’t BAD, by any standard, but they’re just not Dunkin’.
also, for those in the tri-state, I saw a great meme the other day…”America runs on Dunkin only because most of the country has no idea what a WaWa is.” BOOM.
In just the last few years, WaWa is everywhere in my area. Their macaroni and cheese is addictive . Yummy. Wawa mac and cheese for lunch, and Dunkies Munchkins for dessert
oh! that description of Wawa made me want to go cross country!
i often buy loads of munchkins, eat a lot on the day and freeze a lot like @jwoolman did. then when the cravings come, it’s the waffle iron that does the job of rejuvenating months old munchkins.
gosh now i’m hungry!
WaWa is the BEST convenience store I’ve ever experienced.
most of their food is above the standard for convenience stores…better than most “fast food”, IMO. they have a great deli and make sandwiches, hot and cold, to order. and they’ve really expanded their selections, too. their coffee is very good, too. growing up, I had two in my small, college town. the “far Wa” and the “near Wa”, depending on where you lived.
Krispy Kreme forever!
Krispy Kreme is AMAZING, but IMO only when they’re fresh. That neon sign goes on and I’M THERE.
What happened to the story in which their extremely stringent diet included no sugar? Hardly even fruit? Bunk, bunk, bunk.
Having been raised in New England, I have only this to say:
Proper use of “wicked” is primarily “wicked good.”
I was born and raised in the Boston area, and the work “wicked ” was almost always used instead of “very.” Wicked cold,wicked cute, wicked hot, but most oftenly used with “awesome”. I’m sure the Boston area isn’t the only place in New England where people always say “wicked awesome ” Even before my bf who’s never been to New England met me, he knew “wicked awesome ” was a very common term there. Still part of my every day vocabulary
Not sure whether you are trying to say about their diet. My perception is that they eat extremely stringently, like joyless, and that Gisele eats those munchkins maybe once a year. It is often a PR exercise when celebrities try to convince us they eat burgers all the time and are “just like us.” Give me a break, anyone who works in that world knows the extreme, controlled daily lifestyle of most (in particular female) celebrities (as well as some high performing athletes).
@ lower-case deb, I love you for that.
I thought they didn’t eat sugar.
Now she eats Dunkin’ Donuts?
Yeah, I remember the interview with third chef awhile back where he detailed how strict their diet is. No way she eats Dunkin Donuts.
Life with TB sounds…kind of difficult? His dad once said he genuinely worries about the day Brady has to retire-I think it’s going to be a taking your parents’ keys away situation, not 100% voluntary, and football is obviously his life. I feel like she’d love him to retire but knows he won’t until something forces his hand.
I eat nice food, no sugar or white flour, but when I’m in PMS… It’s a different story. I just eat. And many women are like that. I take care of myself for 25 days then 3,4 days i am in sugar hell.
Same here Milla, same here.
But it’s been better since I opted for a vegan diet no sugar cravings like before, although they still happen once in a while, but not as strongly.
Also, with the personal gym and personal trainer she has I am sure a couple of crap food once in a while won’t make a difference.
I have ADHD and get frequent sugar cravings as is, but during Shark Week? All bets are off. I crave that mineral.
One thing to try is to add a lot of non-starchy veg (especially greens) to your normal diet to see if that makes a difference in sugar cravings on those 3-4 days. I suspect the craving for sugar is actually a craving for the vitamins and minerals in veggies and fruits, which are also carbohydrates. (What did women do before refined sugar was available, anyway?)
Fuhrman in Eat to Live recommends making big salads as the main focus. He suggests aiming for at least 1lb raw and 1lb cooked non-starchy veggies per day plus several pieces of fruit. Cooked can substitute for raw if needed and vice versa. But just that one addition can make a difference. Most people who think they are eating a lot of veg don’t eat close to that amount. They’re just eating more than the average person in the US, which is a low bar.
Fennel, raw with oil, salt and lemon, will help with sugar cravings. It’s an appetite suppressant and stabilizes blood sugar.
I am a healthy eater, vegan and technically don’t eat sugar but it is more like if I want it, then I eat it. I have things I love to eat, and I am going to eat them. Life is too short. It’s sugar not crack.
She is trying to relate to the majority of people who do eat these donuts at least occasionally. So she is pretending to eat what the others eat. Let’s face it: most people don’t subscribe to very highly restrictive diets like “no sugar”. And most people have eaten Dunkin’ Donuts.
Giselle is over 30 and when you are over-30 you will pile on the pounds much more easily then when you were under-30. I bet she is strictly on a strict calorie-controlled diet to keep her body slim.
If you are exercising 2-3 times weekly and eat generally healthy, donut here and there don’t cause anything. But exercising must be exercising, but not what many people are doing and call it exercising. More muscles you have more calories you can consume without gaining any weight.
I’m 47 and still thin–takes very little effort, hardly any exercise. Yeah, hate me. The point is, some people can handle a dose of pastry now and then, or cheese, or what have you, without changing their shape. I believe her because IME it’s completely possible. She’s probably also 12 times more cardio-active than I am with some kind of celeb trainer regimen–my only exercise is walking as my main form of transpo.
Dunkin Donuts is, however, the wicked worst. I don’t know how anyone eats that crap. Tim Horton’s once in a while, sure–but they’ve gone downhill since Wendy’s or Taco Bell of who the hell ever bought them years back. *shakes fist*
I actually think that Tom is the one who is stricter about the diet. For him it’s not about staying thin it’s about extending his playing days. Do I think that Gisele eats them often? Hell no. But think she’s slightly more likely to ‘cheat’.
Yeah, he’s the super fanatic, and she has the kids so sure why not. She may take the kids for treats for fun. She said guilty pleasure, so it is not like she is scarfing boxes of them on a daily basis.
I call bullshit! People with eating disorders always talk about eating junk food.
This. Or if she did eat them, she didn’t eat anything else for two days.
Same! This is so Gwyneth of her.
Wow. How do you know she has an ED? That is a hefty accusation to make if you don’t have anything to base it on.
Was about to ask the same question. She may not be likable, but eating disorder is not a joke. Let’s not throw serious labels on people just cos we are not fans.
@Milla
It is a severe disease, and people die from it. It is heartwrenching to watch someone suffering and something a group of models have been addressing in the industry for the last decade or so.
My firm beliefs about body acceptance became even more pronounced after seeing models adopt a strict diet to lose some pounds for fashion week turn into a raging ED a year later. There is a psychological element that separates the two, and those models who are predisposed to it become seriously ill and even die.
It is a subject I take very seriously, and it is crucial to separate models who are health conscious and naturally thin, those who work hard to maintain and those who have eating disorders.
It is not a joke. And it is unfair to accuse someone of it.
Someone who “has” to eat 10 of those donut hole things in one sitting has an eating disorder. True, she’s probably lying about that. But, it is in no way “unfair” to say she has an eating disorder if we take her at her word.
Agree that we really should not speculate about eating disorders. It bothers me how they have become an insult or accusation to throw around, a way of ‘catching celebrities out.’ It’s concern trolling. Also, constantly pathologizing food intakes can be so harmful. One person’s binging is another’s feasting, but the difference can be outwardly invisible.
Having said that, I have had a few friends with severe anorexia and they always talked about cooking and eating and restaurants, so you were constantly unsure about whether or not it was ok to intervene. But those were my friends, not a public figure.
I’m with you, magnoliarose. Screaming ED at every slender woman isn’t doing body image/culture/women any freaking favours.
Question is…does she allow Tom and the kids to eat munchkins every now and then?
Why do you think that Tom’s dietary choices are only a result of his wife?
I think it’s pretty obvious from the way both of them talk that Tom is the one responsible for his own dietary habits. He’s a big boy, he doesn’t need a woman to manage his diet. The wife and kids are more likely just along for the ride, so when they’re out or he isn’t home, they may eat a little differently. (”strawberries for everybody!”).
But his diet isn’t really restrictive to me. He just knows what works for him and what doesn’t. He limits or eliminates foods that don’t make him feel good or that adversely affect his playing. He just doesn’t follow the stereotypical mainstream American diet, that’s all. There are many successful ways of eating.
That was my point. Tom very clearly is just as invested in his dietary choices, if not more so.
It is him. Tom is the extremist because he is trying to stay in top condition to keep playing. She is not as much that way as he is.
She takes the heat for a lot of things that are him and not her. How she can stand being married to him, I have no idea.
Tom is trying to stop time.
Nothing better than wicked awesome Munchkins from wicked awesome Dunkies. There’s Starbucks everywhere here in Florida, but I’ll always be a Massachusetts woman at heart and won’t settle for anything but Dunkies. It’s wicked awesome that there’s one right down the street from me. There’s no T to ride, but it’s in walking distance
Ugh, bet that Munchkin dust is so hard to clean off her burka.
Good one! I remember that, she got plastic surgery and tried to hide herself in a burka! In Paris, right?
Hahahahahahahaha!
Only 10? Why bother? What an amateur.
Seriously???! I usually eat 3-4 and that’s plenty. 10 seems like a lot to me.
That’s because you’re normal, and I’m food-obsessed. 🙂
The flippancy of this made me laugh – thanks! I will always finish the whole box of any fun food right away, which friends assume is coquettish fakery until they witness The Gorge. Am in awe of people who can eat only a square of chocolate, a small bowl of chips, or a few munchkins. How do they do it??
When I eat Pringles, “once you pop, you can’t stop” is very true. I don’t eat little amounts of anything. An entire bag of pizza flavor Goldfish is also really normal for me.Thank goodness for my high metabolism. I’ve never eaten all of the Munchkins because it’s usually a few of us sharing them
Yeah people think I make up the food that I eat. and then they actually see me eat and say, oh… You really DO eat that much chocolate…
LOL, The Gorge. Same! My husband really enjoys food while he’s eating it, but he can also completely forget about it, too, sometimes going longer between meals than is best for him. I can’t imagine forgetting about food. If there are a couple of donuts or other tasties lying around, I’m super-aware of them. It would probably take a genuine emergency to make me completely forget about food and dispel munchies for any real length of time.
It’s funny how different people’s eating behaviors can be. I’ve seen similar differences in my 3 cats since kittenhood. Two of them eat with gusto when hungry but are completely disinterested in food at other times. The 3rd reminds me of me — always ready to eat, never leaves a bite untouched, would definitely eat more if given the opportunity, etc. I have to sequester the others’ uneaten food so he doesn’t snarf it & gain too much weight. He & I can’t be trusted with others’ food!
lol @ “coquettish fakery”
I am also one who surprises people with my ability to turn into a human garbage disposal when it comes to any sort of junk food. it took my husband years to really understand that it’s all or nothing for me. don’t leave me alone with a package of oreos or a bag of tortilla chips and then be shocked that they’re all gone in record time and no! I didn’t save you any. the only way I can keep away from that stuff is to just not have it in my house at all.
I surprise people with what I eat because they assume I must not eat because of my career. It is a stereotype but not without some truth in it to some extent but not without exaggeration either.
I eat a bag of olive oil potato chips or salt and vinegar flavor in one sitting. My serving is the entire bag, and I am not sharing. It is not the little bags. It is the regular size. French fries. Guacamole. A bakery does vegan peanut butter cookies, and I am addicted. Van Leeuwen ice cream is just ridiculous. They have vegan, and I try to blame my kids for my obsession, but it is me.
Then they cruelly expanded to the West Coast forcing me to indulge. Now they deliver online, so even if I visit family in South Florida, I can’t escape.
I can stop after a few bites of sweets, but do NOT put a large bag of chips in my house. I can’t control myself and will down any salty snack until the bag is a shell of its former self…
The Boston Globe had more of the story on the Munchkins. Ben Brady plays hockey. Tom brings several boxes of Munchkins to Ben’s practices and hockey games for the kids and other parents and she eats them while she hangs with the other hockey moms. And she does hang with the other hockey moms; we’ve seen plenty of pictures of her sitting in the stands talking to other parents.
She is very centered on her children, and she gets a bad rap that she doesn’t deserve. She’s telling the truth about fashion. She is athletic and sporty and not glamorous in her downtime. No makeup, jeans or fuss.
People get older and more circumspect about life and mature. She’s mellowed out. I am sure she is relieved to be semi-retired. She has been over it for a long time, but those paychecks are hard to resist.
I love Boston. There are so many great restaurants, bookstores and antique shops.
I can see why she likes living there.
Yeah, she says some stupid stuff sometimes. But I think that Tom must be incredibly difficult to live with. And he’ll be worse if/when he has to stop playing.
I like Boston a lot. I want to go back and run the big marathon there sometime.
Agree with everything you’ve said here about her, Magnoliarose.. She sounds mellowed out and yes, that happens! Now she just deals with her husband’s intense single focus, which sometimes sounds like a scoop of Ugh to me.
I absolutely love Boston too. Lived there and the people are wonderful, as much fun and as interesting as the city.
Love me some Dunkin munchkins. And no, I don’t eat the entire munchkins in the box as well.
She’s so relatable.
If I had that kind of money I’d hire a personal chef and only eat healthy nutritious meals.
Maybe the odd dessert.
Its hard and expensive to eat healthy.
I agree with her dinner table policy.
I could not give a crap about over processed food and how we all give in once in a while.
However, I am horrified by the badly photoshopped left leg – it looks like her prosthetic leg is detached and will slide down any minute.
her face is pretty heavily photoshopped, too.
YES!! The left leg is like a barbie leg put on backward. Something weird.
I think she eats a munchkin maybe once a year. Or decade. Or she saw a nanny eating one.
i’ve had five at a time and stopped- 10 is way too many in one go lol also i think it’s totally possible to have gisele’s body and occasionally indulge in sugar. she is def. consuming sugar by way of cocktails, etc. i’m sure she eats a dessert as an indulgence 1-2 a month. doesn’t mean she’s lying or that her fitness and diet otherwise isn’t on point. just means she conservatively moderates her sugar intake.
Giselle has claimed she would eat 10 donuts in one go 🙂 I too would agree that that is unlikely given the size of these donuts. Nevertheless Giselle claims she would eat that many donuts. How can you explain this contradiction?
Well, perhaps Giselle doesn’t know how big these donuts are because she hasn’t eaten them in years. 😉
No, Gisele claimed she would eat 10 mini donut bites in one go.
Tata Mata – Munchkins are small. Hence the name (the Munchkins of Oz). They look to me like the size of what are often called donut holes (spherical pieces). About five of them is equivalent to a normal Dunkin‘ Donuts donut. Three of them are 200 calories so eating ten means having an all-Munchkin meal…. Which I can’t complain about.
10 donuts? Gisele never said anything about eating donuts. @Tata Mata, I think you might not know what a Munchkin really is. They’re made of the same ingredients, but nowhere near the size or shape of an actual donut
BS…typical article trying to appear normal when she’s anything but. Jeans and tee my a$$…and if we’re being real, both items would need to be designer and worth hundreds if not into thousands dollar price tag. We see you Giselle!
I saw an episode of KUWTK in the beginning. Someone brought Kim cupcakes. Her friend Simon ran to get a bottle of Windex and sprayed all the cupcakes so they wouldn’t eat them. That’s how I envision Miss Gisele. She wants to be relatable to the little people, but girlfriend isn’t going to eat ten Munchkins in this lifetime.
I’m from Mass, am I right in remembering when they first introduced Munchkins it was kind of them trying to be “healthy”, as in you won’t eat as much? Or were they originally aimed at kids? All I know is I would eat way more munchkins out of a box than if I just bought a doughnut. And their muffins have way more calories than doughnuts, so when I was young and wasting my life dieting I should have just been eating the doughnut I wanted in the first place! Now I don’t live near Dunkin Donuts’, life is sad!
I can’t have more than 10 munchkins. There’s a Dunkin right up the street from me. Damn…now I want munckins.
She and Tom both grate on my nerves.
I don’t care about their food/diet/workout ideas.
I bet this is because Tom is launching his new line of workout food.
Blah, blah, blah. Let me hear from ya when ya donate huge money to charity.
I think she’s FOS–whatever Bundchen. There’s nothing “normal” or relatable about your dietary habits.
Having said that, I really admire her rules for family dinners about “no electronics” and “being present.” Now THAT makes sense to me.
Try living close to a Dunkin Donuts and. Krispy Kreme. They are next to each other. When the light comes on at KK, it’s a traffic mess. Back to Giselle, she’s over it and I wouldn’t be surprised if they divorced after his retirement. Who would want to deal with a moody, morose former QB? No one.
After hearing about her and Tom’s diet for the last couple of years now, I don’t believe she touches mini-donuts. I emphasize this is not because of how she looks (i.e perfect body), but because they kept telling us what they refuse to eat.
Agreed.
I gotta know, what the heck are Munchkins!?!?
donut holes.
Delicious donut holes
Sure, Jan.
Perfect reply is perfect!!
All of the regular people families I know refer to stepchildren as their own kids. It’s hard for the bio parent, but it’s significantly better for the children. I would say thatGisele has 3 kids.
Thank you! I’ve got a blended family and I will either say, “between the two of us, we have # kids” or “I have # kids and a bonus kid.” I’m showing up for bonus daughter’s school plays and he is showing up for my kids’ sporting events. You’d better believe step-kids “count.” Sorry if it bothers the bio parent, but kids aren’t possessions that one parent own exclusively.
Gisele is a liar.
The one thing I like about Gisele, and this is only sometimes, is how when she wants to, she speaks her mind. There are a lot of instances where that’s dumb on her part, but I feel like she’s spent a lot of time thinking about the fact that her husband won’t quit football until he absolutely has to. And I think she’s been probably shouted at/””reprimanded”” for being too candid about her feelings on the subject before. But even so, she has her point of view, and she’s sticking to it. I appreciate that. It’s stuff like this that can make or break marriages, and it’s tough to watch someone you love walk down a path that, if it’s not outright ruin, just isn’t healthy for them mentally or physically.
I feel like, out of the two of them, Gisele is definitely much more of the, “It is what it is, so let’s see how we can deal,” no nonsense mindset, vs Tom Brady is more moody and melancholic and “why me” type whiner.