Gisele Bündchen and Vânia Nonnenmacher were known to be incredibly close. Nonnenmacher, who worked as a teller at Banco do Brasil employee and raised six daughters, served as a pillar of support for Bündchen’s aspiration. She initially didn’t seek to be a model, but Nonnenmacher’s encouragement was pivotal when the opportunity came. In fact, it was Nonnenmacher’s decision to enroll her daughter in a modeling course to help with her posture that ultimately led to Bündchen being discovered by a modeling agency.
At the young age of 14, Bündchen had to relocate first to São Paulo and then to Tokyo for her modeling career. “You went into the world by yourself,” Nonnenmacher told Bündchen in an interview with
Elle
. “But I knew the daughter I had raised, the daughter I had at home. I trusted you a lot and always believed in you.” Nonnenmacher admitted that it was hard to let Bündchen go at such a young age, but she placed her trust in Bündchen’s upbringing and values.
Bündchen is grateful for all the things she learned from her mom, especially the unwavering support and attention she and her sisters received. “She [Nonnenmacher] always worked hard and prized discipline. Looking back, I learned a great deal from her dedication to her family and home,” she told The Wall Street Journal. “She worked seven days a week but was always available to us. It wasn’t as if she read us books. There were too many of us for that. But she was always there for a hug.”
