Who

One of the world's most famous models, Gisele is as well known for her Victoria's Secret ads as she is for her dalliances with any number of boldface names.

Backstory

One of five daughters born to Brazilian parents of German descent, Bundchen grew up in Horizontina, a small town in southern Brazil. She says she was teased as a kid for being so tall and skinny—other kids would call her "Olivia" after Olive Oyl—and she considered using her height to become a professional volleyball player. Her mom had other plans, though, and sent a 13-year-old Bündchen to modeling classes instead. When she was 14, she was eating a Big Mac at a mall when she was approached by an Elite scout, who talked her into entering the Elite "Look of the Year Contest." (Or so the story goes.) She ended up placing second in the event, and made her debut at Fashion Week in NYC in 1996. She found instant success in the United States, and by 2000 Vogue had named her the "model of the millennium."

Of note

Once nicknamed the "Boobs from Brazil" because of her artificially augmented chest, Bundchen has been one of the most in-demand models over the past decade: She's appeared in campaigns for Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Valentino, Missoni, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, and hawked everything from Nivea lotion to Apple computers.  Her contract with Victoria's Secret that used to fetch her the most dough, but she walked in May 2007 after the company refused to raise her $5 million annual salary. Even without the Victoria's Secret scratch, Gisele's doing just fine—Forbes deemed her the world's top-earning model in 2008, estimating her annual take at $35 million.

Grudge

Gisele was one of several models who defected from Elite to IMG in 2000, which sparked a nasty feud with Elite chief John Casablancas. In addition to slapping her with a million dollar lawsuit, he lambasted her in every media outlet he could, describing her as a "monster of selfishness" and as "an empty shell, one big void as a person."

Personal

Gisele had a long-term on-again, off-again liaison with Leonardo DiCaprio, and was also romantically linked to model Scott Barnhill and Brazilian tycoon Joao-Paulo Diniz, before hooking up with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in late 2006. The two eventually tied the knot during the middle of 2009 and Gisele is now expecting her first child.

Habitat

In 2009, Bundchen finally sold her 5,000-square-foot West Village apartment—which she'd bought for $3 million in 2002—after more than two years on the market. She's still trying to unload her more recent residence, a red-brick townhouse on Barrow Street. When she's not in New York, Bundchen splits her time between homes in Los Angeles, and Boston.

No joke

Bundchen owns a Yorkshire terrier named Vida. When the dog ran away in 2004, she put up a $5,000 reward. The pooch was eventually returned, but Bundchen reneged on paying the couple that had located the dog.

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