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.
"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.
For the past 20 years, Bundchen has been a runway regular, gracing the catwalk for top designers all over the world.
Fernanda Calfat/Getty Images
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 2014, the Brazilian beauty earned $47 million- $16million more than her New England Patriots quarterback husband, Tom Brady.
AP Photo/Charles Krupa
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.
Pantene
In 2000, Bundchen signed a $25 million deal with Victoria's Secret, where she was an Angel until mid-2007.
Carlo Allegri/Getty Images
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."
