‘My body is my temple’: Gisele Bündchen on her sober journey

Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen is speaking candidly about how she replaced drinking and smoking for a wellness-focused lifestyle.

The 43-year-old recently described how “intense” she is when it comes to wellness. As part of a recent partnership with herbal supplement brand Gaia Herbs, Bündchen detailed her health journey with a panel and revealed why she gave up drinking and smoking to embrace a healthier lifestyle, per Fox News.

“I meditate everyday, I exercise every day,” Bündchen said, per People. “I’m just so grateful I have this body, I truly am. Now I’ve learned — because I wasn’t so good in my 20s or my teens — I realized my body is my temple and I really want to enjoy it. So for me, moving my body is huge.”

“This is why I wake up at 5 a.m. This is why I’ve meditated for over 20 years. And when I don’t, I feel a huge difference,” she said, adding, “I haven’t drank alcohol in over two years and it’s amazing how much more clear (I feel).”

Bündchen explained how she embraced her current lifestyle after suffering from “severe” anxiety and depression during her 20s. Her former drinking and smoking habits exacerbated her mental health struggles, she claims.

“In my early 20s I had severe panic attacks and depression,” Bündchen recalled, per Fox News. “When you’re a teenager or in your 20s you think nothing’s going to hurt you, you can do anything, you’re a superhero. Well, not so much. Your body lets you know.”

The former Victoria’s Secret model turned to several specialists for health guidance but ultimately credits her upbringing, specifically her grandmother’s knack for natural remedies for allowing her to turn to “plants as my pharmacy” rather than prescribed medications for anxiety and depression, per People.

During her late 20s, Bündchen began using herbal supplements, started meditation and breath work, changed her diet and left drinking and smoking behind.

“My life changed completely. It was like a rebirth,” she explained, per People. “It was a process though. We’re habitual beings. We want to do the same things because it just feels comfortable. So I had to replace all those habits that were killing me for habits that were giving me a new life. Instead of waking up with two cigarettes and a mocha frappuccino with whipped cream, I would wake up and go for a jog and come back and do an hour of breath work and yoga. Everything changed.”

“I get to have all these incredible tools that I can use to support me feeling like my best self. And that’s how I see it,” she added. “You get addicted to it, in a good way.”

Bündchen also spoke about her recent divorce from Tom Brady with People.

“It’s been very tough on my family. It’s been a lot — in every area of my life,” she said, per People. “I feel like whenever it rains, it pours. With all the different twists and turns that life takes, all we can do is the best we can given what happens in our surroundings.”

“I think if I didn’t have all the different tools that I have to support me during these times, it would’ve been very hard,” she continued. “And I think we all can relate to that, because I think we all have gone through our roller coasters of life.”

She went on the describe the difference she feels when she consumes alcohol.

“It’s socially accepted to have a glass of wine. And people even say, ‘Oh, it’s healthy for you.’ Well, it is not healthy for me. If you want to ask of your body what I ask of my body, which is a lot, I can’t be having all these things (alcohol, caffeine) because they add up,” Bündchen told People.

The supermodel added that she “immediately” felt changes in her life as soon as she gave up drinking.

“I became more clear. I felt a bit more foggy before. Now I’m very sharp and very present and I notice things that I didn’t notice before,” she says. “When I’m not drinking, I’m sleeping much better. You have to be loving to yourself. You ask a lot of your body, you’ve got to do a reset. You have got to take care of this only vehicle you got, right?”