Model Citizen.(fashion model Gisele Bundchen)(Interview)

Model Citizen

Gisele has climbed to the pinnacle of the modeling

world (in four-inch stilettos). But off-camera,

she's surprisingly down to earth. By Deanna Kizis

When Gisele bursts into a hotel room and exclaims, "I'm bringing sexy back!" it seems as if she's stating the obvious. After all, Gisele's Brazilian curves, runway stomp, high-peak cheekbones, and playful sensuality rejiggered the universal ideal of beauty and made heroin chic a bore. Ten years after she arrived in New York City from her hometown of Horizontina, Gisele, 26, is arguably the highest-paid model in the world. She's a combustive photographic presence with the ability to jump from work on the runway to swimsuit layouts on the pages of fashion magazines. Of course, Gisele attracts her fair share of attention -- rumors about her private life have enveloped her since she started dating Leonardo DiCaprio in 2000 and have now reached a stadium-like roar with her relationship and possible pregnancy with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (whose ex, Bridget Moynahan, is having his baby in August). Not to mention that her longtime contract with Victoria's Secret is up. Still, Gisele has a famously un-mannequin personality; neither calendar sexpot nor haughty glamazon, she comes off as an easygoing beach babe who sounds like Penelope Cruz would if she talked ten times as fast. Here, she blasts through her beauty myth and explains why she's so upbeat in an industry known for its cattiness. One of the reason for your success seems

to be your appeal to both sexes. Do men and women react differently to you?

I honestly have no idea, because people just look at me -- they don't say anything. The other day, I went to the airport, and the guy at the ticket counter says, "I know you." And I say, "Maybe you just recognize me because I fly all the time." And he says, "No, you're Gisele." Then he says, "I like that in person you look like a normal girl." That made me happy, because I am like a normal girl. I'm not a glamorous person. You say that, but we have photographs that indicate otherwise. When I'm in front of the camera, just like an actress, I'm playing a role. One day I'm sexy, the next I'm wild, the next I'm tough. But in everyday life, I'm the tomboy girl. Maybe that's something the guys like. Were you an instant success? No. People said I would never make it because my eyes were too small, I had weird angles, and an androgynous face. I was also too tan; they'd tell me to stay out of the sun, and I'd say, "Are you kidding? I'm from Brazil!" But I think who I was worked for me. I was being myself. People who've worked with you say how happy you seem, yet fashion people aren't generally cheerful. I see unhappy people in this business, and I don't understand it. There are days that aren't the most wonderful, and I can make it a bad day, but that would be my choice. I guess some people in this business like to be miserable. I have no time for that. You are fearless on the runway, even when you're in skimpy underwear. Have you always been that way? No way. I was 5 feet 11 inches tall at 14. And, to make it worse, I have a twin sister, and she was about six inches shorter than me. I was like, I'm not normal. But when you look in the ...