It seems pretty great to be Gisele Bündchen these days; the catwalk legend out-earns literally everyone else in the industry (last year, she was named the world's highest-paid model for the ninth year in a row). And though she's technically retired from the runway (aside from the occasional catwalk appearance for select designer friends), has spent two decades as a top model, and is pretty unanimously regarded as absolutely gorgeous, not everyone always agreed on Bündchen's potential.
When she officially kicked off her modeling career in 1995 in her native Brazil, Bündchen dealt with ample criticism. "I remember some people telling me my nose was too big or my eyes were too small, that I could never be on a magazine cover," she told People. (The full interview will be available in the glossy's new issue, on newsstands Friday.) "It wasn't easy to be 14 and hear that kind of criticism. It made me feel insecure."
Apparently, her father provided the necessary parental motivation needed to keep her chasing her dreams. "I told my dad, and he said, 'Next time, tell them, I have a big nose and that comes with a big personality,'" she recalls. "At that point I felt, if I kept working hard and giving my best, it would all work out."
Luckily for us, she tuned out the nasty feedback and kept at the whole modeling thing. There's nothing like a laundry list of achievements (oh, and a hearty $44 million-a-year salary) to really show her critics who ended up on top.
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