In a new 'Vanity Fair' interview, the supermodel acknowledges the speculation about her martial arts teacher.
Is Gisele Bündchen dating her jiu-jitsu instructor, Joaquim Valente?
It's been an ongoing question amid recurring sightings of the two together following her October 2022 divorce from Tom Brady. In a new Vanity Fair interview -- her first since her high-profile split -- Bündchen elaborates on her ties to Valente.
"They’re all like senseis," she says of him and his Miami-based siblings, Pedro and Gui Valente. As for Joaquim specifically, he's an instructor for the runway icon and her two children, Benjamin and Vivian. But romance? While she does not explicitly deny the speculation, she chalks it up to being newly available.
"I think, at this point, unfortunately, because I’m divorced, I’m sure that they’re going to try to attach me to anything,” she tells Vanity Fair. “I’m so grateful to know all of them, because not only have they helped me and helped my kids, but they have become great friends, and Joaquim especially."
Adds Bündchen, "He’s our teacher and, most importantly, he’s a person that I admire and that I trust. It’s so good to have that kind of energy, to have my kids around that type of energy."
In regard to fresher speculation connecting her to Jeffrey Soffer -- Elle Macpherson's ex-husband with ties to Brady -- Bündchen can not be more clear.
"I have zero relationship with him in any way,” she says, noting she has not seen him in more than six months. "He’s Tom’s friend, not my friend."
The supermodel elaborates, "I wouldn’t be with his friend. I wouldn’t be with this guy." She's not interested in his net worth, either. "They were saying I’m with this guy, he's old, because he's got money," she adds. "It's ridiculous."
The star is suspicious of the story's origins. "Who benefits from this?” Bündchen asks. "Why would somebody plant something like this? There's only one reason. They want to make me look like something I’m not."
Bündchen's Vanity Fair issue hits newsstands on April 4.
ET spoke to Vanity Fair writer Michelle Ruiz, who spent time with Gisele at her home in Costa Rica for the story. Ruiz gave insight into the supermodel's comments about dating rumors surrounding her.
"She wouldn't really say more beyond that she just feel like there is a campaign of negative stories being planted about her but I can tell you that she was just really, really disheartened and devastated by this particular report which she said is absolutely absurd and says she has no relationship with this man whatsoever."
"We talked about various people that she said she is not dating and one of them is her jiu-jitsu instructor, Joaquim Valente, but she does speak really, really highly of Joaquim as a force of good in her life and her children's life," she continued. "They've all really embraced jiu-jitsu as a source of strength and Joaquim and his brothers do travel with the family in four or five day stints teaching them and she says they've been nothing but a positive influence in their life and she's really grateful for them."
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