Gisele Bündchen Opens Up About Anxiety And Panic Attacks That Nearly Killed Her: ‘I Couldn’t Breathe’
October 2, 2023 by Maria Pierides
Gisele Bündchen might look like she exudes confidence as she struts her stuff down the catwalk – but the Brazilian supermodel recently revealed that she struggled with severe anxiety at the height of her career, which sometimes caused her to have suicidal thoughts and panic attacks. She also confessed that she felt “suffocated” when she was in studios, and only found true peace once she had stepped back from the modelling industry and started “living,” as opposed to “surviving.”
On CBS News Sunday Morning, the 43-year-old former Victoria’s Secret Angel reflected on feeling “suffocated” at the height of her career, and even refused to use elevators because she feared being stuck in them. “I was in tunnels; I couldn’t breathe. And then, I started being in studios, and I felt, like, suffocated,” she confessed.
“I lived on the ninth floor, and I had to go up the stairs because I was afraid I would be stuck on the elevator, and I’d be hyperventilating,” the Nourish author candidly explained. “Because you know, when you can’t breathe even when the windows are open, you feel like, ‘I don’t want to live like this.’ CBS host Lee Cowan asked Bündchen if she ever thought about jumping from her floor, and she replied: “Yeah. For, like, a second, because you’re like, ‘I can’t (do this)!'”