Supermodel Gisele Bundchen has shared that she suffered anxiety and panic attacks at the start of her modelling career and admits she was downing a bottle of wine every night after hitting “rock bottom.”
The 41-year-old beauty has opened up about the dark days of her early 20s and shared an unhealthy diet of coffee, wine and cigarettes played havoc with her mental health.
“From the outside it looked as if I had everything and I was 22 years old. On the inside, I felt as if I’d hit rock bottom,” she told Vogue magazine.
“I was starting my day with a mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream and three cigarettes, then drinking a bottle of wine every night,” Bundchen further shared. “Imagine what that was doing to my mind.”
After hitting breaking point, Bundchen was pointed in the direction of a naturopath who helped her detox and turn her life around. She cut out caffeine, alcohol and cigarettes and embraced a diet of vegetables, nuts and small portions of lean meat.
The catwalk beauty explained the gruelling regime gave her terrible migraines but her symptoms disappeared after three months and she started feeling healthier again.
“The doctor a I remember him saying, ‘Well do you want to live? It was that simple,” she added.
After completing the detox programme, Bundchen has maintained a healthy lifestyle ever since and now credits a healthy diet, meditation and exercise with keeping her on track.
“I think I feel better in my forties than I did in my twenties and not just physically, because we’re all told that life is over at 40 and feel like I’m just beginning,” she added.
