Vogue US July 2018 Asks: 'Can Gisele Save the Planet?' In Images By Inez & Vinoodh

Supermodel, supermom, superwoman Gisele Bündchen covers the July 2018 issue of American Vogue July 2018. Tonne Goodman styles the eco-warrior in color-drenched, high-drama images by Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin. / Hair by Christiaan; makeup by Dick Page

Rob Haskell interviews Gisele in an informative, rich interview even for people who know her well. Note: the social media police were out in full frontal attack, taking down Gisele for a comment about not being a social media hound, as today's young models are expected to be. Nobody cares about a wonderful interview on issues like saving our planet. Sigh. 

On living in Boston: 

“Why do I live here? It’s called love,” Gisele says. “I love my husband. My kids were born here, in our old apartment on Beacon Street. They’re little Bostonians, and they love the weather. But I’m not going to lie. Cold is not my flavor. I’m Brazilian. I’d rather live barefoot in a hut in the middle of the forest somewhere.”

On not getting sucked into the glam model game in spite of her success:

“I was watching all the chaos but never getting that close,” she remembers. “Drugs. Girls coming and going, some making it, some heading down a bad path and going home. I was never a party girl. You can’t be reading Lao Tzu and partying. The environment I was living in wasn’t matching the things I was interested in. I was wondering, How is it that we’re all floating on this blue dot in space? I’ve always been a curious person, and I’ve always asked the big questions. What else? What more? This can’t be all there is.”

On being an eco-warrior, one living in great white privilege:

At home, meanwhile, Gisele is focused on teaching her children—Ben, age eight, and Vivian, age five—to garden, to show them the pleasure of a thing in its proper season, to instill a patience that digital culture undermines at every turn. They compost. They keep bees. She has her husband, Tom, well trained too. He now uses a lemon tincture to flavor his water, lest the trash fill up with plastic bottles, and the kids police their dad when he falls short. “They’re the little defenders,” Gisele says. “When you have privilege, you have to work extra hard. You want to give to your children because you love them, but is that really what’s best for them? Growing the garden with my kids, they understand they have to nourish it from tiny seeds. Ooh, here comes a frost. We lose our plant. And now what? Start again, figure out a new way. Nature is the biggest teacher: She’s always teaching you how to adapt.”