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NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 20: Showing off her growing baby bump, Gisele Bundchen was spotted out in New Yorks Washington Square Park for her Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program duties on Sunday afternoon September 20…There for a good cause, the Brazilian supermodel is doing her best to help the UNEP in its mission to raise awareness and promote action to protect the environment. She tells, ?The environment has always been my passion. I grew up in a small town and I had the opportunity to live surrounded by nature. I couldnt have asked for a better childhood. We must act now, so future generations have the same opportunity. Mother Earth is our fundamental life-support system, and by becoming aware and responsib – ZUMAs214 20090920_zba_s214_069 Copyright: xSMGx
![](https://image-cdn.essentiallysports.com/wp-content/uploads/imago0201624707h.jpg)
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NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 20: Showing off her growing baby bump, Gisele Bundchen was spotted out in New Yorks Washington Square Park for her Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program duties on Sunday afternoon September 20…There for a good cause, the Brazilian supermodel is doing her best to help the UNEP in its mission to raise awareness and promote action to protect the environment. She tells, ?The environment has always been my passion. I grew up in a small town and I had the opportunity to live surrounded by nature. I couldnt have asked for a better childhood. We must act now, so future generations have the same opportunity. Mother Earth is our fundamental life-support system, and by becoming aware and responsib – ZUMAs214 20090920_zba_s214_069 Copyright: xSMGx
The ex-wife of former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, has been through a lot in her personal and professional life. There is little doubt about the kind of strength that the supermodel has for facing difficult situations. However, what did she do when she was face-to-face with a near-death experience? And no, it was not the ‘car backfire’ type, like Ross Geller in ‘Friends’. It was real and mid-air. In her memoir, Bündchen, once, mentioned a similar event that happened years ago.
In her 2018 autobiography, ‘Lessons: My Path To A Meaningful Life’, the Brazilian supermodel expressed the root source of her claustrophobia, literally and metaphorically. And it all began with a ride with her friends to Costa Rica.
Gisele Bündchen almost died in a plane crash
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It took the fashion ramp-walk icon nearly nine months to recover from the trauma-inducing plane ride back in 2003. And this wasn’t a mild one on the stress meter either, with Gisele Bündchen experiencing a full-blown panic attack.
“It started with a plane ride in a small cramped six-seater,” present-day certified Chopper pilot Gisele narrated in her book. “The weather that day was touch-and-go, and when the plane rose in the air it began wobbling and shaking like a little leaf. I’m going to die, I told myself. I flew all the time and didn’t think anything of it, but suddenly I was intensely aware that I had no control. The fear of being trapped in a tiny space, of not being in charge, the overwhelming feeling that nothing in the world is steady or stable,” she added.
Despite her friends attempting to distract the supermodel, Bündchen almost passed out from the anxiety.
The experience made her claustrophobic even back home
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The group landed in Costa Rica safely. However, things were never going to be the same for Gisele, as she felt that this near-death experience changed something about her. The worst thing was that she had to take another one of those six-seater flights back home in two days, and Bündchen just couldn’t come around to it.
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Entertainment Themen der Woche KW14 Entertainment Bilder des Tages Gisele Bündchen bei einer Autogrammstunde zu ihrem Buch Lessons in der Thalia Buchhandlung Europa Passage. Hamburg, 03.04.2019. Gisele Bündchen at an autograph session for her book Lessons. At the Thalia bookshop Europa Passage Hamburg 03 04 2019 Foto:xH.xHartmannx/xFuturexImage
Once she was back home in New York City, Gisele found it extremely difficult to forget the distressing episode. So much so that she developed a phobia of any such similar-looking closed areas or spaces. For example, the elevator in her building. “This new fear found other ways to show itself. Suddenly, I didn’t feel right about getting on the elevators. I felt I couldn’t breathe,” she explained.
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WATCH THIS STORY: Surprising twist in Gisele Bundchen’s love life involves NFL GOAT Tom Brady connection
Unfortunately, Gisele hadn’t met 7x Super Bowl champion Tom Brady back then. Surely, his calming presence would have made things a lot easier for the Brazilian. Bündchen has even mentioned how TB12’s composure was a key positive in their 13-year marriage. However, even after him, she seems to have done just fine, staging an incredible fashion comeback this year.