Thoughtful Quotes About Motherhood From Gisele Bündchen

The model and her husband, Tom Brady, have a son, Benjamin, and daughter, Vivian.
Gisele Bündchen and Vivian at the Super Bowl on Feb. 5, 2017.
Ronald Martinez via Getty Images
Gisele Bündchen and Vivian at the Super Bowl on Feb. 5, 2017.

Gisele Bündchen is familiar with the emotional highs and lows that come with parenthood.

The model and her husband, Tom Brady, have a son, Benjamin, and daughter, Vivian. She’s also stepmom to Jack, Brady’s son with Bridget Moynahan. Over the years, Bündchen has opened up about her motherhood experience in interviews, as well as her 2018 book, “Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life.”

In honor of her birthday, here are 21 parenting quotes from Bündchen.

On Adjusting To Motherhood

“When I became a mom, I kind of lost myself. It was like a part of me died. I’d been this very independent person. It was all about me. But now I had this little being, and I suddenly felt l couldn’t do other things and that was very hard for me. All I ever wanted was to be a mom, but when you’re actually experiencing that, it’s a shock.”

On Working Mom Guilt

“I had all this horrible, self-imposed guilt. I thought what a terrible mother I was for leaving my child even for like a day. [When I brought my child to work,] I was feeling guilty for that too. Like, ‘Here we are on a plane and the baby is crying.’”

On Self-Care

“As a mother, you’re always giving. It’s important to give something to yourself, so you can give from a place of being full, instead of giving from a place of being depleted, which isn’t healthy for you or for the family.”

On Breastfeeding

“[One of my sisters] couldn’t produce enough milk and so it was very challenging for two of them to breastfeed, and I was so grateful that I was able to. I felt like it was a big gift that I was given to be able to do that.”

On Parenthood As Told By Social Media

“Things can be looking perfect on the outside, but you have no idea what’s really going on. I felt like maybe it was time to share some of my vulnerabilities, and it made me realize, everything I’ve lived through, I would never change, because I think I am who I am because of those experiences.”

On Her Decision To Get Breast Implants After Nursing

“I felt very vulnerable, because I can work out, I can eat healthy, but I can’t change the fact that both of my kids enjoyed the left boob more than the right. All I wanted was for them to be even and for people to stop commenting on it.”

On The Power Of Motherhood

“[I]f I ever hear someone saying, ‘She’s just a mom,’ it makes me angry. Being ‘just a mom’ is the foundation of everything. Being ‘just a mom’ ensures that our children have the foundation and support they need to succeed not just at work but at life. Millions of ‘just moms’ are busy raising future men and women who will someday influence the world in either positive or negative ways. Our culture likes to treat the daily multitasking that women perform as something to be expected. They’re not. There are a lot of mothers out there who make everything possible and everything happen, and I think they’re amazing.”

On Highs And Lows

“When the kids were very young, there were times when I felt overwhelmed or conflicted, sometimes a little depressed, though I tried my best to be strong. I felt the massive new responsibility of motherhood. I wanted to do my best, and to do it right. The thing is, I was an experienced mom, in on-the-job training, plus I sometimes felt torn, since I knew I had so much more I wanted to create in the world. Now that the kids are older and in school, I know that soon I’ll be ready to begin climbing another mountain. I’ve never lived in ‘The Valley’ for this long, but I wouldn’t give back the time I spent there for anything. My children have given me a greater sense of purpose and motivation.”

On Understanding Her Parents

“Now as a mother to small children, I can only imagine the worry my parents must have gone through. I am not sure they would even have let me [leave home to model as a teen] if they knew how crazy the world outside our small town could be.”

On The Quest For Answers

“Becoming a new mom has brought a lot of questions, I feel like I am in a constant search for answers on what might be the best for my child.”

On Her Sore Throat Remedy

“A few times, when the kids have had the beginnings of a sore throat, I’ve used a method I learned from my mom. I pour really cold milk onto a cloth, cover the outside of the cloth in plastic wrap, and arrange it around her throat. It’s a little stinky the next morning, but Vivi’s sore throats are usually gone ― I have no idea why.”

On The Reality Of Motherhood

“I believe that bringing a life into this world is the single most important thing a person can undertake, and it can also be the most challenging. I think as mothers we are all just trying our best.”

On Raising Multilingual Kids

“Benny and Vivi may be American and born in Boston, but they’re Brazilian, too. Neither of my parents speaks English all that well, and my nieces and one of my sisters don’t speak English at all, and it’s important to me that my children are able to communicate with my family. So every summer I take Benny and Vivi on a two-week holiday with my entire family where we speak only Portuguese. I like to think I’m raising my children to be citizens of the world. I also believe that the more we can talk to people in their own language, the more we will understand one another.”

On Her Son’s Tub Birth

“It was the most amazing experience of my life, feeling him come through my body. And once he was born, I never felt so empowered as looking at him and thinking, ‘Oh, my God, we did it together!’”

On Meditation

“If I don’t do it in the morning, it’s a very different energy ― the dogs are barking, the kids are saying they are hungry, it’s so chaotic, there’s this and that ... when I wake up just 30 minutes before everyone else, it makes a world of a difference. It pays off.”

On Life Behind The Scenes

“On my own Instagram, you won’t find a lot of photos of me with a headache or with bags under my eyes from staying up all night with my children when they get sick.”

On Siblings

“If Jack is visiting, he takes his older-brother status seriously. Benny always wants to make everyone laugh. Vivi is the one who laughs the hardest, and who clearly loves her two brothers. She is their greatest cheerleader, and wants to feel she’s part of the gang.”

On Swearing By Breast Milk

“My kids never got sick when I was breastfeeding. If they had something in their eyes, I’d put breast milk in their eyes. Before their flight, I would get a dropper and put milk up their nose ... to [ward off] the bacteria on the plane. My pediatrician said, ‘If you could bottle [it], this would be like the perfect medicine for everything,’ so I actually had a bunch frozen after I stopped breastfeeding. I mean, I was one crazy person, but I felt like it was such a gift that I had.”

On The Toll Of Solo Parenting During NFL Training

“You’re overwhelmed and tired and then you’re not the nicest partner.”

On Keeping A Low Profile While Pregnant

“I felt like my pregnancy was a sacred moment for me. I stayed in Boston and I didn’t work apart from the contracts I have, and then I only let them use my face.”

On Parents’ Hopes

“We try to give our children what we got from our own parents growing up. If we’re lucky, we get to fill in parts that, for whatever reason, were left blank for us.”

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