Gisele Bündchen Responds to Romance Rumors About Her Jiu-Jitsu Instructor Joaquim Valente

In a new 'Vanity Fair' interview, the supermodel acknowledges the speculation about her martial arts teacher.

Gisele Bündchen Responds to Romance Rumors About Her Jiu-Jitsu Instructor Joaquim Valente

Is Gisele Bündchen dating her jiu-jitsu instructor, Joaquim Valente?

It's been an ongoing question amid recurring sightings of the two together following her October 2022 divorce from Tom Brady. In a new Vanity Fair interview -- her first since her high-profile split -- Bündchen elaborates on her ties to Valente. 

"They’re all like senseis," she says of him and his Miami-based siblings, Pedro and Gui Valente. As for Joaquim specifically, he's an instructor for the runway icon and her two children, Benjamin and Vivian. But romance? While she does not explicitly deny the speculation, she chalks it up to being newly available. 

"I think, at this point, unfortunately, because I’m divorced, I’m sure that they’re going to try to attach me to anything,” she tells Vanity Fair. “I’m so grateful to know all of them, because not only have they helped me and helped my kids, but they have become great friends, and Joaquim especially."

Adds Bündchen, "He’s our teacher and, most importantly, he’s a person that I admire and that I trust. It’s so good to have that kind of energy, to have my kids around that type of energy."

Gisele Bundchen

Lachlan Bailey/Vanity Fair

In regard to fresher speculation connecting her to Jeffrey Soffer -- Elle Macpherson's ex-husband with ties to Brady -- Bündchen can not be more clear. 

“I have zero relationship with him in any way,” she says, noting she has not seen him in more than six months. "He’s Tom’s friend, not my friend."

The supermodel elaborates, "I wouldn’t be with his friend. I wouldn’t be with this guy." She's not interested in his net worth, either. "They were saying I’m with this guy, he’s old, because he’s got money," she adds. "It’s ridiculous."

The star is suspicious of the story's origins. "Who benefits from this?” Bündchen asks. "Why would somebody plant something like this? There's only one reason. They want to make me look like something I’m not."

Bündchen's Vanity Fair issue hits newsstands on April 4.

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