Gisele Bundchen‘s mom, Vania Nonnenmacher, died of cancer at the age of 75 on Sunday, January 28. Hospital Moinhos de Vento in Porto Alegre, Brazil confirmed in a statement that Vania was admitted to the hospital on Friday, January 26 and passed away two days later, according to PEOPLE. Gisele, 43, has yet to speak out about her mother’s death as of the time of publishing this story.
Vania was the mother of Gisele and her five siblings, including Gisele’s twin, Patricia, and Rafaela, Graziela, Gabriela and Raquel. Vania shared her six kids with her husband, Valdir Bündchen. She used to work as a bank teller before her retirement, according to Vanity Fair.
Gisele would occasionally posts photos of her mother on Instagram. In September, the famous supermodel shared a snapshot of her and her five sisters reuniting with their parents in Brazil. Gisele also posted images of her mom and dad spending time with her daughter Vivian, 11, and son Benjamin, 14, “Always in my heart and prayers,” she captioned the post.
In July 2022, Gisele posted a tribute to her mom on Vania’s 74th birthday. “Happy birthday Mom! I am forever grateful for all that you have done and continue to do for us,” Gisele wrote in her caption. Thank you for always loving, inspiring and teaching us. Thank you for giving me life! Love you so much!” she added.
Gisele opened up about caring for her sick parents in an interview with PEOPLE in September 2023. “It’s been very tough on my family. It’s been a lot — in every area of my life,” said Gisele, who got divorced from Tom Brady, the father of her two children, after 13 years of marriage in October 2022. “I feel like whenever it rains, it pours,” she added. “With all the different twists and turns that life takes, all we can do is the best we can given what happens in our surroundings.”
“I think if I didn’t have all the different tools that I have to support me during these times, it would’ve been very hard,” Gisele also said in the interview. “And I think we all can relate to that, because I think we all have gone through our roller coasters of life.”