Like many Miami-area romances, Gisele Bündchen’s started in a gym. However, she wasn’t the one working out – she’d signed up her son, Benjamin, for jiu-jitsu classes at the Valente Brothers academy in North Miami in 2021.
It’s there she first met hunky instructor Joaquim Valente. Although she was still married to NFL legend Tom Brady at the time, something certainly caught Gisele’s eye.
“When I started talking with Joaquim, I realized that it was much more than self-defense,” Gisele told Dust magazine in 2022. “I became really interested [in] the philosophy … and how I have a path to develop and become the best version of myself. And then I was hooked.”
Hooked, indeed.
That same year, Gisele posted a video of her sparring with her future flame during a jiu-jitsu session. “I feel stronger, more confidence and empowered since I started practicing self-defense,” she captioned the Instagram post.
Meanwhile, the rumor mill was in overdrive as cracks in her marriage to Brady were beginning to show. By October 28, 2022, it was official: Gisele and the quarterback GOAT were done. “The decision to end a marriage is never easy but we have grown apart,” she wrote on Instagram.
But not everyone’s buying the “we grew apart” narrative. Gisele, 44, and Joaquim, 37, officially confirmed their relationship in February 2024, but whispers persist things heated up long before that—maybe even before the divorce papers were signed.
Gisele, clapped back in an interview with The New York Times, saying: “That is a lie,” and she shouldn’t be blamed for having “the courage to leave an unhealthy relationship.”
Still, The Post can exclusively confirm the supermodel spent Thanksgiving 2023 cozied up with Joaquim and his family at the Majestic Towers in Bal Harbour, where two of his brothers — who run the jiu-jitsu academy alongside him — live. The building features a private restaurant where the crew enjoyed turkey and the trimmings, and where Gisele raised more than a few manicured brows.
Guests were pleasantly surprised to see the “Devil Wears Prada” beauty casually serving herself at the buffet and warmly chatting with fellow residents. “She spoke to everyone and was absolutely adorable,” recalled one attendee. “She felt more like the girl next door than a global supermodel.”
The kicker? Gisele was flying solo—neither of her and Brady’s kids; Benjamin, now 15, and Vivian, 12, were in sight.
Post-divorce, Bündchen has created an idyllic life in Miami, living peacefully in an $11.5 million waterfront mansion in Surfside. The tiny beachfront town is only .564 square miles and is surrounded by the glitzier Miami Beach and Bal Harbour neighborhoods.
“People have seen her around,” one Surfside neighbor spilled, “But she sticks to her street, which feels like a private road and ends in a cul-de-sac. I’ve never seen her at the community pool, which is only open to Surfside residents, or at the local Publix.”
Last year Gisele had one particular reason for staying out of the spotlight. In October 2024 she shocked many with the news she was pregnant. She and Joaquim welcomed a baby boy in February — though they’re keeping the first name under wraps. According to People, his middle name is River, in keeping with the aquatic theme of her other kids, whose middle names are (Benjamin) Rein and (Vivian) Lake.
Breaking cover, Gisele was recently spotted walking her dog with her newborn in a front-facing chest baby carrier, looking every bit the sporty Miami mom in Alo leggings, white baseball hat and tank top. According to our source, no one batted an eye.
“We’re used to seeing Ivanka Trump here,” the longtime Surfside homeowner shared, referring to the fact that Trump and her family resided in Surfside for several years. “Surfside is the least starstruck community in Miami. Gisele is just another mom in the neighborhood.”
Both Joaquim and Gisele are health nuts, and she keeps her body long and lean with Pilates, as a regular at Reforming Pilates in nearby Bay Harbor Islands, where she’s been working out in stealth mode.
“She’s super quiet, and never draws attention to herself,” a fellow gym-goer dished. “She takes the last reformer in the back and doesn’t linger after class. I can tell she doesn’t like attention being drawn to her. She’s naturally beautiful in person, it’s like she’s glowing.”
Asked if people are intimidated by working out next to one of the world’s most beautiful women, the Pilates pro deftly said she and her classmates are too focused on their form to be starstruck.
And the Victoria’s Secret stunner’s workouts aren’t always solo. She’s brought Joaquim into the mix, with the couple doing Pilates together. Apparently, the jiu-jitsu expert had a bit of trouble with the reformer and weighted cords at first. “Gisele had to show him how it works,” our source revealed.
However, since the baby was born, they haven’t been spotted together at the posh Pilates studio. Instead, the couple has embraced life at sea, opting for a more private and luxurious experience aboard their brand-new Schaefer V44 yacht, which they purchased for $1.2 million in February.
On one recent cruise, Gisele, wearing a sexy, low-cut black one-piece swimsuit, was seen sharing a kiss with Joaquim, and showing off her post-pregnancy body. (Hello, Pilates!) She’s also been photographed yachting through Miami’s scenic waterways with Vivian and close friends.
As for their parenting style, Gisele and Joaquim share very similar backgrounds: Both were born and raised in Brazil, speak Portuguese, and come from big, close-knit families—she’s one of six sisters, including her fraternal twin Patricia, and he’s one of four Valente siblings.
The three Valente Brothers are known in the martial arts world for their serious approach to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Their father, Dr. Pedro Valente, was a top plastic surgeon in Rio and an early student of Hélio Gracie, the man credited with creating modern BJJ. Dr. Valente also served as the Health Secretary for both the city and state of Rio de Janeiro and was team doctor for legendary soccer club Vasco da Gama.
All three brothers attended an American school in Rio before relocating to Miami one by one. Joaquim, the baby of the bunch, arrived in 2007 to study criminology at Barry University. The Valente Brothers’ academy was founded in 1998 but didn’t truly take off until all three siblings began teaching together.
Unsurprisingly, both Gisele and Joaquim eat super clean and don’t drink alcohol or party. One local influencer who is on the social scene said he never sees Gisele or Joaquim anywhere—from restaurant openings to nightclubs. “Zero, nada, they are extremely hidden,” he told The Post.
Gisele currently prefers nesting at home with her newborn, who will undoubtedly start practicing jiu-jitsu as soon as he turns two.
She’s also never far from her other children, since Brady’s mansion on Indian Creek is only a football spiral away. Only separated by water, Gisele’s residence is positioned in such a way that if there weren’t any trees, she could practically see into Brady’s $28.6 million backyard—and presumably vice versa.
If Gisele needs some breathing room, she has multiple places to visit, including the rustic $9.1 million Southwest Ranches estate she purchased in 2023 and the beachfront home in Santa Teresa she and Brady had bought but she kept in the split. She and Valente were later spotted there in full babymoon bliss in late 2024 — and their relationship looks like it will long bloom into the future.