When Forbes released its first-ever Celebrity 100 list in 1999, only five models made the list – Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Niki Taylor and Kate Moss. When Forbes released its highest-earning models of 2014 list yesterday, only Kate Moss remained on the list. Aside from Moss, there was also another constant on the list – Gisele Bundchen.
Bundchen topped Forbes’s list of highest-paid models for the eighth consecutive year. This year alone, Bundchen made $47 million – $5 million more than she made in 2013. The rest of the top five was filled by Doutzen Kroes ($8 million), Adriana Lima ($8 million), Kate Moss ($7 million and the oldest model on the list at age 40), and Kate Upton ($7 million and the highest-ranked newcomer to the list in 2014).
The world's highest-paid models:
1. Gisele Bundchen
2. Doutzen Kroes
3. Adriana Lima
More: http://t.co/qXt86jXgci
— Forbes (@Forbes) August 18, 2014
Bundchen’s fortune was aided through her multiple advertising deals with multiple companies, including H&M, Chanel, Carolina Herrera, Balenciaga, Isabel Marant, and Stuart Weitzman. Bundchen also recently signed a deal with shoemaker Grendene to get a portion of the profits the company receives from sales on a jelly sandal she helped the company design. All in all, Bundchen has made $386 million since she began her modeling career in 2001.
Despite what Forbes publishes as her earning, Bundchen insists that she does not make what the publication lists:
It’s sad, because these people who write [the list] do not have my account number! I earn well, but it is not all this talking. I have been audited in the U.S. because of the Forbes list. And frankly, whether or not I’m in this ranking, I do not care.
If Bundchen does not care about her rating as the highest-paid model, perhaps she does care about her ranking in another of Forbes’s lists, the World’s Most Powerful Celebrities. In this year’s list, Bundchen ranked 56th – the highest of any model by far.
Goodness RT @usweekly Gisele Bundchen made $47 million in the last year — that's $16 million more than Tom Brady: http://t.co/lyvtSabXbX
— Amanda Perkey (@perkey) August 19, 2014
Perhaps the most surprising piece of information, however, pertains to Bundchen’s husband, Tom Brady. This year, Brady made an estimated $31.3 million – a whopping $15.7 million less than his wife.