Gisele Bündchen has kept her new man, Joaquim Valente, out of the spotlight, but that hasn't dampened the public's interest in their relationship. People have been speculating about what was going on between the former supermodel and the Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor since they were photographed in Costa Rica weeks after Bündchen and Tom Brady's divorce in October 2022. But the two already knew each other by then.
For more than a year, Bündchen and the two children she shares with Brady, Benjamin and Vivian, had been practicing martial arts with Valente and his two older siblings at the Valente Brothers jiu-jitsu school in Miami. She became fast friends with Valente. For close to two years, there was nothing more to their relationship than that. But the friendship turned romantic in the summer of 2023, and things picked up quickly from there, with Bündchen becoming pregnant the following year.
Within a year, Bündchen's relationship with Valente left the realm of speculation and entered super-serious territory. But that doesn't mean she's ready to put her relationship out in the open. The few times she has posted about Valente on social media have been in the context of her jiu-jitsu practice -- and that was before they became a couple. Valente, for his part, has his Instagram page set to private, showing he shares Bündchen's interest in keeping his personal life to himself. But despite their efforts, enough information has come out to paint a picture of how their relationship evolved.