Why supermodel Gisele Bundchen swapped runway for motherhood

"I think the most important thing in someone's life is their health," says Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen when we meet among a crowd of admirers at Chanel's Cruise 2016 show in Seoul this month.

We are talking about the continuing controversy surrounding the bodies of high-fashion models, leading to the French government backing an ultra-thin size zero ban in March.

"I eat everything I want, but I exercise daily," says the genetically blessed 34-year-old mother of three. "It's really a lifestyle - listen, you can buy everything else in your life but you can't buy your health."

Bundchen retired from the catwalk last month, saying emotional goodbyes from her last runway show at Sao Paolo fashion week, her native country's most high-profile fashion event. She says she couldn't have done it anywhere else, "It's my country, it's where I come from. It was important to get closure where I started."

Her final walk was extremely emotional, "everyone was crying. It was like a movie playing in my head. All the challenges in the beginning, how difficult it was and overcoming those and being here 20 years later."

"I'm not quitting, because I'm not a quitter," she says. "I'm just permanently stopping." She still looks every inch the tan, statuesque Amazonian beauty we've grown to love in a world dominated by fragile, young waifs. Honey-tinged, 183 cm tall, and impossibly beautiful in person, as much as in the many campaigns she's headlined over her 20-year modelling career, Bundchen has managed to charm the industry with her cool, easy attitude and that infectious Brazilian warmth. The self-confessed "jeans girl" is a powerful champion of the sunny, relaxed nature of Brazilian fashion and lifestyle.