Model Gisele Bundchen has said she is “grateful” her husband, American football player Tom Brady, allows her to “take the reins” when it comes to parenting the couple’s two children.

Bundchen, 41, known mainly as Gisele, and Brady, 44, share two children, 12-year-old Benjamin Rein and nine-year-old Vivian Lake.

Gisele spoke to British Vogue about about her relationship with Brady, who she married in 2009, saying: “I don’t think relationships just happen, it’s never the fairy tale people want to believe it is.

“It takes work to be really in sync with someone, especially after you have kids.”

She added: “His focus is on his career, mine is mostly on the kids.

“And I’m very grateful that he lets me take the reins when it comes to our family. He trusts my decisions.”

Brady initially announced his retirement from the NFL in February, but later made a U-turn and revealed he would return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2022 NFL season in September.

Brazil-born Gisele added: “When my husband decided he was going to play another year, I didn’t want to put them in a school, because it takes a lot to adapt to a new town.

“They left all their friends in Boston – and just look at what the world was going through. I needed to create a soft landing.”

Gisele is British Vogue’s June cover star (Steven Meisel/PA)

She also shared the details behind her 18-hour-labour with son Benjamin Rein, describing it as “the most beautiful experience of my life”.

“I remember, in the beginning, [Brady] wasn’t into the idea of home birth. He was like, ‘You’re not going to do that, because you’re going to die.’”

She added: “I made it clear that this is my body and I’m going to decide how I give birth.”

The full interview with Gisele is available in British Vogue’s June issue, via digital download and on newsstands from May 24.