"Everybody knows the standard for models is to be thin, but you can't
generalise and say that all models are anorexic."
In recent months, the weight of models has become the subject of an
international debate as to whether the current trend for very skinny models
is encouraging eating disorders in influential young girls.
Last September, underweight models were banned from Madrid Fashion week and
in December Italian designers introduced a requirement for models to submit
proof that they do no suffer from an eating disorder.
Four women in Gisele's home country of Brazil died last month from anorexia,
including 21-year-old model Ana Carolina Reston.
The supermodel, who previously dated Leonardo DiCaprio, left home aged 14
for a three-month modelling job in Japan, but said she always had the
support of her family.
She said: "You leave home, the protection of your parents, but you still
know you have their support."