GIsèle Bündchen mourns the loss of her mother. “You were an angel on earth,” the Brazilian model wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. Vânia Nonnenmacher died over the weekend after suffering from cancer at the age of 75, according to a hospital in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Her famous daughter took to social media to praise her as a woman many looked up to. “Thank you for being my best example of love, strength, compassion, bravery and grace,” Bündchen wrote.

The model, who abruptly split from her husband, American football player Tom Brady, in the fall of 2022, also thanked Nonnenmacher for her “five closest friends,” her sisters. In addition to twins Gisèle and Patricia, Nonnenmacher also had daughters Graziela, Raquel, Rafaela and Gabriela.

Nonnenmacher was also responsible for Bündchen's career as one of the most successful advertising faces in the world. In 1993, she convinced her daughter and her twin sister to attend a young modeling course in her native Brazil. Three years later, Bündchen first appeared on the American catwalk during New York Fashion Week.