Gisele Bundchen

Gisele Bundchen was delighted when she was approached by a model scout because it was the first time someone had called her "pretty".

The Brazilian supermodel - who has graced the covers of over 500 magazines and was named the world's best paid model after earning $25million in 2007 - was discovered at a Sau Paulo amusement park which she was visiting after completing a modeling course.

She said: "My sisters and I had driven 29 hours to go there. I couldn't be more excited! I was eating at a food court in the shopping mall, and this guy from Elite Model Management came and said, 'You should be a model.' It was the first time in my life that someone thought I looked pretty."

Gisele, 28, was initially shocked at the idea of pursing a modeling career as she had always been embarrassed by her lean appearance.

She told Vanity Fair magazine: "I was tall and really thin - the kids in school called me Olive Oyl and Saracura, which is a bird with really skinny long legs. I was taller than every guy in my class. Especially at that age, you think you're the weirdest thing that ever walked on earth."

Gisele eventually decided to try to build a career in fashion but admits she was initially clueless when it came to posing for photographers.

She explained: "I had no idea what modeling was. I didn't know it's about becoming something, embodying something. It's not you. I didn't understand that. I wasn't aware of my body. All my life I felt awkward about myself.

"Some people were like, 'She's never going to make it!' But not everybody has to like me. Some people like watermelon - some people like pineapple. It doesn't mean that watermelon is better. People have different tastes."