A rep for Candice Swanepoel has spoken out amid rumors Tom Brady drove a wedge between the Victoria’s Secret Angel and close friend Joan Smalls.
“Candice has always been exceptionally private about her personal life, with her focus remaining on raising her children,” Swanepoel’s rep told Us in a statement on Wednesday, October 28. (The model shares sons Anacã, 10, and Ariel, 8, with ex-fiancé Hermann Nicoli.)
The statement continued, “She and Joan share a longstanding history and a friendship that Candice will always respect.”
The statement comes days after a source exclusively told Us that Swanepoel, 38, and Brady, 49, have been dating “for a while.”
Rumors have circulated since the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on October 15 that Smalls, 38, and Swanepoel — who have been friends for 15 years — had a falling out. Though both women walked the runway at the show, they were not photographed together at the event. Additionally, fans noticed that the two unfollowed each other on Instagram.
Smalls seemingly alluded to the feud in a comment on Just Jared’s Instagram post reporting the news.
“Two words: SUMMER HOUSE ! That’ll explain everything,” she wrote. (Fans believe the comment is a reference to the viral Bravo love triangle between Amanda Batula, West Wilson and Ciara Miller.)
Smalls reportedly made other since-deleted comments in response to fans asking about the drama, including one that allegedly read, “I’m not friends with backstabbers.” She also allegedly wrote, “There is no girl code with some people.”
DeuxMoi then reported that Smalls and Brady allegedly dated on and off for approximately a year. At the time, Swanepoel allegedly expressed concern about the romance out of respect for Brady’s ex-wife, Gisele Bündchen. (Brady and Bündchen were married from 2006 to 2022 and share kids Benjamin, 16, and Vivian, 13.)
Before sparking her own romance with Brady, Swanepoel was in a decade-long relationship with Nicoli, 44. They called it quits in 2018.
“Life is a constant search for balance, for me at least, and yes I do sometimes feel overwhelmed, but I’m very in tune with my children’s needs, then my own personal needs, which are also important,” she told V magazine of balancing motherhood with her career in 2023. “Sometimes it’s easy to forget. I’ve realized to be a better mother, I know I need to also take care of myself, whether that be about my [physical] health or mental health or being able to excel in my career and business because it brings me joy and so my children have begun to understand that too.”
As for Smalls, she was linked to model manager Bernard Smith from 2011 to 2019 and to businessman Henry Junior Chalhoub in 2020.
