New York Post [Page Six] - November 19, 2002
Gisele dates rich Brazil bum
BRAZILIAN bombshell Gisele Bundchen has a new super-rich playboy boyfriend, whose father is described as "the Dennis Kozlowski of Brazil."
For two weeks, Bundchen has been dating Riccardino Mansur, son of Ricardo Mansur, the disgraced former head of two of Brazil's biggest department-store chains and a major bank, which all went bust, leaving investors and employees in the lurch.
Mansur Sr., who spent a few months in jail, still owes creditors millions, and for fear of reprisals travels everywhere with a team of bodyguards, as does his son.
Although most of his personal possessions - including polo ponies, a fleet of bullet-proof Mercedes and real estate - were auctioned off to settle debts, he still lives in a mansion and has plenty of ready money.
Riccardino, who doesn't work but is Brazil's top-ranked amateur polo player and owns part of a polo club, was seen exchanging "enthusiastic kisses and provocative caresses" with Gisele in a Sao Paulo disco last week, photos of which appeared in a local paper. They then spent the weekend holed up at his father's mansion.
Anne Nelson, Bundchen's agent at IMG, declined to discuss her private life. But a pal of the supermodel tells PAGE SIX's Jared Paul Stern that Riccardino, whom Bundchen met on a recent trip home, is "a really funny, goofy, nice, clean guy" who suits her to a T.
The new romance is said to have rankled Bundchen's ex, Joao-Paulo Diniz, also a billionaire Brazilian playboy. Some attribute the angst to tensions between the Diniz and Mansur families, though others say it's just a friendly sort of rivalry.
Meanwhile, Bundchen says she never meant to offend the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who burst onto the runway during the Victoria's Secret show last week brandishing "Gisele: Fur Scum" placards to protest her endorsement deal with Blackglama furs.
In the wake of the PETA attack, the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo conducted an online poll. The majority of respondents said Bundchen should forsake fur altogether.
"She loves animals and really respects PETA and was not intentionally trying to upset anybody," Nelson says. "She did not get paid in furs, and she doesn't wear fur. It was just an endorsement deal like any other. She does wear sneakers made in sweatshops and diamonds taken out of the mine by 5-year-olds because no one else can get them, and she drinks milk and eats cows. But fur, no."