A representative for Candice Swanepoel has addressed speculation that Tom Brady may have caused tension between the Victoria’s Secret Angel and her longtime friend Joan Smalls.
“Candice has always been exceptionally private about her personal life, with her focus remaining on raising her children,” Swanepoel’s representative told Us in a statement on Wednesday, October 28. The model shares sons Anacã, 10, and Ariel, 8, with her former fiancé, Hermann Nicoli.
The representative added, “She and Joan share a longstanding history and a friendship that Candice will always respect.”
The comments came several days after a source exclusively told Us that Swanepoel, 38, and Brady, 49, had been dating “for a while.”
Speculation about a rift between Swanepoel and Smalls, 38, began circulating after the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on October 15. Although both models walked in the show, they were not photographed together, and fans also noticed that the longtime friends—who have known each other for 15 years—had unfollowed one another on Instagram.
Tom Brady welcomed 2026 in St. Barts in star-studded fashion. On New Year’s Eve, he attended a party at the popular Gyp Sea beach club with celebrities including Glen Powell, Nina Dobrev and Miles Teller. Brady was also seen flirting with influencer Alix Earle on the dance floor.
Smalls appeared to reference the reported disagreement in a comment on Just Jared’s Instagram post about the story.
Tom Brady Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
“Two words: SUMMER HOUSE! That’ll explain everything,” she wrote. Fans believe the remark referenced the viral Bravo love triangle involving Amanda Batula, West Wilson and Ciara Miller.
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Smalls was also reported to have left other comments that were later deleted while responding to fans’ questions about the situation. One allegedly read, “I’m not friends with backstabbers,” while another reportedly said, “There is no girl code with some people.”
DeuxMoi subsequently reported that Smalls and Brady had allegedly dated on and off for about a year. According to the report, Swanepoel was concerned about the relationship out of respect for Brady’s former wife, Gisele Bündchen. Brady and Bündchen were married from 2006 until 2022 and share children Benjamin, 16, and Vivian, 13.
Gisele Bündchen later spoke publicly about her split from Tom Brady for the first time since their divorce was finalized. In a candid interview for Vanity Fair’s April 2023 issue, published on Wednesday, March 22, the 42-year-old model described the breakup as “the death of my dream.”
Before her reported romance with Brady, Swanepoel spent roughly a decade with Nicoli, 44. The former couple ended their relationship 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,” Swanepoel told V magazine in 2023 while discussing motherhood and her career. “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.”
Smalls, meanwhile, was linked to model manager Bernard Smith from 2011 to 2019 and to businessman Henry Junior Chalhoub in 2020.