Two Victoria’s Secret Angels who were inseparable for 15 years are reportedly at war over the same quarterback — and mutual friends are being told to pick a side.
The Tom Brady effect has officially reached the runway. Candice Swanepoel and Joan Smalls, two Victoria’s Secret Angels whose friendship stretched back 15 years, are reportedly feuding over the former Patriots quarterback — and according to Page Six, Smalls is not quietly taking it.
Here is the shape of it, per Page Six. Smalls and Brady dated on and off for about a year, according to earlier DeuxMoi reporting cited by the outlet, though one source told Page Six the two were never really serious. While that was going on, sources say Swanepoel repeatedly encouraged her friend to dump him. Then, when her own chance came, Swanepoel took it: sources tell Page Six she and Brady have been together for months, since May, after being set up by mutual friends.
That reversal is what reportedly lit the fuse. Per Page Six, Smalls has taken several public swipes at her former friend. In screenshots obtained by DeuxMoi, she labeled Swanepoel a “backstabber” when a fan asked whether the two were still friends, writing, “im not friends with backstabbers.” In a separate, now-deleted message, she said there “was no girl code,” adding that “the disrespect and carelessness in how they treat you is so unimaginable” and that there had been no apology after “15yrs or friendship.” She also commented on a post about the drama with a pointed Bravo reference: “Two words: ‘SUMMER HOUSE!’ That’ll explain everything” — a nod, Page Six notes, to the season where Amanda Batula and Ciara Miller’s friendship imploded over an ex.
The split is reportedly going social, too. Page Six hears Smalls has scrubbed her Instagram account of pictures with Swanepoel, and a source says she is now giving mutual friends an ultimatum — you are friends with her, or friends with me. “It’s just so insane and so messy,” the source said.
Swanepoel’s camp, notably, is not swinging back. Her representative, Amanda Ruisi, told Page Six that the model “has always been exceptionally private about her personal life, with her focus remaining on raising her children,” and that “she and Joan share a longstanding history and a friendship that Candice will always respect.” Page Six also reports that even Brady’s ex-wife, Gisele Bündchen, is happy for the new couple. Brady, 49, divorced Bündchen in October 2022 and shares two children with her, plus a 19-year-old son, Jack, with ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan, per Page Six. The outlet reached out to reps for Smalls and Brady but had not heard back.
What makes this one sting more than the usual model-world reshuffle is the history: these were not industry acquaintances, they were, in Page Six’s word, “inseparable.” Friendships that survive 15 years of fashion weeks usually survive a boyfriend. This one, apparently, is being asked to survive being told to drop him — and then watching her date him.
The 247 Take — Girl code is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, but the loudest sound in this story is Swanepoel’s silence: one side is posting, the other is parenting, and Tom Brady, as ever, is somehow the quietest person in his own love triangle.
Sources: Page Six
