As Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen work through their divorce and the assets that must be dished out, new information has been coming to light about their financial situation — and none of it good!
First the crypto market they had heavily invested in as brand ambassadors went bankrupt — apparently because it was some kind of scam that took billions off investors? We’ll let the courts sort that one out as the couple are both named in a class action lawsuit. Then there were Thursday’s shocking allegations that Tom (and/or his coworkers) were swiping assets from his charitable TB12 Foundation to cover expenses at TB12, Inc. — the for-profit business where he sells athletic equipment and questionable sports supplements.
Now a new controversy has been ignited over how Tom and Gisele used (or didn’t use) the charitable Luz Foundation in the 15 years since its founding. As it turns out, while Tom was allegedly treating his own charity as a slush fund for his business, the duo also weren’t giving giving much at all when it came to Gisele’s charity. And considering how much money they’re worth, it’s NOT a good look!!
Related: Tom Has ‘Zero’ Regrets About Returning To NFL — Despite Dramatic Divorce!
For those who don’t know, the Luz Foundation is a charity founded by Gisele back in 2007 — a “voice for the voiceless,” according to its website, dedicated to “empowering and enriching lives, making the world a better place through various initiatives designed to help those suffering in silence.”
Um… Huh??
Yeah, we don’t exactly understand what they actually do from reading that either. But the answer, apparently, is that they don’t do very much.
According to the New York Post, which cites public non-profit records, the Luz Foundation has given out only “relatively small grants to other groups” since it was first formed. Considering Tom and Gisele are dividing up an estimated $770 million in assets amid their divorce, the relatively small donation amounts will shock you.
Back in 2014 and 2015, Gisele used the foundation to support environmental causes in Brazil. While she served on the Rainforest Alliance board of directors for those two years, the Luz Foundation donated a whopping… $73,000 to the charity. Later, in 2017, the group handed out $25,000 to the David Lynch Foundation, which raises awareness on the benefits of meditation in schools. They also dished out another $25,000 to You Go Girl Yoga that year, as well.
In 2018, the Luz Foundation handed out $300 to support an environmental group in Costa Rica called Waterkeeper Nicoya Peninsula. Three hundred bucks?? That’s it?!?! Also in 2018, the ex-couple’s foundation donated $900 to the World Wildlife Fund, and $1,000 more to the Challenged Athletes Foundation. The next year, in 2019, the Luz Foundation granted $80,000 to the Pointing Out The Great Way Foundation, which promotes Indo-Tibetan meditation.
Related: Gisele Secretly Bought $11.5 Million Miami Mansion DIRECTLY Across From Tom!
Obviously, some of those totals on their own are big numbers. Donating $80,000 to a meditation org and $73,000 to an environmental group isn’t chump change!! But the sum total of the donations is strikingly small when one considers how much Tom and Gisele are worth. As the Post reports, between 2007 and 2019, the Luz Foundation gave out $640,402 in total donations. That’s a TON of money for normal people like us. But it ain’t s**t for Tom and Gisele!
In fact, that $640k spend is just .08 percent of the former couple’s current net worth! Average that out over 12 years? Each year, they gave just over $50k. That’s seven thousandths of one percent of how much they’re worth now.
WTF??
It’s doubly enraging because back when Gisele first founded the org in 2007, she was all-in on making a difference. In a 2015 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, the now-42-year-old supermodel said she wanted to use the Luz Foundation to change the world:
“My life is devoted to this. I know from the outside that people think, ‘this girl just poses for pictures.’ But in my head, I’m thinking the whole time, ‘OK, if I take this job, then I can have more money to put into this [project].’ So that’s what I’m doing, because that’s [why] God gave me to do what I can do, right?”
Such a shame. Imagine having that unbelievable amount of money, and forming a charitable foundation to show off your supposed goodness and generosity, only to take such relatively small actions for years on end. Ugh!
If they just gave ONE PERCENT of their earnings every year, they would have been making more of a difference. But making a big noise about starting your own organization with its own fancy website, that really looks like you’re doing something, doesn’t it?
What do y’all make of this donation drama, Perezcious readers?! Share your take down in the comments (below)…
[Image via MEGA/Ivan Nikolov/WENN]
The post Tom Brady & Gisele Bündchen's 'Charity' Foundation Was Apparently Just For Show -- See How Little Luz Actually Gave! appeared first on Perez Hilton.