Gisele Bundchen may be a gorgeous supermodel married to a star athlete, but she sure doesn't have much luck with the press. In fact, she's established quite the reputation for putting her foot in her mouth. First, when she opened her mouth about breastfeeding, and now, it's all about ... sunscreen.

The Daily Mail recently reported that while promoting her new skincare line, the 30-year-old Brazilian bombshell purportedly dropped this bomb:

I cannot put this poison on my skin. I do not use anything synthetic.

She also said she stays out of the rays when they're at their strongest, preferring instead to soak it up around "8 a.m. when it's still too weak to do any damage."

As you can imagine, cancer experts were all like, "OMG!(&$*&$(*!&!(*&$@!!!"

Now, the "truth" is trickling out. Apparently, this poison quote was just the result of a language barrier. (Even though ... she was in Brazil at the time? Ooo-k.) So what did she mean to say?

Gisele's rep told PEOPLE:

Gisele would never say not to use sunscreen because she has family members who have had skin cancer ... When using sunscreens she selects ones that are free of parabens, oxybenzone, PABA, and retinyl palmitate. She buys her sunscreen at Whole Foods, so she can find ones that are free of harsh chemicals. She says, "Of course I put on sun block. I don’t want to look like a shrimp!"

While this might make most people roll their eyes and say, "Ok, whatever, you crazy, self-absorbed, spoiled brat!" ... I agree with Gisele. There's just too much research out there that shows how parabens have been linked to breast cancer, and oxybenzone has been linked to allergies, hormone disruption, cell damage -- even low birth weight in baby girls whose mothers are exposed during pregnancy! A recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study shows that retinyl palmitate may speed the development of skin tumors and lesions. Awesome.

But you don't have to choose between skin cancer and all of these other horrendous problems. The kind of sunblock Gisele likely buys at Whole Foods and that any mama (supermodel or not) can get too is just as or more effective than the chemical-laden crap sold at drugstores. It's made with the minerals zinc and titanium, and instead of absorbing into your skin, it sits on top and deflects light. Like Gisele, I personally wouldn't use anything else ... and I think she would have been perfectly justified in calling the mainstream stuff "poison."

At any rate, now that we know exactly what she meant, I think any informed "cancer expert" would be wise to side with Gisele on this one, too.

What do you think -- should Gisele shut up or does she have a point about sunblock?

 

Image via oboticarioSPFW/Flickr