Who Is Adriana Lima? The Brazilian Supermodel Behind Victoria’s Secret Fame

Adriana Lima is one of the most famous supermodels in the world. If you have ever watched a Victoria’s Secret fashion show, you have seen her: the tall Brazilian woman with the striking blue-green eyes and the big angel wings. She was a Victoria’s Secret Angel for 19 years — longer than anyone else in the brand’s history. Her official site is adrianalima.com.

Born on June 12, 1981, in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, Lima went from a modest childhood to becoming one of the highest-paid models on the planet. She has fronted campaigns for nearly every major fashion house and starred in Super Bowl commercials watched by hundreds of millions of people. After retiring in 2018, she returned to the Victoria’s Secret runway in 2024 and walked the show again in 2025 and 2026. Here is everything you need to know.

Adriana Lima at a Glance

• Born: June 12, 1981, in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
• Nationality: Brazilian
• Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
• Famous for: Longest-running Victoria’s Secret Angel (2000–2018)
• Known for: Maybelline spokesmodel, Super Bowl commercials, FIFA Women’s World Cup ambassador
• Family: Three children; married to film producer Andre Lemmers
• Still active: Yes — she walked the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2024, 2025, and 2026

Her Early Life in Brazil

Lima was born in Salvador, a coastal city in the Bahia region of Brazil. Her father left the family when she was six months old, and she was raised by her mother, Maria das Graças Lima, a social worker, in the Castelo Branco neighborhood.

She had no plans to become a model. Before fashion came along, she wanted to be a pediatrician. She won a few beauty pageants in elementary school, but modeling was not on her mind. Her heritage is a mix of Portuguese, African, Native Brazilian, Japanese, Swiss, and West Indian roots, and she personally identifies as Afro-Brazilian. She speaks four languages: Portuguese, English, Italian, and Spanish.

How She Became a Model

Lima’s big break came almost by accident. At 15, a school friend wanted to enter a modeling contest but did not want to go alone, so Lima went with her. Both sent in photos. The contest organizers called Lima back.

She won Ford’s “Supermodel of Brazil” contest, then took second place in the 1996 Ford “Supermodel of the World” contest. That was enough: she moved to New York City and signed with Elite Model Management.

Things moved fast. She debuted on the runway at New York Fashion Week in September 1997 for Anna Sui, landed her first magazine cover with Marie Claire Brazil in 1998, and her first Vogue covers (Italian Vogue Gioiello and Vogue Brasil) in 2000. That same year she became a GUESS? girl in the brand’s fall campaign.

Victoria’s Secret: The 19-Year Run That Made Her a Legend

This is the chapter that made Adriana Lima a household name. She walked her first Victoria’s Secret runway in 1999 at age 17 and was contracted as an Angel in 2000. She stayed until 2018 — the longest run of any Victoria’s Secret Angel or model ever.

She appeared in every show from 1999 through 2018 except one: she missed 2009 because she was pregnant. She opened the show five times, including in 2012 — less than two months after giving birth to her second child — and closed the show in 2001, 2002, and again in 2018 during her farewell.

She also wore the Fantasy Bra — the show’s diamond-and-gemstone showpiece — three times: in 2008 (a $5 million bra set with black and white diamonds and rubies), 2010 (the $2 million Bombshell Fantasy Bra), and 2014 (the Dream Angels Fantasy Bra, shared with Alessandra Ambrosio). In 2017, analytics company D’Marie named her “the most valuable Victoria’s Secret Angel.”

On November 8, 2018, after 18 show appearances, she announced her retirement in a Facebook post thanking Victoria’s Secret for “not just giving me wings but teaching me to fly.” The brand honored her that night with a tribute segment titled “Thank You Adriana.”

The Comeback

Retirement did not last. In April 2023, Victoria’s Secret announced Lima would be the face of the relaunch of its Heavenly Eau de Parfum fragrance. That October she joined The Tour ’23, the brand’s documentary-style reimagining of the fashion show.

Then on October 15, 2024, she walked the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show again, six years after her farewell. She returned in 2025 — her 20th appearance on the brand’s runway — and is on the official cast for the October 18, 2026 show in Los Angeles. She also fronted the brand’s 2026 Sheer Shimmer campaign and its Mother’s Day “Modeled After Mom” campaign, posing with her two daughters for the first time.

Beyond the Runway: Campaigns, Super Bowl Ads, and Acting

Lima has been a Maybelline spokesmodel since 2003 (she returned to the brand in 2014 after a break), and she has fronted campaigns for Armani, Versace, Prada, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Desigual, Calzedonia, Sportmax, Puma, Chopard, and the Swiss watch brand IWC. Her April 2006 GQ cover became one of the best-selling issues in the magazine’s history.

Forbes regularly ranked her among the world’s highest-paid models: fourth in 2012 with estimated earnings of $7.3 million, third in 2013, and second in 2014, 2015, and 2016 — peaking at an estimated $10.5 million in a single year. Models.com now lists her among its “Legends,” the top tier of working models.

Americans know her face from football as much as fashion. Her 2008 solo Victoria’s Secret ad during Super Bowl XLII was watched by 103.7 million viewers, the most-seen ad of that game. In 2012, she became the only celebrity ever to star in two Super Bowl commercials in one game — Teleflora and Kia spots during Super Bowl XLVI, seen by more than 200 million viewers combined. The Kia ad pushed the Optima’s sales to their highest mark since the design debuted.

She has also acted. Her debut was The Follow (2001), a short film directed by Wong Kar-wai in BMW’s The Hire series. She played herself on How I Met Your Mother (2007), Ugly Betty (2008), and The Crazy Ones (2013), cameoed as herself in Ocean’s 8 (2018), and in 2017 hosted and executive-produced the Lifetime reality competition American Beauty Star.

What Is Adriana Lima Doing Now?

As of October 2026, Lima is firmly back in the Victoria’s Secret fold: she walked the 2024 and 2025 fashion shows, is confirmed for the October 18, 2026 show, and fronted the brand’s 2026 Sheer Shimmer “Wicked” campaign and its Mother’s Day campaign.

Outside the brand, FIFA named her a Global Fan Ambassador for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, and she executive-produced and appeared in the short documentary FIFA: A Love Letter to Rwanda. In April 2025 she won Fashion Comeback of the Year at The Daily Front Row’s Fashion Awards.

She supports Caminhos da Luz (“Paths of Light”), an orphanage in her hometown of Salvador, where she helps fund construction and buys clothes for poor children. She lives in Los Angeles.

Her Family and Personal Life

In the early 2000s, Lima was engaged to singer Lenny Kravitz. In 2009, she married Serbian basketball player Marko Jarić in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. They have two daughters, Valentina and Sienna, and divorced in 2016.

In 2021, she started dating film producer Andre Lemmers. In August 2022, she gave birth to their son, and on December 17, 2024, she announced on Instagram that she had married Lemmers, writing “officially Mrs Lima Lemmers.”

A devout Roman Catholic, she has spoken openly about attending Mass and reading the Bible backstage before shows. She has also said that before becoming a Victoria’s Secret Angel, she had wanted to become a nun.

Frequently Asked Questions

How old is Adriana Lima?

Adriana Lima was born on June 12, 1981, in Salvador, Brazil. She is 45 years old as of October 2026.

How long was Adriana Lima a Victoria’s Secret Angel?

She was contracted as an Angel from 2000 to 2018 — 19 years, the longest tenure of any Victoria’s Secret Angel. She debuted on the runway in 1999 and missed only one show in that span, in 2009, because she was pregnant.

Is Adriana Lima still modeling?

Yes. She returned to the Victoria’s Secret runway in 2024, walked the 2025 show (her 20th appearance), and is on the official cast for the 2026 Fashion Show on October 18, 2026.

How many children does Adriana Lima have?

Three: two daughters, Valentina and Sienna, with ex-husband Marko Jarić, and a son with her current husband, Andre Lemmers, born in August 2022.

Who is Adriana Lima’s husband?

She married film producer Andre Lemmers in December 2024. She was previously married to Serbian basketball player Marko Jarić from 2009 to 2016.

What is Adriana Lima’s net worth?

Celebrity sites publish estimates, but none are confirmed by Lima or a reliable financial source. What is verified: Forbes ranked her among the world’s highest-paid models for years, peaking with estimated earnings of $10.5 million in 2016.

Conclusion

Adriana Lima’s story is one of the most remarkable in modern fashion: from a working-class neighborhood in Salvador, Brazil, to the face of the biggest lingerie brand on earth — for nearly two decades. The three Fantasy Bra appearances, the Super Bowl ads, and the runway comeback in her forties explain why she remains a cultural figure, not just a former Angel.

Today, at 45, she is a mother of three, married, and still one of the most recognizable faces in fashion. Her next walk is already on the calendar: the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on October 18, 2026.