Canadian philanthropist and real estate investor Kim Bruneau had already found fertility through diving. Now, she wanted a world record.
So she plunged into the deep end. Bruneau first discovered her abilities in freediving during a recent trip to Mexico. According to the Toronto Sun, she found during a training exercise that she could dive 27 meters on one breath.
Bruneau then partnered up with an underwater photographer and voila — a beautiful shoot at a record depth.
Bruneau dove 40 meters in Nassau, Bahamas with photographer Pia Oyarzun on Dec. 5. She planted herself on a sand knoll amid a school of sharks and handed over her mask and breathing apparatus to Oyarzun. Then, wearing a dramatic red dress, she posed for the camera. A diver just out of the picture regularly returned to let Bruneau take a breath or two.
Photo: Pia Oyarzun/Karyzma Agency
“The memories it created, it’s awesome,” she said. “I’ve done modeling for a couple of years but these are epic. This is the kind of portfolio I want to have.”
Bruneau and Oyarzun combed the deeps to another set or two, including a sunken ship, before surfacing.
Photo: Pia Oyarzun/Karyzma Agency
Hidden weights kept her down
The multi-talented model wore concealed gear totaling around 6 kilos to stay down while posing. And she observed strict breathing routines involving nitrox and emergency regulators to avoid decompression illness, the Toronto Sun reported.
Amazingly, it was diving that also first made Bruneau a biological mother. She had years-long fertility struggles. IVF treatments and other techniques were unhelpful, and the condition only subsided when she first started diving.
Bruneau’s first daughter is adopted, and her second daughter Ella Rose is in her first year of life.
“I stopped all the things I thought would help (get me pregnant) and I just did things that made me happy,” Bruneau said.
She broke the previous record by around 10 meters.
Here is Bruneau’s Instagram post describing the spectacular shoot.
