Just Go with It star Brooklyn Decker walked away from modeling at career peak and made millions elsewhere

Brooklyn Decker had it all at the peak of her fame, with a successful modeling career and a hard pivot into acting - but she ended up making a fortune away from the spotlight.

After skyrocketing to fame with her 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, the 39-year-old then found further success with her first major film role as Palmer Dodge in Just Go with It alongside Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston.

Roles in What to Expect When You're Expecting and the Netflix series Grace and Frankie followed. Now, Decker has revealed why she said goodbye to modeling forever despite the lucrative income it provided for her.

Speaking to CNBC in 2016, Decker explained the reasoning behind her career shift.

“I walked away from modeling and that was lucrative for me at the time. I could’ve easily gone back to what was comfortable and what was a sure thing and what I knew would make me an income, and I didn’t. I chose to be kind of unemployed for a while.

Brooklyn Decker pictured in 2026 (Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Hearst Magazines)

“That was one of the things that I was most proud of, is having a piece of humble pie and staying the course.”

Despite the glamor and incredible travel opportunities that came with being an in-demand model, it wasn't all sunshine and roses.

“It’s the one profession where, no matter how hard you work, if you’re not trendy, nothing’s happening for you,” Decker told The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2016.

“With acting, if you audition terribly, at least you know, ‘I messed that up. I was horrible. That’s why I didn’t get the job.’

“With modelling, it’s like, ‘I’m not cool this year, therefore I’m unemployed for a while.’ With modelling, it’s just, either you’re liked or you’re not.”

Alongside her acting career, Decker and her tennis pro husband Andy Roddick have made millions acquiring and then selling off an impressive real estate portfolio.

This includes a $3.7 million 15-acre Austin compound, where they extensively remodelled a mansion from the ground up before listing it for $4.65m.

Brooklyn Decker and her tennis player husband Andy Roddick (Rick Kern/Getty Images)

The couple also hold a New York City apartment purchased for $1.1m. In 2018, they sold their custom-built four-bedroom mountain property in the village of Cashiers in North Carolina for $2.35 million.

Things have clearly worked out for Decker, but she says she was advised not to branch out and stick to modelling.

“The worst advice would be when someone told me to stay in my lane,” Decker told ABC News in 2018.

“I was modelling and was going to make the very cliché transition into acting … but I think they had the best intentions in mind.”

“They were trying to encourage me to go after job security and they’re like, ‘You have a good thing going, why would you ruffle feathers, why make a detour career-wise?’”