Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen 'living separately' and 'working through marital issues' amid divorce rumors
NFL legend Tom Brady and his supermodel wife Gisele Bündchen are "living separately" and "working through marital issues," sources close to the pair told CNN. This comes amid rumors of the couple splitting up.
The quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who declared his retirement from the NFL in February 2022 before changing his mind in March, is currently struggling with marital problems after his wife of 13 years made it known that she was not happy with his decision. “Gisele isn't back with Tom,” a source told Page Six. “She flew back to Florida to be with her kids but hasn't been to their home in Tampa.” According to the insider, Brady, 45, is aware that if he wants to keep his marriage, he would have to end things after this season. Forty-two-year-old supermodel Bündchen expressed her concerns over Brady changing his mind about retiring openly in an interview with Elle Magazine. "This is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I would like him to be more present," Bündchen said. "I have definitely had those conversations with him over and over again. But ultimately, I feel that everybody has to make a decision that works for [them]. He needs to follow his joy too," she said.
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Tom Brady and wife Gisele Bündchen 'could be heading' towards divorce, says insider
The seven-time Super Bowl winner did not explicitly address his marital difficulties on September 13’s episode of his regular podcast ‘Let's Go!’ instead underlining the importance of family. “I think there comes a point in your life where you say: ‘You know what? I've had my fill, and it's enough and time to go on, to move into other parts of life.’ As you get older, life changes quite a bit. There’s different responsibilities that take form in your life. There’s different perspective you gain.”
Following an 11-day training camp in August 2022, Brady recently took a temporary leave of absence to deal with personal problems, according to Todd Bowles, the Buccaneers' coach.
After a heated fight with her husband, Bündchen returned to her Costa Rica home without Brady in early September. “[Bündchen] was so happy when he announced his retirement, and she wasn't thrilled at all when he went back on that,” the source explained. “They're hitting a rough patch. But I know they're trying, or at least trying to figure it out and make it better. He wants to get through this and for things to get better,” they added.
“Everyone here knows that there's tension, but we don't know how serious it is,” another source told People while explaining that Bündchen has always been present at Brady's games. “We're just not talking to him about Gisele. It's not a topic anyone wants to bring up to him,” they added.
In order to support Brady and her children, the supermodel admitted to Elle Magazine that she had scaled back on her own career. “I've done my part, which is [to] be there for [Tom]. I moved to Boston, and I focused on creating a cocoon and a loving environment for my children to grow up in and to be there supporting him and his dreams. Seeing my children succeed and become the beautiful little humans that they are, seeing him succeed, and being fulfilled in his career — it makes me happy. At this point in my life, I feel like I've done a good job on that.”
It's time for Bündchen to quit putting her career on wait, even if she has devoted a significant portion of her life to her family, she said. “I have a huge list of things that I have to do, that I want to do," she said. "At 42, I feel more connected with my purpose,” Bündchen added.
Even though Bündchen apparently hasn't visited the couple's house in Florida and their marriage is still in trouble as the pair is still very much together, the source revealed. “Tom is still hoping they can reconcile. Gisele has told him she's leaving him before, and they always made up when she cooled down,” the Page Six source disclosed.
The supermodel evidently hates the way her husband returned to football after retiring. “She doesn't hate that he's playing football, but she sure hates the way he handled the retirement and coming back,” an insider explained.
The effect that playing for the NFL has had on Brady's personal life was a topic he discussed in detail on his podcast. “I haven't had a Christmas in 23 years, and I haven't had a Thanksgiving in 23 years, I haven't celebrated birthdays with people that I care about that are born from August to late January. And I'm not able to be at funerals and I'm not able to be at weddings,” Brady told his co-host Jim Gray. “When I was 25, all I did was think about football. That was my life: It was eat, sleep, drink football because it was my profession and my career. Over time other priorities develop because you change and evolve through life and you grow in different ways. You take on these different responsibilities of family, commitment, so forth. You commit time and energy to those things,” he added.
Brady and Bündchen got married in 2009 and have two children, Benjamin Rein, 12, and Vivian Lake, 9. The football superstar has another son named John Edward, 15, with his ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan.
He has repeated that throughout the season that the game absorbs all of his concentration. “I have a lot of things that are really important off-field pursuits and goals that you are trying to maximize as well,” said Brady. “So we all have different things that are going on and I think once football season comes I really lock in on what I need to do and how I need to focus and the kind of commitment I need to make for the organization so that we can maximize our potential as a team.”
As he balances his football career, Brady is reportedly trying to strengthen his marriage. “He's doing what he can do to smooth things over,' according to an insider. “He does know that this is his last season if he wants to stay married. He can't do this again. So now all he can do is make this season count, spend time with his family whenever he can, and then retire at the end of the season.” The source continued, “They decided together that he would retire, and then he decided by himself that he’d come back. She said they’d talk about it more, but then he came back anyway before they had really talked it all through. She’s a very ‘pros vs cons’ person, and she sees very few pros to him playing anymore.”
As per the source from People, “Going back to Tampa after the retirement put a strain on the personal side of his life. Bündchen is frustrated and sick of his career coming before their family, who has always supported him.”