Maybe Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen’s marital troubles shouldn’t come as such a shock.
A TMZ report states that Bündchen has been threatening the legendary quarterback with divorce for years, with his prolonged football career the source of her frustration. While there have been mixed reports on the actual reason behind the split — which was first reported by Page Six — Bündchen has been public about her misgivings about Brady playing for some time now.
Brady had noted in 2017 that Bündchen wanted him to retire. During an interview on “CBS This Morning,” Charlie Rose asked her if that was true.
“As a wife, I am a little bit … As you know, it’s an aggressive sport,” Bündchen said. “He had a concussion last year. He had pretty much concussions every, I mean we don’t talk about, but he does have concussions. I don’t think it’s a healthy thing for a body to go through that kind of aggression all the time. That can’t be healthy for you. And I plan on having him healthy and be doing things when we are like 100, I hope.”
That seems unlikely now, with both parties hiring divorce lawyers and an official split seeming inevitable. The TMZ report indicated that while this is not the first time their marriage has been at risk, this instance is different.
Bündchen has since spoken out on several occasions about her concussion concerns for her husband.
“Obviously, I have my concerns — this is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I would like him to be more present,” Bündchen most recently told Elle.
“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.”
In 2018, kicker Jay Feely — Brady’s college roommate at Michigan — told Sports Illustrated that Bündchen recruited him “trying to get [him] to convince [Tom] to stop playing.”
“She was dead serious,” Feely told the magazine.
Since that time, the 45-year-old Brady left the Patriots for the Buccaneers and won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay. He retired after last season, only to announce he was returning 40 days later. The couple has been living apart and now seem headed toward a permanent split as Brady’s career goes on.
Brady and the 2-2 Buccaneers play the Falcons on Sunday. Bündchen has yet to attend a game this season.