Tom Brady left his NFL training camp in a last-ditch effort to save his marriage to Gisele Bundchen, according to a new biography.
Brady, 49, and Bundchen, 46, were married from 2009 to 2022 and share two children. Brady also has a son with his ex, Bridget Moynahan.
Brady: An American Story and the Price of Greatness, by author Lars Anderson, reveals new details about the former NFL quarterback’s actions in the lead up to his divorce.
Brady was reportedly excused from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ training camp in 2022 to go meet with Bundchen at a private resort in the Bahamas, the biography revealed, according to the Daily Mail. He had joined the team in 2020 after spending nearly two decades with the New England Patriots.
“I’ve got to take care of some personal things,” Brady told Buccaneers coach Clyde Christensen, according to the report.
He was gone for 11 days, leaving the team uncertain about his return.
“Tom didn’t know what the heck was going on,” an assistant coach recalled, per the report. “And we didn’t know if he was ever coming back.”
When he did return, Brady was an “empty shell,” Christensen recalled. “There was no joy. Everything was hard work.”
Brady and Bundchen’s marriage was reportedly strained for several years as continued to commit more years to his NFL career.
Bundchen reportedly asked Brady to retire after he led the Patriots to a Super Bowl victory in 2017 but he said he was “having too much fun right now,” according to the biography.
The next year, after Brady and the Patriots lost the Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles, Bundchen again asked Brady to hang up his cleats in a letter.
“She explained that their marriage wasn’t working,” Anderson wrote in an excerpt of the biography, obtained by the Daily Mail. “She needed more of him, more of his time, more of his attention, more of his heart.”
Bundchen ended the marriage after consulting astrology charts, according to the new book.
“One day, Gisele, who is really into astrology, basically looked into the stars and told Tom, ‘We’re not compatible,’” a Brady insider told Anderson. “And just like that she was done.”
Brady released a statement via Instagram announcing the end of his marriage in October 2022.
“In recent days, my wife and I finalized our divorce from one another after 13 years of marriage. We arrived at this decision amicably and with gratitude for the time we spent together,” he wrote.
“We are blessed with beautiful and wonderful children who will continue to be the centre of our world in every day. We will continue to work together as parents to always ensure they receive the love and attention they deserve.”
Bundchen has since remarried and welcomed a son with her jujitsu instructor Joaquim Valente. Brady has been linked to model Irina Shayk and social media personality Alix Earle.
