Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen have finalized their divorce, they announced Friday, ending the 13-year marriage between two superstars who respectively reached the pinnacles of fashion and soccer.
Divorce papers were filed Friday in Glades County, Florida, a rural area near Lake Okeechobee, according to the court filing. It only cites that the marriage was “irretrievably broken” without other details. Other documents are sealed and confidential.
Brady and Bundchen posted statements on Instagram Friday morning, each saying they had made an “amicable” decision.
“The decision to end a marriage is never easy, but we’ve grown apart and while it’s of course difficult to go through something like this, I feel blessed by the time we spent together and only wish the best for Tom always.” Bundchen wrote.
Both said their priorities were their children and asked for privacy.
“We came to this decision to end our marriage after much consideration,” Brady wrote. “Doing so is, of course, painful and difficult, as it is for many people who go through the same thing every day around the world.”
The divorce comes in the midst of Brady’s 23rd NFL season, and in the midst of his first three-game losing streak in 20 years, just months after the seven-time Super Bowl champion ended his brief retirement.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, who has long expressed a desire to spend more time with Bundchen and their three children, announced his departure from the game in February, only to change his mind 40 days later.
“What else do you have to try?” Bundchen told her husband on the sidelines after his last Super Bowl victory that she broke records, as Brady himself recounted shortly after the win.
Although Brady initially called his retirement an opportunity to focus his “time and energy on other things that require my attention,” part of his motivation for coming back was what he called “unfinished business” with the Buccaneers. The team failed to make the Super Bowl last season in their effort to repeat as champions.
Bundchen told “CBS This Morning” in 2017 that she was worried about her husband after he suffered a concussion the previous year. Brady’s then-team, the New England Patriots, and his agent declined to respond to his comments at the time, and an NFL spokesman said there were no records of him suffering a head injury. . Brady later said that he preferred to keep his medical records private.
“I mean, we don’t talk about it,” Bundchen said during the interview. “But he has concussions. I really don’t think it’s a healthy thing for anybody.”
‘This is a very violent sport’
More recently, she claimed that the characterization in reports that she was desperate for her husband to retire had sexist overtones.
“Obviously, I have my concerns. This is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I wish he was more present,” the supermodel told Elle magazine in September. “I’ve definitely had those conversations with him over and over again. But ultimately, I feel like everyone needs to make a decision that works for them. [them]. He also needs to follow the joy of it.”
Bundchen and Brady were introduced by a mutual friend and married, twice, just over two years later. They said their first “I do” in early 2009 at a Catholic church in Santa Monica, California, before close family and friends, followed by an equally small second wedding at their home in Costa Rica nearly two months later.
Their son Benjamin was born later that year, followed by a daughter, Vivian, in 2012. Brady also has a 15-year-old son, Jack Moynahan, from a previous relationship with actress Bridget Moynahan.
Scouted by a modeling scout at age 13 in Brazil, Bundchen secured her place as one of the industry’s highest-paid models in the 2000s and became a tabloid staple, fueled by a relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio. In addition to walking the runways for top designers, appearing in campaigns for commercial and high fashion brands alike, she’s been signed as a Victoria’s Secret Angel and taken on small roles in movies, including in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
She took a step back from modeling in 2015, abandoning runway work and limiting herself to a few ad campaigns and magazine covers a year. She made one big exception, sporting a shimmering dress and a big smile in 2016 as she traversed a 400-foot (120-meter) track at the Rio Olympics while fellow Brazilian Daniel Jobim performed “The Girl from Ipanema.”
Since cutting back on her modeling commitments, she has devoted herself to environmental activism, particularly in regards to conserving the Amazon rainforest, and business ventures such as eco-friendly skincare and a lingerie line. She has also been vocal about mental health, revealing debilitating panic attacks that she said made her contemplate suicide and criticizing unrealistic beauty standards.
‘I’ve done my part’
Above all else, Bundchen told Elle, her top priority was her family.
“I have done my part, which is [to] be there for [Tom]. I moved to Boston and focused on creating a cocoon and loving environment for my children to grow up in and being there supporting him and his dreams,” she said. “Seeing my children succeed and become the beautiful little humans they are. . they are, seeing him succeed and feeling accomplished in his career makes me happy. At this point in my life, I feel like I’ve done a good job at that.”
After years in Boston, where Brady played for the Patriots, and then moving back to Tampa with him in 2020, he said he had his own plans: “I have a huge list of things that I have to do, that I want to do. At 42 I I feel more connected to my purpose.”
Brady turned 45 in August, when he left the Buccaneers for 11 days for unspecified personal reasons. The team supported the furlough, calling it a pre-agreed planned rest before the start of training camp in July.
Brady, a three-time NFL MVP and the league’s all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns, signed a 10-year deal worth $375 million to become Fox’s top football analyst. Sports once you hang up your shoes. It’s not yet known when that will be: while Brady had expressed his interest in extending his playing career beyond 40 if he stayed healthy, his now-ex-wife had a different idea in 2017.
“That kind of aggression all the time, that can’t be healthy for you,” he said during the CBS interview. “I’m planning for him to be healthy and do a lot of fun things when we’re 100, I hope.”
Source: news.google.com