Gisele Bundchen’s role in Tom Brady’s most recent retirement came under scrutiny this week following his surprising Wednesday morning announcement.
While many in the NFL community understood that there was about a 50-50 chance that Brady would hang up his cleats for good, many assumed he would wait until the football season officially wrapped.
Instead, the 45-year-old headed straight to social media three days after the conference championship games and took all the air out of what would have been a crazy offseason.
Truly grateful on this day. Thank you 🙏🏻❤️ pic.twitter.com/j2s2sezvSS
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) February 1, 2023
“Good morning guys, I’ll get to the point right away. I’m retiring for good,” Brady said.
“I know the process was a pretty big deal last time so when I woke up this morning I figured I just press record and let you guys know first. I won’t be long-winded, you only get one super-emotional retirement essay and I used mine up last year.”
Following Brady’s decision to retire and immediately un-retire last year, he and Bundchen decided to divorce after more than a decade of marriage.
The split got ugly.
There were claims of dissatisfaction in the bedroom, accusations of mistreatment and the specter of financial woes hanging over everyone’s heads.
Bundchen moved on immediately with a new man. Brady was linked to someone else as well, only for it to turn out she was married.
The whole thing was a mess.
Understandably, on Wednesday, many wondered what Bundchen’s role in Brady’s second retirement was.
While the internationally renowned model has yet to publicly comment, it is worth noting that Brady paid tribute to her in his retirement video. He shared multiple images of her on his Instagram account farewell post.
Obviously many on social media started making jokes shortly after the announcement about how prolonging the inevitable by one season cost Brady his marriage. That said, it is hard to really buy into that theory.
Marriages that break up typically don’t do so over one thing. Brady and Bundchen probably aren’t the exception to that rule.
Maybe Brady returning last year was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but if things were in that perilous of a place, there is a good chance that back would have broken eventually no matter what.
After Brady’s announcement, multiple people reacted to the consensus greatest quarterback of all time calling it quits. Rob Gronkowski’s girlfriend, Camille Kostek, was among the most notable ones.
The Mahomes Clan celebrated by getting a party bus. Unclear if the NFL refs were invited.https://t.co/8D2wgHEKMh
— Game 7 (@game7__) January 31, 2023
Time will tell what the future holds for Brady and Bundchen. Reconciliation seems unlikely, but stranger things have certainly happened.
What sort of relationship will Brady and Bundchen have now that he is no longer an active NFL player? Time will tell.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
