Tom Brady officially announced that he was retiring from the NFL (again). The quarterback, 45, previously said that he was hanging up his helmet in February 2022, but just 40 days later, he decided to rejoin the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2022 season.
Now, on Feb. 1, the seven-time Super Bowl champion revealed that he’s officially calling it quits. He shared an emotional video on Instagram saying, “I’m retiring. For good. I know the process was a pretty big deal last time, so when I woke up this morning I figured I’d just press record, and let you guys know first.”
The NFL legend continued, “It won’t be long-winded, you only get one super-emotional retirement essay, and I used mine up last year, so. I…really thank you guys…so much. To every single one of you, for supporting me, my family, my friends, teammates, my competitors. I could go on forever. There’s too many. Thank you guys for allowing me to live my absolute dream. I wouldn’t change a thing. Love you all.”
Among the many comments that poured in, Brady’s ex-wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, wrote, “Wishing you only wonderful things in this new chapter of your life. 🙏🏼.”
Last fall, Brady and Bündchen, 42, announced their separation after 13 years of marriage. They broke the news after already finalizing their divorce, which followed online speculation that the pair had an “epic fight.”
Bündchen has spoke out about how she felt about Brady’s involvement with the sport. A month before announcing their split, she told Elle magazine, “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. 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.”
Brady opened about their separation for the first time in November, and said on an episode of the SiriusXM show, Let’s Go! that the “good news” is that the situation with Bündchen is “very amicable.”
He notes that having something so private get so public and “play out in front of a lot of people” was hard, but he relies on his support system to get him through. “We all have our unique challenges in life. We’re all humans. We do the best we could do. I have incredible parents that have always taught me the right way to do things. I want to be a great father to my children and always try to do things the right way as well,” he continued. “And to deal with things in your life that have challenges, you wanna deal with them in the best possible way. So, I want to always be able to hold my head high on and off the field, and I’m gonna try to continue to do that for as long as I’m here.”
Lately, Bündchen has been getting back to her modeling roots after spending many years raising their two children, Benjamin Rein, 13, and Vivian Lake, 10. She was recently seen hitting the beach in Florida for a new photo shoot where she modeled sexy swimwear and sheer looks. She also posed in her first campaign post-split for Louis Vuitton’s new collaboration with renowned artist Yayoi Kusama.
