The cracks in Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady’s marriage may have been visible inside their home long before they became public as according to a forthcoming book about the Super Bowl champion’s life and career.
Bundchen gave the gave the New England Patriots legend a handwritten letter after his loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII in 2018 and author Lars Anderson says the message was not about football itself.
According to Anderson, the Brazilian supermodel wrote about what Bundchen felt football was taking away from their marriage feeling the NFL star was losing sight of family life.
“She explained that their marriage wasn’t working,” Anderson writes in Brady: An American Story and the Price of Greatness. “She needed more of him, more of his time, more of his attention, more of his heart.
“She needed him to be present when he was at home, not responding to text messages on his constantly buzzing cell phone or replaying a game in his mind.”
The book also claims she wanted “more help with the kids,” the chance to sleep in occasionally and more time to focus on her own career whilst a former Brady teammate quoted by Anderson suggested the imbalance had become increasingly difficult.
“She was getting tired of living on Tom’s schedule,” the unnamed former teammate said. “And being somewhat in his shadow during football season. How many times did you see Tom supporting her career? There clearly were imbalances there.”
Brady and Bundchen sought counselling to save their marriage according to Anderson
Neither Brady nor Bundchen have publicly commented on Anderson’s account of the handwritten letter and that matters. The details come from a book that relies on the author’s reporting and sources, not from confirmation by either person involved.
But Anderson also writes the pair attended couples counseling and that Brady kept the letter rather than discarding it. Eventually, their split came years after those reported warnings.
“He’d pull it out on contemplative nights and reread every word,” Anderson added, also saying Brady was “wanting to be reminded that he needed to tend to his marriage with the same tenacity he tended to his job.”
Brady and Bundchen ultimately divorced in October 2022 after 13 years of marriage and the timing came after he announced his retirement, only to reverse course weeks later and return for another season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“While it is, of course, difficult to go through something like this, I feel blessed for the time we had together and only wish the best for Tom always,” Bundchen wrote on Instagram, adding that they had “grown apart.”
The account claims she wanted more time, more help and more of Brady’s attention at home when it came to raising their two children together, Benjamin and Vivian but whilst the new book adds context, but the claims remain unverified by the pair.
Still, Anderson’s comments add a striking new layer to a breakup that was often framed publicly around retirement and football. If his version is accurate, Bundchen’s concerns were far more basic and had been building for years.
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