Tom Brady Admits 'Challenging' Divorce From Gisele Bündchen 'Took a Lot Out of Me'

Tom Brady is the first to admit his divorce from Gisele Bündchen wasn’t easy.

In a recent interview with MLFootball, the NFL legend, 48, revealed that his final season playing ball was difficult because of what he was going through in his personal life.

Brady and Bündchen finalized their divorce in October 2022 after 13 years of marriage, and he retired from the NFL just a few months later in 2023.

“My last season was tough,” he disclosed. “I was going through, I had a lot of, you know, a personal family issue. And it was a challenge, and it was very … it just took a lot out of me in terms of, you know, my ability to play.”

Brady did not explicitly reference Bündchen, but it can be assumed that the “personal family issue” was his split.

Even though he “tried to put as much as [he] could into” his final games, he was struggling.

“I felt like I owed to my teammates and coaches to give them everything I had," Brady said. "I wish it could have been a little bit better at the end. But it was just a unique situation and a unique year for me.”

The New England Patriots alum continued, “I had 23 years of [football] so I didn’t think I was missing anything, retiring. I felt like I always had a goal — 45. I was 45 years old, I wanted to spend time with my kids, I felt like, okay, now it’s time for me to be at all my kids’ games. They’ve been to enough of their dad’s games.”

Brady and Bündchen, 45, share two children, Benjamin, 16 and Vivian, 13. Brady also has a son, Jack, 18, with ex Bridget Moynahan. Meanwhile, Bündchen welcomed a son with husband Joaquim Valente in February 2025.

Although Brady is reportedly single, he was romantically linked to Alix Earle following the duo’s cozy New Year’s Eve party outing. Fans speculated the stars were dating after a video of the influencer, 25, placing a hand on the NFL star’s back, talking close to his face, went viral.

Fans were not in favor of the new connection due to their large age gap.

"She was 6 years old when he had his first son," one wrote, while another said, "I wonder if she calls him daddy."

A third person inquired, "Why?"

However, Brady is reportedly not interested in dating someone like Earle, who documents her daily life in video blogs.

“Tom values discretion above everything else,” a source close to the 48-year-old told Rob Shuter’s Substack page. “He’s already suspicious about how these videos of him and Alix leaked. That’s a huge red flag. He’s not interested in a girlfriend who broadcasts every detail of her life.”

A Hollywood manager added, “Tom’s learned who to trust after decades in the public eye. He’s already thinking about privacy and discretion, and Alix’s social media habits are sending warning signals. This isn’t the first time Hollywood has watched someone get too excited around him, and he’s not repeating that mistake.”