Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen (Getty Images)
But in March 2023, months after her divorce from Tom Brady, the supermodel offered a more personal explanation of what had happened behind the headlines. In the March 23, 2023 report, Cleveland.com detailed Bündchen’s April cover interview with Vanity Fair, which was conducted over several days at her home in Costa Rica. At the time, the former couple’s divorce had been finalized only months earlier, in October 2022. “When I was 26 years old and he was 29 years old, we met, we wanted a family, we wanted things together.
Because brady chose football over retirement, her message was clear: their marriage did not simply fall apart. Because it separated disappointment from resentment, her response was notable.
“Listen, I have always cheered for him, and I would continue forever,” Bündchen says in the interview. She also rejected descriptions of herself as a “sidelined shrew” who had issued Brady an ultimatum over retirement. Bündchen called those claims “very hurtful” and “the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. As time goes by, we realize that we just wanted different things, and now we have a choice to make,” she says in the interview. Despite going their separate ways, Bündchen said they remained committed to working together for their children.
Gisele Bündchen had spent years being seen as one half of one of the world’s most famous celebrity couples. For Bündchen, the story was far more complicated, deeply personal and rooted in how their lives had changed over time. Much of the public discussion had focused on Brady’s decision to return to the NFL after announcing his retirement. Rumors suggested that Bündchen had pushed him to step away from football. She strongly rejected that portrayal, calling the idea deeply hurtful. “If there’s one person I want to be the happiest in the world, it’s him, believe me. I want him to achieve and that’s what I want, really, from the bottom of my heart. Those comments gave a different perspective on a breakup that had become a subject of constant speculation. Rather than framing their marriage as a battle between a wife and a football career, Bündchen spoke about two people whose priorities had changed over time. Even after the marriage ended, she made it clear that she could still care about Brady’s happiness and respect what they had shared. For Bündchen, the end of the marriage wasn’t simply about one decision or one season of football. In the Vanity Fair interview, she explained that the relationship had evolved as both of them grew older and their individual hopes changed. That reflection also showed why the former couple’s approach to co-parenting mattered.
Their marriage had lasted 13 years, and its end marked a major change for both of them. Join conversation Share your thoughts in the comments Be respectful · TOI community guidelines Her comments in 2023 also offered a reminder that public narratives rarely capture the full reality of a private relationship.
We are a team,” Bündchen says. “We’re not playing against each other. “I look back and I have no regrets. I loved every bit of it. The statement carried a sense of acceptance rather than bitterness. Yet Bündchen’s words suggested that ending a relationship did not require erasing the good memories or turning the other person into an enemy. Bündchen described something more complicated: two people who once shared the same vision, built a family together and eventually discovered that their paths had begun to move in different directions While fans had focused heavily on Brady’s football decisions. Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.