Gisele Bündchen explains why raising kids with Tom Brady isn’t a ‘fairy tale’
Gisele Bündchen’s 13-year marriage to Tom Brady has not been a “fairy tale” for the supermodel while raising three children.
“His focus is on his career, mine is mostly on the kids,” Bündchen, 41, told British Vogue in her June 2022 cover story, published Wednesday.
“I’m very grateful that he lets me take the reins when it comes to our family,” she continued. “He trusts my decisions.”
The Brazil native went on to say that successful relationships do not “just happen.”
She explained, “It’s never the fairy tale people want to believe it is. It takes work to be really in sync with someone, especially after you have kids.”
Bündchen and the professional football player, 44, tied the knot in February 2009, less than two years after he welcomed son Jack, now 14, with his ex Bridget Moynahan.
The couple went on to welcome son Benjamin, now 12, in December 2009 followed by daughter Vivian, now 9, in December 2012.
After 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady announced his NFL retirement in February — only to reveal his plan to return six weeks later.
Ahead of his brief sports hiatus, the seven-time Super Bowl winner praised his wife for holding “down the house for a long time” during his career.
“She hasn’t worked much in the last 10, 12 years while raising our family and committing to a life in Boston and then moving to Florida,” he said in an October 2021 episode of his SiriusXM “Let’s Go!” podcast. “That’s an issue.”
Brady subsequently called working fatherhood “difficult to reconcile.”
When the quarterback walked back his retirement with a March tweet, he thanked his “supportive family” for backing his decision.
“Here we go again!” Bündchen gushed via Instagram at the time. “Let’s go lovvvey! Let’s go Bucs!”
Brady broke down in tears the following month while comparing his parenting skills to his his own father’s, telling “Man in the Arena” documentary viewers that he experienced “imbalances” in his life.
“I know I’m not as good a dad to my kids that my dad’s been to me,” the University of Michigan alum said in the April episode. “I hope [my children] don’t take things as far as I’ve taken them. I want them to experience great success in whatever they do, but there’s a torment about me that I don’t wish upon them.”
