Make New York Post a Preferred Source Gisele Bündchen was allegedly done with her marriage to Tom Brady after his final desperate attempt to save his family failed in August 2022, according to the book “Brady: An American Story and the Price of Greatness” by Lars Anderson.
In an excerpt from the book published by the Daily Mail, Anderson writes that Bündchen had her mind made up after the quarterback traveled to a private resort in the Bahamas for a serious discussion with her — when he missed 11 days of Buccaneers training camp, which was excused by the team.
Their marriage was already strained over Brady’s decision to keep playing after he won his sixth Super Bowl ring with the Patriots in Super Bowl 2018 — and things got worse in March 2022 when he decided to play another season, coming out of a 40-day retirement.
“Everything was going good between Tom and Gisele,” one eyewitness close to Brady said, according to Anderson. “Tom was FaceTiming with Gisele during the day between meetings, just checking in to see if she needed anything. These were normal conversations, and she seemed happy.
“Then one day, Gisele, who is really into astrology, basically looked into the stars and told Tom, ‘We’re not compatible.’ And just like that, she was done.
‘But what triggered that? Was it the years of feeling like she wasn’t his top priority? That he kept playing when she’d asked him to step away? Maybe.
“Or was there a particular spiritual adviser telling her, ‘Hey, this relationship is bad for you. Get out of it now. Even the stars are telling you that.’ One thing is certain: In no way, shape or form was this a normal marital breakdown.”
Brady returned to Bucs training camp on Aug. 22, 2022, after an 11-day excused absence.
The pair announced their divorce on Oct. 28, 2022, after 13 years of marriage.
Bündchen reportedly tied the knot with her Jiu-jitsu instructor boyfriend, Joaquim Valente, in an intimate ceremony in Surfside, Fla., last December.
They welcomed their first child together in February 2025.
Clyde Christensen, who was the quarterback coach for the Bucs at the time, said Brady “was an empty shell of himself” when he returned to training camp that year.
“There was no joy. Everything was hard work,” Christensen said.
Anderson writes that Brady “remained utterly captivated by Gisele, still lost in the enchantment of her.”
The book recalls an incident during a July 28 practice that year — and one Bucs staffer alleging that’s when Brady realized he made a horrible decision by unretiring.
“During practice on July 28, center Ryan Jensen, one of Brady’s closest friends and his biggest defender on the field, collided with another player. Crashing to the ground, Jensen screamed ‘F!’ and clutched his left knee,” Anderson wrote.
“Practice stopped. Brady lifted off his helmet and ran to Jensen. Kneeling by his side and knowing the meaning of that scream — torn ligaments, fractured bones — he watched as the medical staff tended to his friend.
“It was pretty clear he was asking himself, ‘Why the F did I come back?'” said one Buccaneers staffer. “I think that’s when he realized he’d made a horrible decision. He didn’t come back and risk adding more troubles to his marriage to get the s–t kicked out of him!”
