Tom Brady Admits Divorce Made His Final NFL Season ‘Tough’

The Moment

Tom Brady is finally saying the quiet part out loud: his divorce from Gisele Bundchen didn’t just shake up his personal life, it bled straight into his last season in the NFL.

In a new interview with football outlet MLFootball, posted on X on January 15, the 48-year-old quarterback admitted his 2022 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was rough because of what was happening at home. “My last season was tough,” he said, explaining that he was dealing with a “personal family issue” that made it “a challenge” and “took a lot out of” him and his ability to play.

Tom Brady reflected on his final NFL season while discussing Aaron Rodgers’ future. He referenced his own experience, saying his last year was difficult because he was dealing with family issues stemming from his divorce from Gisele Bündchen: pic.twitter.com/3rkFuKKnw1

— Sportskeeda Pro Football (@SKProFootball) January 16, 2026

Brady and Bundchen, 45, finalized their divorce in October 2022 after 13 years of marriage. The two share son Benjamin, 16, and daughter Vivian, 13, while Brady also has son Jack, 18, with ex Bridget Moynahan.

In the same conversation, Brady said he’d always had his family in mind when he decided to walk away from football. He’d hit his long-stated goal of playing until 45 and said he wanted more time with his kids, who, as he put it, “have been to enough of their dad’s games.”

Meanwhile, Bundchen has moved on with jiu-jitsu instructor Joaquim Valente, whom she reportedly married in December 2025 after welcoming their first child together earlier that year. Brady has more recently been linked to influencer Alix Earle, 25, after the two were spotted getting close at a New Year’s Eve yacht party, and he was previously connected to model Irina Shayk.

The Take

I’ll say it: this is the closest we’ve gotten to Tom Brady dropping the media-trained mask and sounding like an actual human man going through a divorce.

For years, the narrative was simple enough to fit on a bumper sticker: Brady picked football over family, Gisele got tired of waiting, and the fairy-tale marriage died on the turf. It was neat, judgmental, and very easy to yell about on Sundays.

But hearing him now, the story sounds a lot messier – and more familiar. He doesn’t flat-out say, “Yes, the divorce ruined my season,” but you can hear the subtext. He talks about “personal family issue,” being drained, a “unique year,” and trying to give his teammates everything while his life was falling apart off the field.

That’s not a scandal; that’s midlife in a nutshell. Even the most disciplined guy in sports couldn’t run a two-minute drill on heartbreak.

What strikes me is the timing. We’re a couple of years removed from the split, Gisele has a new baby and a new husband, and Tom seems to be easing into his post-NFL life and on-air brand. Suddenly, it’s safer for him to say, “Yeah, that was brutal.” The stakes are lower now, so the honesty can finally be higher.

There’s also a whisper of regret hiding in how he talks about that last season. He insists he doesn’t feel he “missed anything” by finally retiring, but then admits he wishes it had all ended “a little bit better.” It sounds less like a man obsessed with hanging on and more like someone who couldn’t quite figure out how to exit gracefully while his entire identity – athlete, husband, dad – was being rearranged in real time.

And let’s be honest: Gisele’s apparent happiness with Joaquim and their new family probably forces a little reflection. When your ex has a whole new chapter, it becomes very real that the old one is truly closed.

So no, this isn’t some bombshell confession. But it is Brady quietly rewriting the script: less “selfish football robot,” more “guy whose marriage blew up while he was trying to finish a legendary career.” That doesn’t absolve him of choices he may have made – it just reminds us the story was never as simple as fans wanted it to be.

Receipts

Confirmed:

• Brady and Bundchen announced and finalized their divorce in October 2022 after 13 years of marriage, in joint statements posted on their respective Instagram accounts on October 28, 2022.
• In an interview with MLFootball shared on X on January 15, 2026, Brady described his last NFL season as “tough” and referenced a “personal family issue” that affected his ability to play.
• Brady played 23 NFL seasons and had publicly mentioned 45 as his target age to retire, before announcing his final retirement in a video posted to his social media accounts on February 1, 2023.
• Brady and Bundchen share two children, Benjamin and Vivian; Brady also shares son Jack with actor Bridget Moynahan, as both have confirmed in past interviews and social media posts.

Unverified / Reported:

• Reports that Bundchen married her longtime jiu-jitsu instructor Joaquim Valente in December 2025 and that the pair welcomed a child earlier in 2025 have been described in entertainment coverage but have not been accompanied by an official public statement from the couple.
• Brady’s recent romantic link to influencer Alix Earle, including the detail that they spent time together at a New Year’s Eve yacht party and slipped away to a private cabin, comes from unnamed-party “insider” accounts rather than on-the-record confirmation from either of them.
• Brady’s previous connection to model Irina Shayk has been widely reported based on sightings and photographs, but neither has offered extensive public comment on the nature or length of the relationship.

Backstory (For Casual Readers)

Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen were one of those couples who felt like background wallpaper for an entire era: the MVP quarterback and the supermodel wife, dominating Super Bowls and red carpets in equal measure. They began dating in the mid-2000s, married in 2009, and spent over a decade as the glossy poster couple for hyper-disciplined success – green smoothies, beach runs, couture at the Met Gala, the whole package.

But tension reportedly grew over how long Brady would keep playing. He first announced his retirement in early 2022, then changed his mind and returned to the Buccaneers. By October, the marriage was over, finalized quickly and framed as amicable in their public statements. Brady officially retired again in early 2023 “for good.” Since then, he’s shifted into business, media, and that awkward post-sports stage where every move – from who you date to how you parent – gets reinterpreted through the lens of your old superstardom.

What’s Next

Brady dipping his toe into emotional honesty raises a big question: is this the start of a more candid era, or just a one-off moment of vulnerability packaged inside a sports interview?

There are a few things to watch:

• His on-air persona: As he settles more deeply into life as a media figure, does he keep opening up about that 2022 season, or snap back to the polished, “on to the next play” version of himself?
• Co-parenting in the spotlight: Both he and Bundchen have said they prioritize their kids. If they continue to avoid public drama, that alone will be a statement in a culture that loves exes at war.
• The inevitable long-form confession: A memoir, a deep-dive documentary, a sit-down tell-all – that’s the modern retirement playbook. If and when Brady goes there, expect this “tough last season” topic to be front and center.

For now, though, we have this rare little crack in the armor: the greatest quarterback of his generation acknowledging that even he couldn’t game-plan his way out of a broken marriage.

How much do you think athletes like Brady owe the public in terms of emotional honesty about what’s going on behind the scenes – do you want more of this, or is less still more?