Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is in the news a lot this season, but it's not all for football-related reasons. Brady announced Friday that he and his wife of 13 years, supermodel and activist Gisele Bündchen, have filed for divorce.
Brady and Bündchen are living in separate homes, and football has a lot to do with the split, according to People. Brady has not explicitly addressed his marital status, but there has been a lot that has taken place that has led to these rumors.
Bündchen has been vocal for a while that she would like Brady to hang up the cleats and embrace his role more with the family.
Of course, Brady has yet to call it quits when it comes to football. And even when it looked like he might stop, announcing that he was retiring this offseason, the then-44 year-old ended up announcing that he was coming back just 40 days later. Knowing Bündchen wants him to retire, his decision to keep playing was likely an unpopular one with his family.
It can be hard to keep up with everything that has happened with the iconic couple, so here's a timeline of how things have gone:
December 2006
Brady and Bündchen start dating.
January 2009
Brady and Bündchen get engaged.
February 2009
Brady and Bündchen wed.
December 2009
Brady and Bündchen welcome their first child together, (and the quarterback's second child).
December 2012
Brady welcomes his second child with Bündchen.
February 2017
Brady reveals that Bündchen wants him to retire, saying, "If it was up to my wife, she would have me retire today."
"She told me that last night three times. And I said, 'Too bad, babe, I'm having too much fun right now.' You know, I feel like I can still do it. If you love what you do and you're capable of doing it, then I might be so bored if I wasn't going out there knowing that I could still do it. So I'm going to work hard to be ready to go, and I still plan on playing for a long time."
Retired kicker Jay Feely also revealed that during a trip the two families took together that spring, Bündchen was "trying to get me to convince [Tom] to stop playing," adding that she was, "dead serious" (via Sports Illustrated).
May 2017
Bündchen expresses her concerns for Brady's health, worried about how physical the game is.
"I just have to say, as a wife, I'm a little bit -- as you know, it's not the most, let's say, unaggressive sport, right?" she said on "CBS This Morning." "Football, he had a concussion last year. ... I mean, we don't talk about -- he does have concussions. I don't really think it's a healthy thing for your body to go through, through that kind of aggression all the time. That cannot be healthy for you, right? I'm planning on him being healthy and doing a lot of fun things when we're like 100, I hope."
October 2017
Brady mentions how much his wife has sacrificed for his career, mentioning that she has not worked much so she can take care of their family.
"I think my wife has, you know, held down the house for a long time now, and I think there's things that she wants to accomplish," he said on his "Let's Go" podcast. "You know, she hasn't worked as much in the last 10, 12 years just raising our family and kind of committing to being in a life in Boston and then moving to Florida."
March 2020
Brady announces he is leaving the New England Patriots and, in doing so, will be moving his family to a new state, following two decades in Massachusetts. Brady later signed with the Buccaneers, so the family was headed to Tampa.
February 2021
Bündchen asks Brady what more he has to prove after he wins his seventh Super Bowl. Brady revealed her postgame comments in March of 2021.
"All of a sudden, I saw my wife and I gave her a big hug," Brady said on The Late Late Show With James Corden. "And just as I did it, she said, 'What more do you have to prove?'"
February 2022
Brady announces his retirement from the NFL after 22 seasons with a social media post. "I have loved my NFL career," he wrote, "and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention."
It seemed like he was riding off into the sunset and alluded to spending more time with his family in the announcement, but the retirement did not last long.
March 2022
Brady announces he is un-retiring and will be re-joining the Buccaneers for the 2022 season, marking his 23rd year in the league. In doing so, he then became the oldest quarterback to ever start an NFL game.
April 2022
Brady reveals how he told his family he was coming out of retirement, saying he had their support.
"I decided to talk with my family and I said, 'I think I wanna do this one more time if you guys will support that.'" Brady said (via Complex). "And my wife was so supportive of it and she said, 'Look, I want you to be happy. I want you to enjoy it and go out there and win.' Ultimately, that's why I came back, to win. There's only one reason to play for me at this point in my career. And that's to win."
He also said that he would have liked more time to consider his options, but it did not work with the timing of the season.
"Eventually, I had to make a decision just because they were getting into free agency," Brady said. "Would I have preferred to wait in the end to make sure I was really, really sure? Yeah. But that wasn't the way the NFL calendar works. So I spoke to (general manager Jason Licht) right before free agency. And I spoke to (former Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians). And they're like, as much as we'd love for you to give you time, we don't have time."
August 2022
Aug. 11-21: Brady takes an extended leave from the Buccaneers, during which he was reportedly in the Bahamas with Bündchen. His 11-day absence raised a lot of questions, but he never gave a clear answer as to why he took nearly two weeks away from the team.
Aug. 27: Brady makes a rare comment about his personal life, not giving details but saying he has a lot of things going on.
"I'm 45 years old, man. There's a lot of shit going on," he said. "So you just have to try and figure out life the best you can. You know, it's a continuous process."
September 2022
Sept. 11: Bündchen shows support for Brady for his first game of the season, tweeting, "Let's go @TomBrady! Let's go Bucs ! ✨✨✨" However, Bündchen did not attend the Buccaneers' home opener two weeks later.
Sept. 13: A story publishes in Complex during which Bündchen breaks her silence on Brady's NFL return."Obviously, I have my concerns -- this is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I would like him to be more present. I have definitely had those conversations with him over and over again."
She then added, "Ultimately, I feel that everybody has to make a decision that works for [them]. He needs to follow his joy, too."
Sept. 16: It's reported that Brady and Bündchen have been living apart for more than a month, per People.
October 2022
Oct. 4: Brady and Bündchen reportedly both hire divorce lawyers, according to Page Six.
Oct. 12: Bündchen likes and comments "🙏" to an Instagram post from life coach Jay Shetty about relationships that reads, "You can't be in a committed relationship with someone who is inconsistent with you. Read that again."
Oct. 18: Brady compares the football season to going away for deployment. "I almost look at football season like you're going away on deployment," Brady said on his "Let's Go" podcast with Jim Gray. "It's like, 'Man, here I go again.' There's only one way to do it."
Oct. 20: Brady apologizes for comparing the football season to going away for deployment. "Earlier this week, I made a statement about playing football and the military," Brady said. "It was a very poor choice of words, and I just want to express that to any sentiments out there that people may have taken it a certain way. So, I apologize."
Oct. 20: Brady reiterates his commitment to football after a 3-3 start to the season. "That's really why I'm here: I'm here to announce, finally, you guys pushed me to the brink. No, I love the sport and I love the teammates, and I wanna go do a great job for this team like I always have. So, no retirement in my future."
Oct. 21: Things are reportedly "very nasty between Tom and Gisele because of the lawyers. They are ready for a fight," according to Page Six. "Tom and Gisele are not battling over the kids, they both want joint custody. But it will take some time to divide their immense wealth and property all over the world," the source revealed.
Oct. 28: Brady announced that he and Gisele finalized their divorce "amicably and with gratitude for the time we spent together. ... We arrived at this decision to end our marriage after much consideration."
