Tom Brady made winning the Super Bowl look easy at times. Now he’s under the pressure of ever-evolving parenthood. Even for the most successful player in NFL history, being a father is still “challenging,” he admits.
“And every parent out there knows it’s a challenge to be a good father,” Brady said Friday in an interview with Stephen A. Smith at Fanatics Fest NYC. “I have a lot of things going on, but I still try to be a great father and be there for my kids.”
Brady said he often doesn’t hear from his 14-year-old son Benjamin, his 16-year-old son Jack, or his 11-year-old daughter Vivian unless they want something.
“Every time they call me, I know there is a request because if they don’t call, I don’t hear from them. And if I don’t hear from them, I know they don’t want anything,” he said.
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Tom Brady in his final NFL game against the Dallas Cowboys in an NFC wild card playoff game at Raymond James Stadium on January 16, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
One bright spot for Brady as his children grow up is that they now have a greater understanding of why he spent so much time away from family during his career. Brady played in the NFL from 2000 to 2022.
Now, after a year off from playing, Brady will take on the role of NFL’s top co-commentator on FOX this season.
“They start to appreciate it as they get older and take on the responsibilities of being an adult,” Brady said. “When you’re working hard to be a dad and also provide for the family, you have to get away for a little bit and really focus on your job.”
Brady’s career and time away from his family were famously and unexpectedly extended in 2022, ahead of his divorce. In January of that year, Brady said on his Sirius XM podcast “Let’s Go!” that taking hits on the field at that time was not ideal for him or his marriage to Gisele Bündchen.
Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrates with Gisele Bündchen after winning the Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium on February 7, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Mike Ehrman/Getty Images)
“My wife is my biggest supporter. It hurts her to see me out there being attacked. She deserves what she needs from me as a husband and my kids deserve what they need from me as a father,” Brady told anchor Jim Gray at the time. “We think we’re going to live forever. We don’t. We think we’re going to play forever. We don’t.”
Then, just 40 days after announcing his retirement in February of that year, he announced he would return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for one more season. Bündchen, the mother of two of his three children, filed for divorce later that year.
Tom Brady’s roast has ‘influenced’ his children, Gisele Bündchen is ‘deeply disappointed’: report
Brady’s divorce from Bündchen was the subject of a very personal roast on Netflix in May. The special featured jokes from comedians Nikki Glaser and Kevin Hart about Brady’s divorce from Bündchen, touching on her alleged affair with her jujitsu instructor when she and Brady were still married.
Nikki Glaser makes fun of Tom Brady. (Getty Images)
Brady later said that the event had affected his children and he had no plans to host another roast.
“I didn’t like the impact it had on my kids,” Brady told former NFL players Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder on May 15 on the “Pivot Podcast.”
“The hardest part is that bittersweet aspect of doing something that you think is a certain way and then suddenly realizing you wouldn’t do it again because it impacts the people you care about most so much. … Like I said when I signed up for this, I loved it when people made fun of me.”
Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady stands with his daughter Vivian during a ceremony honoring Brady during halftime of New England’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Gillette Stadium on September 10, 2023 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
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Brady did not say which jokes influenced his children.
Benajmin and Vivian were born to Bündchen. Jack, whose full name is John “Jack” Edward Thomas Moynahan, is Brady’s son from a previous relationship with actress Bridget Moynahan.
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