In an interview conducted just prior to the Super Bowl, Gisele Bundchen indicated she wouldn’t attempt to persuade her husband, Tom Brady, to retire.
“It’s not my decision to make,” Bundchen told a reporter for the Wall Street Journal during an interview at the couple’s home in Brookline. “It’s his decision, and he knows it. It wouldn’t be fair any other way.
“He’s so focused right now,” she says. “He has a laser focus on just winning and being the best, and I said, ‘You know what? This is what you’re doing right now in your life, and you need to feel complete in it, because if I’m the one who comes and says something and then you make a decision based on something that I said—’
“I would never in my life, ever (attempt to convince him to retire),” she said. “I want him to be happy. Believe me, I’ve been with him when he’s losing. Try to be with him after you have lost [Super Bowls]. I mean, I had my fair share, OK? As long as he’s happy, he’s going to be a better father, he’s going to be a better husband, and I just want him to be happy. I do have my concerns, like anyone would.”
Bundchen touched off a mini-firestorm last offseason when she said that Brady sustained a concussion during the 2016 season.
Brady’s family has expressed concern about the long-term effects a career in the NFL can lead to. Brady’s father, Tom Sr., has been candid about his worries and is well-versed in the CTE studies conducted at Boston University.
New England Patriots
Bundchen’s comments to the newspaper predated New England’s loss to the Eagles and the release of the Tom vs. Time documentary in which she stated Brady’s last two seasons were exceptionally difficult and that he just wanted to go to work and have fun and “feel appreciated.”