A forthcoming biography of Tom Brady claims Gisele Bündchen told the NFL legend "we're not compatible" after years of pushing him to retire, a declaration that, according to an insider, ended their 13-year marriage.
Author Lars Anderson's book, Brady: An American Story and the Price of Greatness, set for release September 29, draws on conversations with Brady's former coaches and teammates to paint a detailed picture of a marriage that buckled under the weight of professional football. An insider close to Brady told Anderson that Bündchen, 46, who is deeply interested in astrology, "basically looked into the stars and told Tom, 'We're not compatible.'" Anderson's summary of the moment was blunt: "And just like that, she was done."
The book's revelations, first obtained by the Daily Mail ahead of publication, trace the fault lines back nearly a decade, long before the couple announced their divorce on October 28, 2022. Page Six reported that representatives for both Brady and Bündchen were not immediately available for comment.
Anderson's account places the first serious retirement conversation on the field after Brady's sixth Super Bowl victory in 2017, when the New England Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons. Bündchen allegedly approached Brady and asked, "Would now be the perfect time to retire?" Brady's reported answer was casual and definitive: "Too bad, babe. I'm having too much fun right now."
She raised the subject again later that same day. And a few weeks afterward, during a vacation with Brady's former University of Michigan teammate Jay Feely, Bündchen allegedly asked Feely directly to push Brady toward retirement.
Feely did the opposite. He previously told Sports Illustrated's Greg Bishop that Bündchen "was dead serious" about wanting Brady to walk away. But Feely said he told Brady to "play as long as you want."
After the Patriots lost the 2018 Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles, Bündchen wrote Brady what Anderson describes as "a serious note." She asked for more of himself for their family. Anderson summarized her demands plainly: "She needed him to be present when he was at home, not responding to text messages on his constantly buzzing cell phone or replaying a game in his mind." She wanted more help with their children. She wanted a chance to sleep in a few days a week. She wanted time for her own career.
One unnamed former teammate described Bündchen as "a bigger international star" than Brady who was "getting tired of living" on his schedule. Another Brady friend, a former football player, offered a franker assessment:
"The guy gets up at the crack of dawn, thinks all day about a game that is foreign to his wife, comes home and is in bed each night by nine. He can't really eat out or go out without causing a scene. Everything he puts in his mouth tastes like s***. The whole lifestyle had to be getting tiresome for Gisele."
Brady, now 49, played with the Patriots from 2000 to 2019 before signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020. His entire adult life revolved around a sport his wife did not share and a daily routine built for peak athletic performance, not partnership.
Brady announced his retirement in February 2022. Then, roughly a month later, he reversed course. He posted on X, formerly Twitter: "I've realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come. But it's not now."
Bündchen reportedly fled briefly to Costa Rica. Brady, according to Anderson's account, was left distraught. When he returned to training camp, he had lost weight and appeared distracted. He questioned his own decision to come back.
By October, the marriage was over. Both announced the divorce on the same day. Bündchen posted on Instagram: "We have grown apart and while it is, of course, difficult to go through something like this, I feel blessed for the time we had together and only wish the best for Tom always." They said their priority was their two children, Benjamin, now 16, and Vivian, now 13.
Bündchen married jiu-jitsu instructor Joaquim Valente in December 2025. The couple has a one-year-old son together. Brady, meanwhile, has been linked to model Irina Shayk and internet personality Alix Earle since the split.
Anderson's book relies on unnamed insiders and previously published interviews, including Feely's Sports Illustrated conversation with Greg Bishop. The specific underlying sources for several alleged Bündchen statements, including the retirement question on the Super Bowl field, are not identified in the reporting. Whether Brady or Bündchen will respond publicly to the book's claims remains an open question.
What the account does make clear is a pattern: a wife who asked, wrote, pleaded, and finally decided, and a husband who kept choosing the game until the game was all he had left.
