Gisele Bündchen, global supermodel, albeit probably more famous in New England for being the ex-wife of former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, addressed rumors about the power couple’s split in an expansive new interview with Vanity Fair.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, the internet and tabloid media have speculated that their split was due her giving Brady an ultimatum to stop playing football. Bündchen shot those rumors down hard in her cover story with the magazine.
What she said about the split with Tom Brady
She told the publication that the rumor was “very hurtful” and “the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“When you love someone, you don’t put them in a jail and say, ‘You have to live this life,’” Bündchen said. “You set them free to be who they are, and if you want to fly the same direction, then that’s amazing.”
She also shot down the tabloids reporting that she was not a fan of the game, even though we’ve all seen numerous videos and photos of the whole family cheering on the Pats at Gillette.
“Are you kidding me? I learned about it!” Bündchen said. “I used to joke that I was going to be able to be the ref because I’ve watched so many games. And I loved it.”
She added, speaking about their split. “What’s been said is one piece of a much bigger puzzle. It’s not so black and white.”
To many, Tom and Gisele seemed like a dream couple. The minute then 26-year-old Bündchen laid eyes on Brady at West Village wine bar Turks & Frogs, “I knew right away,” she told Vanity Fair in 2009.
What going through a divorce is like for Gisele Bündchen
Bündchen, like a lot of people who’ve been through a divorce, is still in mourning, she says, calling the split, “the death of my dream.”
She told Vanity Fair, her voice breaking, “It’s tough because you imagine your life was going to be a certain way, and you did everything you could, you know?”
“You give everything you got to achieve your dream,” she added. “You give a hundred percent of yourself, and it’s heartbreaking when it doesn’t end up the way you hoped for, and worked for, but you can only do your part.”
Where is Gisele now?
The model and mother now splits her time between Miami and Costa Rica. Bündchen found a home in Florida, where the kids can be close to Brady’s $17 million mansion in the exclusive village of Indian Creek.
“Miami works for me because it’s literally a direct flight to Brazil,” Bündchen says, where her parents and five sisters still live.