How Gisele Bündchen walking away became the defining moment of Tom Brady's final and most painful NFL season

Tom Brady spent 23 years outrunning pressure, reading defenses, and delivering in the moments that mattered most. But during a recent appearance on Fox Sports' The Herd, the seven-time Super Bowl champion admitted something no highlight reel ever captured: his 2022 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the last of his career, was shaped far more by what was happening at home than anything that unfolded on the field. His marriage to Gisele Bündchen was falling apart. Publicly. Painfully. Right in the middle of a season he couldn't walk away from.Why did Tom Brady's divorce from Gisele Bündchen affect his performance on the field?There's a reason the 2022 season felt different. Tom Brady posted an 8-9 record that year, the only losing season of his entire career. Statistically, he still threw for 4,694 yards with 25 touchdowns. The numbers weren't embarrassing. But anyone who watched closely knew something was off.Gisele Bündchen had made her feelings about his return to the NFL very clear. After Brady announced his retirement in February 2022, only to reverse that decision weeks later, reports emerged that she was deeply unhappy about it. By October, the divorce was official. She filed. He kept playing. And every Sunday, Brady was suiting up for the Buccaneers while his 13-year marriage was dissolving in the tabloids and courtrooms."My last season was tough," Brady told The Herd. "I was going through — I had a lot of, you know, just a personal, family issue, and it was a challenge. It was very ... it just took a lot out of me in terms of, you know, my ability to continue to play."That's about as candid as Brady gets.Did Tom Brady's decision to un-retire cost him his marriage to Gisele Bündchen?It's hard to say it was one decision alone, but the unretirement certainly lit the fuse. Bündchen had reportedly grown frustrated with football for years, not just the time it consumed but the physical toll it was taking. She shared publicly that she worried about his long-term health. Two children at home. A life she wanted him to be present for.When Brady walked back his retirement, it sent a clear signal about where his priorities still sat. Their separation quietly began during preseason. Brady took a mysterious 10-day leave from Buccaneers training camp that August and nobody explained why. He later hinted at personal struggles. By the time October came, the divorce was filed and confirmed.He was 45, playing in his 23rd NFL season, while the marriage he had built over 13 years was ending. That is not a small thing to carry into a huddle on a Sunday afternoon.What did Tom Brady say about his regrets and moving on after the Gisele Bündchen divorce?Brady didn't dwell in self-pity during his comments on The Herd. If anything, he framed it with the same controlled restraint he brought to every fourth quarter he ever played. He acknowledged the difficulty but didn't point fingers or assign blame."I felt like I always had a goal — 45," he said. "I was 45 years old, I wanted to spend time with my kids. I felt like, okay, now it's time for me to be at all my kids' games. They've been to enough of their dad's games."He and Bündchen share two children together, Benjamin, 16, and Vivian, 13. Brady also has an 18-year-old son, Jack, from his previous relationship with actress Bridget Moynihan. The divorce was finalized amicably, with both issuing statements about co-parenting and moving forward.But reading between the lines of what he said on The Herd, there's an honest reckoning there. Brady chose one more season of football. It cost him his marriage. And now, three years removed from all of it, he's saying out loud what most people already suspected: that 2022 broke him in ways the NFL never did.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.