Gisele Bündchen Addresses Tom Brady Divorce Theories For the First Time

For the first time since her divorce, Gisele Bündchen is opening up about her relationship and subsequent split from Tom Brady. In a candid interview for the April 2023 cover of Vanity Fair, the supermodel reflected on the former couple's 13-year marriage, addressed the many rumors surrounding their breakup, and detailed her plans for the future.

Bündchen described the end of their relationship as "a death and a rebirth." The coparents shared the news of their divorce in October 2022. She told the publication, "It's tough because you imagine your life was going to be a certain way, and you did everything you could, you know?" Bündchen added, "I believed in fairy tales when I was a kid. I think it's beautiful to believe in that . . . It's heartbreaking when it doesn't end up the way you hoped for, and worked for, but you can only do your part."

Since talk of the pair's marriage troubles circulated, media outlets and sources have reported Brady's retirement saga and politics as possible reasons for their split. However, the mom of two firmly denied those "very hurtful" rumors, saying, "Wow, people really made it about that [the unretirement]. What's been said is one piece of a much bigger puzzle. It's not so black and white." She continued, "Listen, I have always cheered for him, and I would continue forever. If there's one person I want to be the happiest in the world, it's him, believe me. I want him to achieve and to conquer. I want all his dreams to come true. That's what I want, really, from the bottom of my heart."

Bündchen instead cited a gradual drift between the two over several years. "Sometimes you grow together; sometimes you grow apart," she said. "When I was 26 years old and he was 29 years old, we met, we wanted a family, we wanted things together. As time goes by, we realize that we just wanted different things, and now we have a choice to make. That doesn't mean you don't love the person. It just means that in order for you to be authentic and truly live the life that you want to live, you have to have somebody who can meet you in the middle, right?"

Now, five months following the end of their marriage, Bündchen is focused on living a simpler life between Costa Rica, her native Brazil, and Miami, the family's "main location." She rejected any reports of a new relationship, though tabloids have previously published dating rumors with Joaquim Valente, the family's jiu-jitsu instructor, as well as Brady's friend and real estate developer Jeffrey Soffer.

Sharing her dreams of one day playing a superhero and opening a wellness center in Costa Rica, she said her current goals are opportunities that "are an extension of me." "I don't want to be a character in anybody else's movie. And when I do that, it doesn't feel as comfortable for me anymore."