Gisele Bundchen: Tom Brady Marriage Is 'Never the Fairy Tale' People Think It Is

To the public eye, supermodel Gisele Bundchen and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady live the perfect life. Out of the spotlight, though, things are a little different.

In an interview with British Vogue (h/t Emily Kirkpatrick of Vanity Fair), Bundchen said her marriage to Brady is far from perfect, noting that it's not a "fairy tale."

"His focus is on his career, mine is mostly on the kids," she said. "It’s never the fairy tale people want to believe it is. It takes work to be really in sync with someone, especially after you have kids."

Bundchen added: "I’m very grateful that he lets me take the reins when it comes to our family. He trusts my decisions." 

Brady and Bundchen got married in 2009 and the pair share two children, 12-year-old son Benjamin and nine-year-old daughter Vivian. Brady also has a 14-year-old son named John with his former partner, Bridget Moynahan. 

Brady previously opened up about his marital issues with Bundchen in an interview on Howard Stern's SiriusXM show in April 2020, revealing that a few years ago she wasn't happy with their marriage. 

He said, via ET's Antoinette Bueno:

"A couple of years ago, she didn't feel like I was doing my part for the family. She felt like I would play football all season and she would take care of the house, and then all of a sudden when the season would end, I'd be like, 'Great, let me get into all of my other business activities. Let me get into my football training,' and she's sitting there going, 'Well, when are you going to do things for the house? When are you going to take the kids to school and do that?'"

Brady also mentioned that he and Bundchen ended up going to counseling. When he was still with the New England Patriots, he also started not participating in voluntary workouts to spend more time with his family. 

The 44-year-old also revealed during a 2017 SiriusXM interview following his fifth Super Bowl victory that Bundchen wanted him to retire. 

"If it was up to my wife, she would have me retire today," Brady said at the time. "She told me that last night three times. And I said, ‘Too bad, babe, I’m having too much fun right now.’"

Brady went on to win one more Super Bowl with the Patriots before signing with the Buccaneers ahead of the 2020 season. He won his seventh Super Bowl during his first season with the team.

Brady announced his retirement from football earlier this year before revealing in March that he would be returning to the field for the 2022 campaign. Bundchen was fully supportive of the decision, a source told People's Vanessa Etienne. 

"Gisele has been vocal about wanting him to retire for years but she's also his biggest cheerleader. He would never do it if she weren't on board," the source told Etienne. "Everything they do they decide as a family."

Following his playing career, Brady will serve as an NFL analyst for Fox after agreeing to a 10-year, $375 million deal. While he will still be busy, he'll probably have much more time to spend with family than he had while he was playing.