A forthcoming book about Tom Brady's life and career is pulling back the curtain on one of the most talked-about splits in celebrity history — and the details are far more human, and far more heartbreaking, than the retirement rows that dominated the headlines at the time.
Brady: An American Story and the Price of Greatness, written by author Lars Anderson, claims that Gisele Bündchen handed her then-husband a handwritten letter following his Super Bowl LII defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018 — a message that read less like a love note and more like a last appeal from a woman who had reached her limit.
The Letter That Said Everything
According to Anderson, Bündchen's letter was not about football tactics or the agony of defeat. It was about the quieter losses accumulating inside their marriage — the evenings lost to a buzzing phone, the mental replays that followed Brady home from the stadium, and the growing sense that their family life was always coming second.
"She explained that their marriage wasn't working. She needed more of him, more of his time, more of his attention, more of his heart. 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."
The book also claims she asked for more help with their children, Benjamin and Vivian, the freedom to sleep in occasionally and the space to focus on her own career during the relentless demands of the NFL season. An unnamed former Brady teammate quoted by Anderson suggested the imbalance had been building for some time.
"She was getting tired of living on Tom's schedule," the former teammate reportedly said. "And being somewhat in his shadow during football season. How many times did you see Tom supporting her career? There clearly were imbalances there."
Brady Kept the Letter — and Reread It
Perhaps the most quietly devastating detail in Anderson's account is what Brady allegedly did with the letter rather than setting it aside. According to the book, he kept it — and returned to it on reflective evenings, as though trying to remind himself of what was at stake beyond the game.
"He'd pull it out on contemplative nights and reread every word," Anderson writes, adding that Brady was "wanting to be reminded that he needed to tend to his marriage with the same tenacity he tended to his job."
The book also reports that the couple attended counselling together, suggesting Brady was not entirely unmoved by his wife's concerns — even if, ultimately, little changed in the years that followed.
Astrology, Estrangement and a Final Decision
The tension reportedly stretched back further than 2018. The book claims Bündchen had been pushing for Brady to retire as early as 2017, following the New England Patriots' Super Bowl win that year, and that she had even reached out to one of his former teammates in the hope he might encourage Brady to step away from the sport. That plan reportedly backfired — the teammate told Brady to keep playing as long as he wanted.
By the time the marriage finally ended, Anderson claims Bündchen had made her decision with characteristic decisiveness. An insider quoted in the book alleges she told Brady plainly: "We're not compatible" — a conclusion she had reportedly reached, at least in part, through her interest in astrology. "One day, Gisele, who is really into astrology, basically looked into the stars and told Tom, 'We're not compatible,'" the source is quoted as saying. "And just like that, she was done."
Brady announced his first retirement from the NFL in February 2022, only to reverse course just 40 days later and return for another season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The couple filed for divorce on 28th October 2022, with court records describing the marriage as irretrievably broken. The split ended 13 years of marriage.
Life After Brady
Since the divorce, both have moved on, albeit in very different directions. Bündchen has since married Joaquim Valente, the jiu-jitsu instructor she began a relationship with following the split, and in February 2025 she welcomed a child with him — her third child overall and her first with Valente.
According to the book, Brady was quietly shaken by the news. A friend is quoted as saying he was "stung" when the pregnancy became public knowledge.
Shortly after Bündchen gave birth, Brady posted a dramatic image on Instagram — a photograph of himself mid-throw against a golden sunset sky — with just two words as the caption: "True Love." One of Brady's friends, as cited in the book, called it the "softest middle finger" imaginable.
Neither Brady nor Bündchen has publicly commented on Anderson's account of the handwritten letter or the other claims made in the book. The details have not been confirmed by either party. What they do offer, if accurate, is a portrait of a marriage that was quietly struggling long before the world was told it was over — and a woman who asked, plainly and in her own hand, for something more.
