Alas, another power couple has fumbled.
Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bündchen are “amicably” ending their 13-year marriage, each A-lister said in separate but similarly worded divorce announcements shared to their social media pages on Friday.
Brady’s statement was getting a lot of play early on. “We arrived at this decision amicably and with gratitude for the time we spent together,” the NFL star, 45, wrote in an Instagram Story on his official account. “We arrived at this decision to end our marriage after much consideration. Doing so is, of course, painful and difficult, like it is for many people who go through the same thing every day around the world. However we wish only the best for each other as we pursue whatever new chapters in our lives that are yet to be written.”
Bündchen, 42, was just as cordial in her own statement shared to her Instagram Stories, also using the word “amicably” and agreeing that the pair will put their two children first. “With much gratitude for our time together, Tom and I have amicably finalized our divorce,” she wrote. “My priority has always been and will continue to be our children whom I love with all my heart. We will continue co-parenting to give them the love, care and attention they greatly deserve.”
But Bündchen’s post offered a little more insight into the reasoning behind the split. “The decision to end a marriage is never easy but we have grown apart,” she wrote. “And while it is, of course, difficult to get through something like this, I feel blessed for the time we had together and only wish the best for Tom always.”
““The decision to end a marriage is never easy but we have grown apart.””
Her statement adds fuel to speculation over the past few months that the dynamic duo, whose net worth could be upwards of $113 million (per Forbes, which puts Brady at just under $84 million and had listed Bündchen at $30.5 million in 2016), were heading toward splitsville after Brady backed out of retirement.
A replay: Brady had announced that he was retiring from football in February after winning seven Super Bowl titles, including six with the New England Patriots and one with his current team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He thanked Bündchen at the time, saying his wife “has done EVERYTHING for our family to allow me to focus on my career.” But just weeks later, he changed his mind and un-retired to continue playing with the Bucs.
In an interview in the September issue of Elle, Bündchen said, “I’ve done my part, which is [to] be there for [Tom]. I moved to Boston, and I focused on creating a cocoon and a loving environment for my children to grow up in and to be there supporting him and his dream.” That interview hit the same month that Page Six reported the couple had had “a series of heated arguments” and that Brady and Bündchen were reportedly living apart.
How the pair will divide their assets remains to be seen. Forbes estimated that Brady earned $83.9 million last year, including about $32 million from his NFL salary and winnings plus another $52 million in endorsements. Brady also launched his TB12 lifestyle brand and cofounded the NFT company Autograph, which raised $170 million in a Series B funding round announced last January. And Brady already knows his next play: becoming a Fox Sports commentator when he does decide to stop playing football for good.
Forbes put Bündchen’s fortune at $30.5 million in 2016, citing lucrative fragrance and beauty contracts with Chanel and Carolina Herrera at the time. She’s also got her own lingerie and skincare lines, and she became the environmental and community projects adviser to watch company IWC this year, as well as the environmental and social initiatives adviser to the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
The pair own several high-end properties, including a $17 million mansion on Miami Beach’s exclusive Indian Creek Island, a $3.5 million apartment in New York City’s tony Tribeca neighborhood, a home in Yellowstone Club, a private community in Big Sky, Montana, and a home in Costa Rica.
People magazine reported Friday that the settlement has been worked out and that the pair have been negotiating terms for some time. The agreement includes joint custody of the kids, People reported.
Both of them have asked for privacy and respect for their family during this time.
