Tom Brady has opened up about how his divorce from Gisele Bündchen affected the final year of his storied NFL career.

In a conversation with MLFootball, which was shared on X this past Thursday, the 48-year-old former quarterback discussed the personal challenges he faced during his split from Bündchen, aged 45. The couple officially ended their 13-year marriage in October 2022.

“My last season was difficult,” Brady confessed. “I was dealing with a significant personal family issue. It was a challenge that really drained me in terms of my ability to perform on the field.”

After initially retiring in February 2022, Brady made a brief return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring permanently in 2023. He emphasized that his decision to retire was always influenced by his family considerations.

“I played football for 23 years, so I didn’t feel like I was missing out when I retired,” he explained. “I always had a goal to retire at 45. At that age, I wanted to focus on spending time with my kids and being present at all their games. They’ve spent plenty of time at their dad’s games.”

“I tried to put as much as I could into it,” he noted of his last season. “I felt like I owed to my teammates and coaches to give them everything I had. I wish it could have been a little bit better at the end. But it was just a unique situation and a unique year for me.”

He and the retired Victoria’s Secret Angel share two kids: Benjamin, 16, and Vivian, 13. Brady also shares son Jack, 18, with ex-partner Bridget Moynahan.

Bünchden went on marry jiu jitsu instructor Joaquim Valente in December after welcoming their first child together in early 2025.

Brady has most recently been linked to Alix Earle, with the two spotted getting cozy on New Year’s Eve.

Page Six exclusively revealed that Earle, 25, and Brady, 48, spent some time together at a NYE yacht party, with an insider telling us the two eventually left a “larger group” and went to a private cabin to talk.

Prior to that, Brady was romantically linked to model Irina Shayk following his divorce.