Biography details Brady and Bündchen’s marriage strain

A forthcoming biography of Tom Brady says Gisele Bündchen raised the prospect of his retirement years before the couple divorced, and describes how people around the quarterback viewed his condition during his final NFL season in 2022. The book’s accounts of private conversations and the effects of marital strain are attributed to its author and interviewees, rather than independently verified evidence in the reports. In Brady: An American Story and the Price of Greatness, author Lars Anderson recounts that Bündchen asked Brady in 2017 whether he was ready to retire. The book says Brady wanted to keep playing. It also describes a handwritten letter Bündchen wrote in 2018 asking for more of his time and support at home, including with their children and her career. The biography says the couple attended marriage counseling but remained together as Brady continued his football career. He left the New England Patriots after the 2019 season to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won a Super Bowl in his first season with the team, and announced his retirement in February 2022. Forty days later, he said he would return for another season.