Tom Brady's Reportedly ‘Traumatizing’ Divorce From Gisele Bündchen May Have Influenced His Decision to Retire

The 2022-2023 football season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has seemingly been the most stressful, exhausting season of Tom Brady‘s life, not necessarily because of the demands of the NFL lifestyle or his age, but more so due to the “traumatizing” nature of his very public divorce from supermodel Gisele Bündchen in the midst of it all.

According to ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington, who spoke about Brady’s second retirement announcement on the network’s “First Take” segment Wednesday morning, “He’s tired. I think it’s not just about the 23-year career … He’s 45 years old. It’s time to rest up.”

Darlington continued, “Take the human element of this past year into consideration. During his most hyper-focused time of his life, which is in-season, he went through the stress of a divorce — a traumatizing divorce to him. So, now he stepped back. He decided, ‘You know what, I need to recharge. I need to rebuild my life and get myself reenergized,’ and not for the football field, but just in general.”

Brady announced his second retirement on Wednesday, sharing a video on Instagram in which he said “I’m retiring — for good.” While the quarterback famously unretired just 40 days after announcing his first departure from the NFL in February 2022, Darlington believes Brady’s claims that this time is different. “This is not going to be a reconsideration,” the ESPN reporter said. “He is done. He feels at peace with it. He is ready to move on with his life away from football.”

While the world won’t see him making plays on the field anymore, rumor has it that Brady has an NFL broadcasting deal with Fox Sports in the works. The Post previously reported that the football legend signed a 10-year, $375 million deal last spring. Keep your eyes and ears open for that announcement from Brady — he may be retiring for good, but it sounds like he’ll still be heavily involved in the sporting league.

Before you go, click here for all the celebrity splits and divorces we never saw coming.

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