For the first time since he and Gisele Bundchen announced their divorce last week, Tom Brady spoke at length about his personal life on Monday.
Brady went in-depth on what he’s been going through during the latest episode of his “Let’s Go!” podcast with Jim Gray and Larry Fitzgerald.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion called the separation from his wife of 13 years “amicable.”
“There’s a lot of professionals in life that go through things that they deal with at work and they deal with at home,” Brady said, via the New York Post. “And obviously the good news is it’s a very amicable situation and I’m really focused on two things: taking care of my family and certainly my children, secondly doing the best job I can to win football games.
“So, that’s what professionals do. You focus at work when it’s time to work and then when you come home you focus on the priorities that are at home. All you can do is the best you can do. That’s what I’ll continue to do as long as I’m working and as long as I’m being a dad.”
Brady also addressed the need to compartmentalize his personal and family life and his professional life as the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I think that’s what being a professional is,” Brady said. “I’ve dealt with a lot of challenging situations on and off the field in 23 years, and a lot of it does play out in front of a lot of people. I think the interesting thing for a football player or athlete in general is we’re not actors even though we’re on TV. That is our real self out there. We’re just trying to do our best. That’s how people have really gotten to know me over the years, by being on TV. That is an authentic self that is out there to compete with my teammates every day, and you’re giving all you can to the team.”
The Bucs are just 3-5 on the year and struggling to score points, leading some to speculate if Brady’s off-field troubles are affecting him on game day.
Not so, head coach Todd Bowles said last week.
“This is not a new or a different type of deal for a lot of people in the world. It’s life. You’re going to have this, whether you’re a billionaire or whether you’re broke. You’re going to have ups and downs, deaths in the family, hard times…” Bowles said. “That’s just part of life. You have to navigate as best you can and keep moving.”
Brady and the Bucs will take on the Los Angeles Rams this Sunday afternoon.