A new biography of Tom Brady says the quarterback asked for an extended leave from training camp in the summer of 2022 to try to repair his marriage to Gisele Bündchen privately in the Bahamas.
Author Lars Anderson makes the claim in “Brady: An American Story and the Price of Greatness,” published by Celadon Books, which went on sale in bookstores Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026.
The book gives a detailed account of the summer the marriage collapsed. Anderson draws on interviews with coaches and people close to the seven-time Super Bowl champion, and devotes substantial space to the months before the divorce became public.
What the Coaches Saw
Anderson writes that Brady, then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ starting quarterback, sought time away from camp, telling quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen only that he had private matters to attend to.
Christensen recalled a hollowed-out, lifeless look in Brady’s eyes and wondered whether Brady was in some form of psychological shock. Anderson writes that something bad had blindsided the then-45-year-old Brady and drained him of his vitality.
Brady reported to camp nearly 20 pounds lighter, and coaches and teammates worried he was sick. Former Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians told Anderson there was no mystery about the cause: the stress of the personal trouble Brady was carrying.
Arians said Brady took pride in his conditioning, making the transformation jarring to those who knew him. He said the quarterback seemed miserable and badly stressed.
One coach told Anderson that Brady “looked like a cancer patient with really good hair.” The line has been attributed to Arians.
The book sets that summer against an earlier scene: on Feb. 7, 2021, the couple celebrated together at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., after the Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV.
Two Posts After a Birth
Bündchen welcomed her first child with her new husband, Joaquim Valente, in February 2025. Anderson writes that Brady was stung by the timing of the pregnancy.
Less than 24 hours after the birth, Brady, now a Fox Sports analyst, shared a passage on social media arguing that the way to be loved is to love, the way to be interesting is to be interested and the way to have a friend is to be one. Anderson writes that more than a few people with close ties to Brady took it as coded commentary on how he felt at the end of the marriage.
Just over a month after the birth, Brady posted a photograph taken at UCLA’s practice facility, his right arm extended, the ball spiraling out of his hand and the throw climbing into a sunset. The caption was “True Love.” Anderson writes that it is the same phrase Bündchen had used again and again to describe Brady’s relationship with football.
One friend called the post “the softest middle finger.” Anderson writes that to those who knew him the post read as anything but ambiguous.
A Source Points to Astrology
The book traces a series of disagreements between the couple over football and family. An unnamed source quoted by Anderson describes a decisive moment: Bündchen, who the source says is deeply interested in astrology, looked to the stars, told Brady the two were not compatible and was finished.
The same source says what set that in motion is harder to pin down. The source raises several possibilities: years of feeling she was not Brady’s top priority; that he kept playing after she asked him to step away; or that a spiritual adviser urged her to leave the marriage.
The source insists in the book that, whatever the trigger, this was nothing like an ordinary marital breakdown.
Where the Family Stands
Brady, 49, and Bündchen, 46, finalized their divorce in October 2022 after 13 years of marriage. They share son Benjamin and daughter Vivian. Brady also has a son, Jack, 19, with his former girlfriend, actress Bridget Moynahan.
Bündchen has spoken at length about her own wellness in the years since. In an episode of “The Rich Roll Podcast” published March 25, 2024, she discussed battling anxiety and panic attacks, her decision to abstain from alcohol, the boundaries she has set, her environmental advocacy and her hands-on approach to parenting.