Tom Brady on marriage with Gisele Bundchen: 'Sometimes I have to hold on hard’

While Tom Brady is a six-time Super Bowl champion, the all-star athlete still experiences personal struggles. He recently opened up about the challenges of maintaining a strong relationship with wife Gisele Bündchen, whom he described as very different from himself.

“Gisele is not really into sports,” Brady, 42, told Men’s Health for its September 2019 cover story. “She’s like a kite flying in the sky, and I’m kind of tethering her. Sometimes I have to hold on hard. But she knows I’m always there for her.”

The New England Patriots quarterback then addressed how the longtime loves come from very different backgrounds. He noted that the Brazilian supermodel’s “life has been very nontraditional” compared to his own.

“She left home at 14; she lived in Japan at 16 in an era with no cell phones. She lived in New York City at 17 without speaking English,” he continued. “In her mind, there are no boundaries. ‘Why can’t you do that? Why do you have to go to school? Why can’t you just leave and live in a different country?’ In her reality, you can. Coming from mine, it was very different.”

Brady also pointed out that Bündchen helped him realize that he does not have to follow a traditional path to get what he wants out of life, which he claimed has “helped me grow.”

Brady married Bündchen, 39, in an intimate ceremony held in Santa Monica, California, in February 2009. They first met in 2006 and would later become an item in January 2007.

Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2009, Bündchen said that the pair’s initial meeting was love at first sight.

“I knew right way — the first time I saw him,” she told the magazine at the time. “We met through a friend. The moment I saw him, he smiled and I was like, ‘That is the most beautiful, charismatic smile I’ve ever seen!’ We sat and talked for three hours.”

The former Victoria’s Secret model continued to elaborate on the duo’s instant connection, adding: “I had to go home for Christmas, but I didn’t want to leave. You know that feeling of, like, you can’t get enough? From the first day we met, we’ve never spent one day without speaking to each other.”

Brady and Bündchen are the parents of Benjamin, 9, and Vivian, 6. The NFL star additionally shares 11-year-old son John with ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan.