Yesterday, for the second and hopefully final time, Tom Brady retired from his beloved football. Hard for him, we’re sure, but as decisions go this one seemed both obvious and overdue. In the year since he announced his retirement the first time, and then took it back, Brady stopped winning: Professionally, in that his subsequent season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was, according to people who know about the NFL, among the worst of his life; and personally, in that his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, filed for divorce. Gisele had already given up a lot in order to support his career during their 13 years of marriage, moving to Boston and seemingly doing the bulk of the work to raise their kids. Plus football comes with a high risk of brain damage for players — it’s not hard to see why his reneging on retirement might be a point of contention. Anyway, now that Brady is finally leaving the field, maybe you are wondering: How is Gisele (last seen riding horses in Costa Rica with her jujitsu instructor) feeling about the news?
“Sincerely happy” for him, according to one of People’s sources, but at the same time, “Gisele moved on with her life quite a while ago.” Basically the verbal embodiment of the prayer-hands emoji.
This source went on to explain that while she supports “whatever Tom chooses to do with his life now,” she is “not involved” in those decisions. She is “extremely busy in her career and life” and focused on “the welfare and happiness of the children.” Another of People’s sources separately clarified that Brady’s undying commitment to the game was “far from the only issue” in their marriage, but Gisele “finds negativity to be toxic and she wants no part of it. She wants Tom to thrive. It’s beneficial for their kids.”
If this, to you, sounds like another way of saying “best of luck with all your future endeavors,” it may please you to see the comment Gisele left under her soon-to-be ex-husband’s Instagram announcement. “Wishing you only wonderful things in this new chapter of your life,” she wrote, followed by — what else — prayer hands. This is the sort of inscription you might find on a Hallmark card for recent grads, and it is also a perfect response for when your ex proves you right in public: Unruffled, boilerplate, maybe a little smug in its sincerity. Good for her.