Gisele Bündchen Spoke Out About Her Unique Bond With The Mother Of Tom Brady’s First Child

According to People magazine, Brady and Moynahan were first talked about as a couple in early 2004. They became a high-profile pairing, though the relationship didn’t last. The duo broke up at the end of 2006 after approximately three years. This news reportedly came as a “surprise” to followers of Brady and Moynahan: the public had widely seemed to regard them as a perfect couple.

Moynahan’s big break as an actress came with Coyote Ugly in 2000. The female bartender saga was a box-office hit. Roles in I, Robot with Will Smith in 2004 and more recently the John Wick franchise with Keanu Reeves further established her as a big-screen name. Meanwhile, she has starred in TV smash Blue Bloods since 2010; the show started four years after her split with Brady.  

As Moynahan forged her Hollywood career, Brady was making a splash in sports. His reputation was cemented in 2001 when he took over from an injured Drew Bledsoe as starting quarterback. Overall he spent 23 seasons in the game, playing for the New England Patriots and then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He retired — for the second and final time — in February 2023.  

While the exact reason for Brady and Moynahan’s amicable split wasn’t clear, it became a big talking point in gossip circles. Famous couples break up every other day, but something had arguably captured the public’s imagination about this particular pairing. But if they thought that split was memorable, they hadn’t seen anything yet: Brady’s next relationship set even more tongues wagging.

The same month that he broke up with Moynahan, Brady was reportedly set up on a blind date. People never know what to expect from this kind of thing, but we imagine Brady was pleasantly surprised: the individual who arrived to meet him was the supermodel Gisele! It was the beginning of a long-term relationship that turned into marriage in 2009. 

A lot happened between Brady and Bündchen before they tied the knot. As noted, a couple of months on from splitting with Brady, Moynahan revealed she was expecting his child. This life-altering news meant Brady needed to tell his new partner all about the happy event he was going to experience… with his ex! According to reports, Bündchen got a heads-up the day before the juicy details hit newsstands. 

How would this seismic development affect things for the three of them going forward? As you can imagine, what ensued was a difficult, yet also surprising, chapter in the lives of Brady, Bündchen, and of course Moynahan. We’ll take you through what happened next, before covering what Bündchen has recently said about the situation in an eye-opening 2023 interview. 

Moynahan and Brady became parents to a baby boy in August 2007. They named him John Thomas Edward, or Jack for short. At the same time as Brady was adjusting to life as a father, he was managing a relatively new relationship with Bündchen. While celebrities are often accused of having first-world problems, this was truly a complex issue.  

In December 2009 Brady and Bündchen welcomed Benjamin Rein to the world, with Vivian Lake coming later in December 2012. The model was pictured supporting her star QB hubby at games and went on to express a love for the sport. The family appeared to do a lot together, even though Brady was kept very busy with his career. Bündchen dialed back on her modeling to raise the children. 

But by October 2022 it was all over for Brady and Bündchen as a couple: their divorce was announced to the world via Instagram. Stories abounded concerning the rumored conflicts between Brady’s sporting ambition and family commitments. As we mentioned, he retired from football once, before going back again not long after. Whatever took place, the break-up was fairly smooth, it seems.

“My priority has always been and will continue to be our children, whom I love with all my heart,” Bündchen wrote on Instagram at the time. “We will continue co-parenting to give them the love, care, and attention they greatly deserve.” It showed that, in spite of the heartbreak of a long marriage ending, the kids were going to be the overriding focus.

This family unit included Jack, who was being raised by Moynahan and Brady, with Bündchen offering what appeared to be her whole-hearted support. Speaking in 2008 to Harper’s Bazaar magazine, Moynahan said, “Going through that traumatic time of being heartbroken and then being pregnant turned my whole life upside down and inside out and just knocked the wind out of me.”

She added, “But I got so much out of that. It's golden and it's tough and it was… [messed] up. But now I have a child and it's the best thing in the world.” Was the interaction between Moynahan and Bündchen tension-free in the aftermath of the baby news back in 2007? Well, it’s no shock to hear that things were probably a little strained.

The women didn’t actually come face-to-face for around a year following the announcement. Any awkwardness was of course understandable! In 2020 Brady talked to Howard Stern about his and Bündchen’s journey, saying, “We were forced into this very important thing in our lives at a new part of our relationship.” Ultimately this mother of all awkward situations proved helpful.

“In a lot of ways, I found out a lot about Gisele through this experience,” Brady told Stern, “and she found out a lot about me dealing with a situation that was not a very easy one.” Bündchen gave her own, much-anticipated, take in 2018 memoir Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life. This set the record straight from her perspective. 

Writing from the heart, Bündchen revealed that “my world had been turned upside down”. The dramatic development could well have cost her the entire relationship. It was certainly an option the supermodel thought about, and it was one she mentioned in passing during a 2015 interview for CBS This Morning. Thankfully she decided to stick things out: it proved a tougher but more rewarding road.

Not that quitting on Brady wasn’t tempting, perhaps. Bündchen herself put it in simple terms, saying, “I felt like I didn't know what to do. It was kind of one of those moments of like, ‘Do I just run away?’” Would people have blamed her if she had? Seven years on from that interview, Bündchen has offered some thoughts and reflections to Vanity Fair magazine.

It may be over a decade since the original bombshell news broke, but readers still clearly want to hear about the surprising story from Bündchen’s point of view. There’s also the not inconsiderable matter of Brady and Bündchen splitting in 2022 after 13 years of a high-profile union. What did the supermodel have to say for herself on all these subjects? 

The arrival into the world of Brady and Moynahan’s son Jack had been a curveball of epic proportions for Bündchen back in the day. It wasn’t easy, as you can imagine, but the trio went from being strange bedfellows to close friends and family members. Today Jack is a teenager and, while she’s divorced from his father, Bündchen is still close with him. 

“I love him so much,” she says. A brief reference is made to their mutual interest in jujitsu: it looks like this is one family you don’t want to mess with! Plus, being around Jack was an eye-opener for Bündchen when it came to motherhood in general. Two years on from the Earth-shattering news, she was giving birth herself. 

“Jack came into our lives and I felt so blessed, and it kind of awakened in me this desire of being a mom,” Bündchen told the magazine. “I’ve always dreamed of being a mom, but I think that happened a little faster than I thought, because now I have this beautiful little angel that I get to care for and love.”

So, it seems like she has a lot to thank Jack for. Bündchen may have been thrust into the role of child-carer in the most abrupt of ways, but ultimately things turned out alright. She was on the sidelines you might say, yet this experience became a positive one and helped shape the direction of the rest of her life. 

It will come as a relief for fans to learn that, while the path to happiness was somewhat rocky, Bündchen managed to find a path through the confusion. Things worked out well with Jack, yet her marriage to Brady didn’t pan out as hoped. She talked about the end of her marriage, as well as sharing details about her life with Brady.  

In its coverage of the story, People goes back to the beginning, when Brady and Bündchen first laid eyes on each other. As previously mentioned, this was during a blind date. Who set them up? Chief marketing officer for the Victoria’s Secret brand Ed Razek is the person who got the pair in the same room; reportedly, a New York wine bar was the setting.

Once they’d bonded, it was time for the couple to start sharing more than wine and chuckles. Bündchen made a permanent relocation to Boston to be with Brady, as he wowed the crowds for the New England Patriots. Quite the shift for a jet-setting supermodel: mind you, jets are probably off the table for her these days, given her views on green issues.

Toward the end of his time as a top player, Brady signed a deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This involved the family swapping the cooler climate of Boston for the Sun-drenched state of Florida. Bündchen told Vanity Fair that this had been her first experience of Tampa; she would call the place home for only a relatively short time. 

From the outside, Brady and Bündchen looked fairly comfortable. What worries could you possibly have with a high-profile career and millions of dollars in the bank? Well for starters, how about the prospect of holding a relationship together under external pressure from the media? The spotlight seemed pretty harsh on the couple; speculation grew that all wasn’t happy behind closed doors.

Particular attention was paid to Brady’s retirement, which he first announced in February 2022. It looked like the end of an era: his presence would certainly be missed out on the field by his army of dedicated fans. Many would be wondering what life was going to look like for football without Brady in it. Yet luckily, they didn’t have to wonder too long. 

A little over a month later, Brady performed a dramatic U-turn. This is thought to have caused tension at home, with reported concerns from Bündchen that the rough-and-tumble of the sporting world was a little too rough. Brady was potentially putting himself back at risk in the thick of the action. His comeback was brief, but damage could have been done.

By February 2023 Brady was out of the game for good. Yet he was also facing the pain of a divorce. A few months earlier, it had been officially confirmed that he and Bündchen were parting ways: it turned out that the gossip and speculation hand’t been as far-fetched as was previously thought. She opened up to Vanity Fair, saying the split was the “death of my dream”.

Bündchen added, “You give 100 percent of yourself, and it's heartbreaking when it doesn't end up the way you hoped for, and worked for, but you can only do your part.” They’re words that will surely strike a chord with anyone who’s been through a break-up. Once the dust had settled, at least one important question remained.  

And that focused on Bündchen’s relationship with Moynahan. After all these years, and the extraordinary journey these two women have shared, how does the land lie? According to Bündchen, it lies just fine. A co-parenting arrangement has been in place for a while, and it isn’t accompanied by anything other than warm feelings. She told Vanity Fair what things were like in 2023.

Not only did Bündchen state that she has a “great relationship” with Moynahan, she also sees her as kind of an inspiration. After all, both are now exes of Brady, with all the challenges that accompany such a situation. “Everything in life comes with work,” she said. You have to go through the roller coaster.” She also mentioned “sticky points” that were overcome.

For Bündchen, her life is lived with maximum consideration in order to benefit Jack. “My goal was always, ‘How can I be the most helpful? How can I make it the easiest I possibly can?’ I put myself in [Bridget’s] shoes and I was like, ‘How can I support her?’ Because in [sic] the end of the day, we are team players”.

This was a turn of phrase of which Brady would no doubt approve! With that relationship behind her, what is Bündchen’s future direction? She took the opportunity to shoot down rumors of her dating Jeffrey Soffer. A pal of Brady’s, he’d also got hitched to a supermodel: Elle Macpherson. Naturally the media had seized on this story, but for her there’s nothing to see.

“I have zero relationship with him in any way. He's Tom's friend, not my friend.” In case the message wasn’t clear, she went on to say, “I wouldn't be with this guy. I mean, puh-leeze.” With regard to modeling, she stated that she was out of loop regarding who’s hot on the catwalk. Yet like Macpherson, she’s certainly open to modeling in future. 

Using a time-honored expression, Bündchen said, “Never say never”. Meanwhile, she’s focusing on health. A wellness center on her home turf of Costa Rica seems to be an option she wants to explore. “Being a model is not really an extension of me… It’s being an actress in a silent movie.” She added, “I don't want to be a character in anybody else’s movie.”

As for Brady, reports of his personal life continue to come thick and fast. From speculation that he should start dating the ubiquitous Kim Kardashian, to the interest shown in him by social media star Veronika Rajek, it’s clear that he will always have high-profile women linked to his name, fairly or unfairly. What’s also clear is that both he and Bündchen are moving on with their lives. 

Moynahan found her own happiness down the aisle when she married businessman Andrew Frankel in 2015. Jack remains her only child, and she continues to work in TV and film. John Wick 4 and Sex and the City spin-off And Just Like That… are her most recent acting credits. Moynahan spoke to More magazine in 2011 about her role as a mother.

She said, “My son has two loving parents and an extended family, whether it’s cousins or stepmothers or boyfriends. My son is surrounded by love.” It’s good to know that this tricky situation has been navigated by her, Brady, and Bündchen with what sounds like maturity and stability. The convivial bond between these two exes sets an enviable example.