Gisele Bündchen stepped out without her wedding ring after she and husband Tom Brady reportedly hired divorce lawyers earlier this week amid their ongoing marital turmoil.
The 42-year-old Brazilian supermodel, who is reportedly living apart from the 45-year-old NFL star, was spotted visiting an office building in Miami on Thursday.
While rumors of a rift in the couple’s 13-year union only emerged in recent months, sources told People magazine that the pair’s relationship woes are “nothing new”.
“[The problems] are 10 years old,” an insider told the outlet. “This has been going on forever. This is nothing new to either of them.”
Multiple sources said that Brady’s decision to return to the NFL for the 2022 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which came 40 days after he had announced his retirement, had caused “a lot of tension” between Bündchen and Brady.
The Vogue cover star was said to be disappointed over his choice as she had hoped that he would be able to spend more time with his family.
The two are parents to son Benjamin, 12, and daughter Vivian, 9, as well as Brady’s 15-year-old son Jack, whom he shares with ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan, 53.
Bündchen, who was usually a fixture on the sidelines of Brady’s games, has yet to attend one of her spouse’s matchups this season.
“Gisele is doing fine,” one source told People. “She is getting her stuff in order. They are both over [fighting for their marriage] and it’s happening now, so they can do their own thing and move on.”
However, the insider went on to say, “They are both smart people and number one in their field. They know together they are worth more.”
A source close to the seven-time Super Bowl champion told People that he is “hurt” over the couple’s marital strife.
“It’s pretty obvious that he’s hurting,” the insider said. “He feels very hurt by her.”
“She is the one steering the divorce,” the source added. “She is playing offense, and he is playing defense.”
“He wants to protect himself, protect his interests, but he’s only starting to go the legal route in his defense from her. He doesn’t want this to be ugly, he doesn’t want to fight. If the divorce is happening — and it seems like it is — he wants it to go as smoothly as possible.”
Though Bündchen and Brady’s marriage appears to have hit its rockiest patch yet, this is not the first time in recent history that the couple have faced divorce rumors.
Speculation that the two were headed for a split began in 2015, during Brady’s infamous Deflategate scandal.
Deflategate involved the allegation that the former New England Patriots quarterback had ordered the deliberate deflation of footballs that were used in his then-team’s victory against the Indianapolis Colts during the AFC Championship Game in January of that year.
At the time, rumors began to swirl that Brady and Bündchen’s marriage was also on the rocks due to the scandal, and by early September of that year, the pair hadn’t been photographed together in two months.
However, Brady brushed off the divorce speculation during a radio interview with Boston’s WEEI 93.7 FM.
“We’re in a great place, I’ll just say that. I’m a lucky man. I’ve been very blessed with support from my family and certainly her, and there’s no bigger supporter that I have than her and vice versa,” he said.
“I’ve been very blessed to have an incredible relationship with my life partner, and I don’t think anything will ever get in the way of that.”
“There were a lot of different emotions that I went through,” Brady told the outlet regarding Deflategate. “Those were all at different points in different circumstances. I think they were all — I kind of took them as they come.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
“I faced obviously different adversities in my life, different challenges and you just kind of rely on those experiences, and you rely on a lot of people that are around you for the support. This has been a different type of challenge in my life. I think it’s been a different type of obstacle to overcome.”
Ultimately, a federal judge tossed out the Deflategate case and his four-game suspension, and two days later, Bündchen shared a photo on her Instagram of Brady playing soccer with their daughter. “And my heart melts #biggestlove #family,” she captioned at the time.
Fox News Digital’s Will Mendelson contributed to this report.
