American football star Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen have announced their marriage is over and they have finalised their divorce.
Brady and supermodel Bundchen posted statements on Instagram on Friday, saying they had “amicably” reached the decision.
The announcement comes in the midst of Brady’s 23rd NFL season, just months after the seven-time Super Bowl champion put an end to his short-lived retirement.
Posting on Instagram, the supermodel said: “With much gratitude for our time together, Tom and I have amicably finalised our divorce. My priority has always been and will continue to be our children whom I love with all my heart. We will continue co-parenting to give them the love, care and attention they greatly deserve.
“The decision to end a marriage is never easy but we have grown apart and while it is, of course, difficult to go through something like this, I feel blessed for the time we had together and only wish the best for Tom always. I kindly ask that our privacy be respected during this sensitive time. Thank you.”
Brady wrote: “We arrived at this decision to end our marriage after much consideration.
“Doing so is, of course, painful and difficult, like it is for many people who go through the same thing every day around the world.”
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback — who had long stated a desire to spend more time with Bundchen and his three children — announced his departure from the game in February, only to change his mind 40 days later.
“What more do you have to prove?” Bundchen told her husband on the sidelines after his last, record-shattering Super Bowl victory, as Brady himself recounted shortly after the win.
Bundchen has previously spoken of her concerns that her husband has played through serious injuries including concussion in 2016.
Bundchen and Brady were introduced by a mutual friend and married — twice — a little over two years later.
They said their first “I dos” in early 2009 at a Catholic church in Santa Monica, California, before family and close friends, followed by an equally small second wedding at her house in Costa Rica nearly two months later.
Their son Benjamin was born later that year, followed by a daughter, Vivian, in 2012. Brady also has a 15-year-old son, Jack Moynahan, from a previous relationship with actor Bridget Moynahan.
Bundchen, who was discovered by a modeling scout at age 13 in Brazil, secured her place as one of the industry’s highest-paid models by the 2000s and became a tabloid staple, fueled by a relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio.
In addition to walking the runways of top designers, appearing in campaigns for high street and high fashion brands alike, she signed on as a Victoria’s Secret Angel and took on small film roles — including in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
She took a step back from modeling in 2015, giving up runway work and limiting herself to a few advertising campaigns and magazine covers a year.
She made one big exception, wearing a glistening gown and a huge smile in 2016 as she crossed a 400-foot (120-meter) runway at the Rio Olympics while fellow Brazilian Daniel Jobim performed The Girl from Ipanema.
Since paring back her modeling commitments, she has dedicated herself to environmental activism, particularly with regard to the Amazon rainforest’s conservation, and business ventures like eco-friendly skin care and a lingerie line.
She has also been vocal about mental health, disclosing debilitating panic attacks that she said had made her contemplate suicide, and criticising unrealistic beauty standards.
