Tom Brady has "screwed up a lot" as a dad.
The 47-year-old NFL legend - who has Jack, 17, with former partner Bridget Moynahan and Benjamin, 14, and Vivian, 11, with ex-wife Gisele Bundchen - believes being a parent is the "hardest job" a parent can have and admitted he's made mistakes over the years.
Speaking at the 2024 Fortune Global Forum in New York City, he said during a panel discussion on Tuesday (12.11.24): "All of the parents of the room know that being a parent is probably the hardest job all of us have. And we screw up a lot.
"And I've screwed up a lot as a parent. I don't wanna seem like I'm some sort of expert in parenting, because I'm certainly not that."
Tom wants to be "dependable and consistent" for his children and is supportive of all their interests, which he credits to the way he was raised by his own mom and dad, Galynn and Thomas Brady.
He explained: "The blessing my parents gave me was when I was that longshot as a kid who was a backup quarterback on a freshman team, they never said, 'Man, don't do that. It's going to be too hard. Let's do something different. Let's think about another backup plan.'
"They kind of said, 'You know what? Go for it.' And that's probably my parenting style."
Jack, who is already 6ft 5in, wants to be a basketball player and will always have the full support of his dad.
Tom said: "Unfortunately he jumps as high as I do. But I tell him, 'Dude, you're gonna be a stud.' I said, ‘Wait till you hit your growth spurt, you're gonna be jumping higher, you're gonna be dunkin'.' And whether he does or not, who cares? But I want him to know that his dad's got his back."
The quarterback noted for his boys, "it sucks to be Tom Brady's son, in so many ways".
He added: "My kids naturally are gonna be faced with their own challenges, and they gotta figure out how to overcome them, too. And I'll be there to support them a lot like my parents did. And I'll be learning along the way right there with them."
