Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen finalized their divorce last Friday, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback reportedly was willing to go to great lengths to “make things work.”
Brady has adjusted to life after his divorce, spending as much time as he can with his kids amid a disappointing start heading into the midway point of the NFL season. And Bündchen has coped with the situation thanks to their two children, Benjamin and Vivian, as well.
But despite reports of the split happening years ago or the pair’s marriage problems being “nothing new,” a PEOPLE report published Tuesday tells a different story.
“This was not Tom’s idea,” an insider told PEOPLE. “This was never Tom’s idea.”
The source added Brady “wanted to do whatever he needed to do to fix things” with Bündchen because he “didn’t want the divorce, and he didn’t want the marriage to end.”
The 45-year-old QB was also said to be “willing to go to therapy, marriage counseling — whatever it took to make things work.” This is a contrast to reports from friends who felt Brady “refused to bend” for Bündchen, though perhaps a different interpretation of what they felt needed to happen.
However, the source told PEOPLE Bündchen felt “it was a little bit too little, too late” and also added, “she gave him a lot of opportunities to fix things, and he didn’t.”
This lines up with reports the Brazilian supermodel gave Brady an “ultimatum” to choose between football or family as the source of Bündchen’s frustrations reportedly was the quarterback’s decision to come out of his short retirement this past offseason.
It sounds like the two have begun steps to move on and make things work for their three children — their oldest, John, being from Brady’s previous relationship to Bridget Moynahan.
Brady and Bündchen had been married since February 2009.
