How Tom Brady’s Wife Gisele Bündchen Described Their Blind Date: ‘I Knew Right Away’

NFL quarterback Tom Brady is most likely still celebrating his seventh Super Bowl win. Leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory in his first season down south, Brady proved he can work his magic on a team other than the New England Patriots.

In 2006, Brady was set up with supermodel Gisele Bündchen on a blind date. The two married in 2009 and have two kids – Benjamin, 11, and Vivian, 8. The football star also has a 13-year-old son, Jack, from his former relationship with Bridget Moynahan. Bündchen has previously spoken of the first time she met Brady and immediately felt something special.

Tom Brady made a strong first impression on Gisele Bündchen

The former Victoria Secret model shared that when she met Brady on their setup, she was instantly captivated by his smile.

“I knew right way—the first time I saw him,” she told Vanity Fair in 2009. “We met through a friend. The moment I saw him, he smiled and I was like, That is the most beautiful, charismatic smile I’ve ever seen! We sat and talked for three hours.”

Bündchen had ended a six-year relationship with A-lister Leonardo DiCaprio in 2005 and was happily experiencing the single life when she met Brady. Her path instantly took a new direction.

“I’d been single for a year, and I wasn’t looking for a relationship,” Bündchen explained. “I’d always been in serious relationships, but you learn a lot about yourself when you’re by yourself, and I was enjoying that process. But you don’t choose.”

Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady both had career aspirations

In her 2018 book, Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life, Bündchen described Brady’s strong dedication for football and devotion to his family.

“I learned quickly that he was a warrior in his sport, pro football,” she wrote. “What surprised me, and what I fell most in love with over time was his kindness, gentleness, his sweetness. Tom was and is a solid character. He was as close to his parents and sisters as I am to mine, and I could tell he was very loving and had strong family values. It took me no time to realize he would be a good family man.”

Bündchen was still under contract with Victoria’s Secret when she met Brady, where they both still had serious career ambitions in mind. The supermodel admitted that early plans are often subject to modification.

“His goal, he told me, was to play for 10 more years and retire, then he wanted to focus on having a family,” Bündchen revealed. “That sounded like a great plan, as I also felt I still had so much I wanted to accomplish in my career. But life unfolds in unexpected ways. The only constant is change.”

Tom Brady’s first child sped up plans with Gisele Bündchen

Together for only 2 1/2 months before Brady found out his ex-girlfriend was pregnant with his child, Bündchen admitted the news was a shock but also a catalyst for revamping their plans.

“I credit Jack with accelerating Tom’s and my growing up in so many ways,” Bündchen wrote of her “bonus child”. “The two of us agreed that Jack should have siblings closer to his own age, and not 10 years younger. With Jack in our lives, our priorities definitely started to shift. I wanted to be there for Jack and Tom, and do whatever I could to create stability in their lives, and help them to have a close relationship.”

Deciding to head to the altar and have kids earlier than they had originally intended, Bündchen’s focus became centered on her family.

“We decided to start our family sooner rather than later,” she explained. “A couple of years later, we were married, I became pregnant, and soon we were busy growing our family. … I had always dreamed of having a family, and when that dream came true, my children naturally became my priority.”