The seven-time Super Bowl champion will turn 46 in August.
Tom Brady's morning routine includes confetti and funfetti cake -- figuratively, anyway -- because the seven-time Super Bowl champion says every day feels like a birthday to him. That would explain, then, why he has no idea how he'll celebrate his upcoming 46th birthday.
ET was exclusively with the NFL great in Miami, where he was among the dozens of athletes and entertainers that participated in Fanatics' inaugural Merch Madness event. The licensed sportswear company distributed over 300,000 pieces of licensed merchandise to approximately 100,000 underserved youth and their families across the country, with the donated merchandise valued at approximately $20 million.
It's at this event where Brady, 45, spoke with ET about why there's been little to no emphasis on his upcoming birthday in August, prioritizing his family and what he loves about planting roots in Miami.
"I don’t know. I don’t know what my plans are for the birthday yet," said Brady when asked about turning 46 on Aug. 3. "I'm trying to let them come and go at this point. I feel like every day is a birthday for me. I just get to wake up and get to do what I love to do and be with my family and be with my friends and try to do good things in the community."
For his 45th birthday, Brady posted video proving there's heaven on Earth, with festivities that included hanging out with his boys (Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola, Julian Edelman), tossing a little pigskin on the beach, enjoying a round of golf and partying on a yacht somewhere on a blue sea.
That's great and all, but Brady never loses sight of his priorities, like his family. Brady and Gisele Bündchen, who announced their divorce in October, share two children -- Benjamin, 13, and Vivian, 10. Brady also shares 15-year-old son Jack (who is a spitting image of him, by the way), with his ex, Bridget Moynahan.
"Bad parenting" aside, Brady and the kiddos recently enjoyed a little R&R on a yacht. The setting and adventures are great, but it's clear that what matters most to Brady is spending time with his kids, plain and simple.
"I always love my time with my kids, and my family is my number one priority," he said. "So, I think, for all of us, showing them different experiences and going on trips and vacations and family stuff is great, and then seeing them in school and achieve and overcome obstacles is really fun too. We've all got these amazing journeys and we're going to make the best of them."
It's not lost on Brady that he and his family are incredibly blessed with fortune that affords them immense luxury. Back in July, while on the Drive With Jim Farley podcast, Brady revealed to the CEO of Ford the hardest part about parenting.
"It's probably the hardest thing for us as parents, you know, with myself and my wife," said Brady when it comes to managing his kids' expectations as they grow up and get out in the real world. "My [now ex-wife] grew up in rural Brazil, the farthest state south, Rio Grande do Sul, very small kind of farming town, very simple girl. You know, there are two bedrooms in their house -- one for their parents and one for her and her five sisters."
"And I grew up in, I would say, a middle-class family in California," he continued. "My dad worked his a** off for our family. My mom stayed at home [and] took care of us kids, and I saw my mom work every day to make food for us at night and wash our clothes. They supported us by coming to all our games. It was amazing."
Brady then juxtaposed that upbringing with his and Bündchen's luxury lifestyle, and therein lies the challenge -- how to keep your children grounded when your parents are global phenomenons reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
"We have people that clean for us. We have people that make our food. We have people that drive us to the airport if we need that," Brady shared on the podcast. "We get off a plane and there's people waiting for us, and we get ushered in. That's my kids' reality, which is the hard part to say, 'Guys, this is not the way reality really is, you know, and what can we do about that?'"
Brady loves Miami for many reasons -- he has a lot of friends in the 805 and he enjoys the lifestyle -- but first and foremost it's because his kids are in school there, and he gets to help out a community he loves so much, which is why partnering with Fanatics was as easy a decision as handing Brady the ball on fourth-and-long and the game on the line.
"I think we all have opportunities to give back in our communities and, obviously, there are a lot of kids out here that are working through some tough challenges," Brady said. "But they have a great community here that cares about them. To see the kind of look on their faces when they get some really cool gear and then to go play football with them outside is really fun."
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