Despite his long NFL career, this year will be Brady's first-ever experience playing football on Christmas Day.
Tom Brady opened up about spending Christmas alone after his split from wife Gisele Bündchen earlier this year, telling sportscaster Jim Gray this holiday season will be a "new experience" for him.
"It'll be a new experience that I've never had before that I'm going to have to learn how to deal with," Brady said on his SiriusXM podcast, Let's Go! With Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray. Brady will spend Christmas weekend in a hotel room ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' game against the Cardinals on Dec. 25 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Despite his long NFL career, the matchup will be Brady's first-ever experience playing on Christmas.
"So you just asked a question about, 'What have you learned from this football season?' I'm going to learn how to deal with Christmas. Even in a hotel," Brady told Gray. "I'm going to have to learn how to deal with Christmas and Christmas night and still go out there and be a professional and then look forward to celebrating Christmas with my kids the day after."
The holiday away from home also comes just two months after Brady and Bündchen announced they were ending their marriage in October. The former couple shares two children -- Benjamin, 13, and Vivian, 10. Brady also has a 15-year-old son, John, whom he shares with ex-girlfriend Bridgett Moynahan.
In October, a source revealed to ET that the model was working with a healer to get through the end of her marriage
"Gisele has been working with her healer to stay in a place of peace and come to terms with her marriage ending. Tom and Gisele have love for one another, but Gisele knew she had to put herself and her family first over football."
In the months following their parents' split, Benjamin and Vivian have been spotted spending time with their mother in Costa Rica and Brazil.
"Recharging with my little ones in the country of my ❤️!" Bündchen wrote from Brazil last week. The photo carousel began with a selfie taken in front of the ocean sunset, and also included pictures of food, the supermodel meditating and the two kids.
Despite the conflict, Brady appeared clear-headed about how to make time for career and kids. "There's physical, mental, emotional," Brady said on the podcast of his NFL obligations. "Those are the different challenges that we face in our lives and in all of us."
Brady continued by comparing his career to that of a businessman. "I talked to a businessman. He was like, 'God, all your injuries over the years.' I said, 'Yeah, football's a tough sport. There's a lot of injuries to deal with.' And he goes, 'Look, I've been a businessman all these years so there's a lot of s--t I deal with too. I deal with anxiety. I deal with stress. I deal with all that. I deal with high blood pressure.' And I said, 'You're right. I may deal with broken fingers and broken ribs and torn ligaments, but, you know, other people are dealing with s--t too.' And that's good perspective to have."
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