Tom Brady may be reflecting on the true meaning of life.
What's success? According to this quote Tom Brady shared on social media, it does not have to involve a football field.
Early Thursday, the retired football great took to social media with a quote purportedly by Ralph Waldo Emerson that reads, "What is success? To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden path or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!"
While Brady did not elaborate further in his own words beyond a few heart emojis, the post came mere hours after his ex-wife, Gisele Bündchen's, headline-making Vanity Fair interview. During the sit-down, she addressed speculation that their split after 13 years of marriage was the result of Brady backing out of his retirement in 2022. According to the supermodel, the claim is "the craziest thing I’ve ever heard."
"Listen, I have always cheered for him, and I would continue forever," she said. "If there’s one person I want to be the happiest in the world, it’s him, believe me. I want him to achieve and to conquer. I want all his dreams to come true. That’s what I want, really, from the bottom of my heart."
But Bündchen also has dreams. "Sometimes you grow together; sometimes you grow apart," she told Vanity Fair. “When I was 26 years old and he was 29 years old, we met, we wanted a family, we wanted things together. As time goes by, we realize that we just wanted different things, and now we have a choice to make. That doesn’t mean you don’t love the person. It just means that in order for you to be authentic and truly live the life that you want to live, you have to have somebody who can meet you in the middle, right? It’s a dance. It’s a balance.”
“When you love someone," she added, "you don’t put them in a jail and say, ‘You have to live this life.’ You set them free to be who they are, and if you want to fly the same direction, then that’s amazing.”
RELATED CONTENT:
