The Truth About Gisele's Relationship With Tom Brady's Ex
Gisele Bündchen and Bridget Moynahan were once both insanely talented models. Both women made it onto the covers of major magazines — from Glamour to Allure to Vogue. But that's not all these two women had in common. Both Bündchen and Moynahan got involved with the same man: New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady. The four-time Super Bowl MVP also went on to father children with both women — but we'll tell you more about that later.
While we all know how this love story played out in the end (Brady and Bündchen: happily ever after), the middle was messy. Exes are never really known to get along all that swimmingly, but this trio's situation was exceptionally tense — especially between Bündchen and Moynahan.
Despite always being in the public eye, both women kept relatively mum about each other — that is, until they didn't. Here is the untold truth about Bündchen and Moynahan's complicated history and relationship.
Did Bundchen go after Brady before he was single?
In 2005, while at a New England Patriots game at the team's home stadium in Massachusetts, Bündchen was shown a photo of Tom Brady who was, and still is as of this writing, the NFL team's quarterback. Upon seeing what he looked like, the model, who was just coming out of a relationship with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, thought he was "definitely not too shabby." She further revealed what she thought of the football star when speaking to the Boston Herald (via ABC News), saying, "He's cute, but if he has a girlfriend, he's gay to me." Brady did indeed have a girlfriend — and a serious one at that.
At that point in time, Brady and Moynahan had been dating for over two years. Was Bündchen making a play for Brady by telling the Boston Herald she found him attractive? She has refuted that idea, but one thing is for sure: by the later part of 2006, Brady and Moynahan split up and Brady and Bündchen got together.
A surprise pregnancy and a f***** up situation
Brady would end up staying with Moynahan for a total of three years and, once they called it off, he didn't waste any time being single. Almost immediately, Brady and Bündchen became a thing. Then, just two and a half months into their relationship, the couple received some shocking news. Moynahan announced that she was expecting a baby — Brady's baby — and she had made the decision to raise the baby on her own.
"In the beginning you're living this romantic fantasy; you're thinking, This can't be true, it's so good! And then, Whoops — wake-up call!" Bündchen told Vanity Fair. The new couple's romance was certainly turning out to be less like a fairytale and more like an episode of The Maury Show.
In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, Moynahan said that was a "traumatic time" for her, but she learned a lot. "It's golden and it's tough and it was f***** up," she explained, "But now I have a child, and it's the best thing in the world."
Bundchen thought Brady should get back with his ex
Finding out your new boyfriend's ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his child is a wild scenario, to be sure, and one that's hard to even imagine happening — outside of your favorite soap opera, of course. Bündchen told Vanity Fair that she initially considered encouraging Brady to get back together with Moynahan. "You question at times — 'Should I stay here? Maybe you should work this out,'" she explained to the publication. In the end, Bündchen stuck by her man, reasoning that people don't just break up without a good reason.
Once some time had passed, Bündchen also went on to view the once "challenging situation" as a "blessing." The former model opined, "I wouldn't have seen the integrity in him — the way he was a good person through all the times. ... It made me feel more in love with him; it made me realize who he was."
Although Moynahan didn't comment on how this situation made her feel toward Brady, it's likely she had some pretty different feelings.
Bundchen and Moynahan didn't have any contact for years
In a profile of Bündchen for Vanity Fair in 2009, it was revealed that she and Brady's ex had no contact with each other. Zilch. They actually hadn't even met. Yikes.
Nearly two and a half years before Bündchen's interview with Vanity Fair, Moynahan had given birth to her son whom she named John, or "Jack" as he would later be called. The model-turned-actress told More (via People) that Brady "was not in the [delivery] room," but that he did visit that day. "He certainly wasn't holding my hand while I pushed," Moynahan clarified.
Although Bündchen and Moynahan weren't on speaking terms, Bündchen did have a relationship with Jack. "I understand that he has a mom, and I respect that, but to me it's not like because somebody else delivered him, that's not my child. I feel it is, 100 percent," Bündchen told Vanity Fair. She went on to say that she loved Jack as her own, adding, "I already feel like he's my son, from the first day."
Stepson or publicity stunt?
You can't help but feel for Moynahan. First, her longterm relationship with Brady falls apart. Then, she discovers he's dating the world's highest-paid supermodel of that time. And then she realizes she's about to become a single mom? That's a lot to take in. Another gut punch reportedly came when Moynahan read Bündchen's remarks about Jack in the 2009 Vanity Fair profile — the one in which Bündchen considered Jack to be "100 percent" her own son.
According to a source People alleged is close with Moynahan, this was very much an unwelcome remark. "Bridget has her own life, she doesn't need to be involved in the drama of all this..." the source reportedly revealed. The source continued to say that "If Tom is such a great father" he'd ask Bündchen "not to use his son as a publicity prop and a subject of public discussion." Them's some fightin' words.
Moynahan's relationship with these people
We wouldn't really fault Bündchen or Moynahan if the two never ended up speaking to one another, but it appears that they did start having at least some contact by early 2011.
"I never made a comment about Gisele or Tom publicly," Moynahan said, prefacing her next statement, when speaking with More (via People) in February 2011. "I have a relationship with these people on a daily basis. I'm raising a child, and it's public." She added that there's no "dramas ... happening in [her] life." Moynahan didn't happen to say exactly when she and Bündchen put their past behind them nor when her "relationship with these people" took root — but, hey, at least it happened, right?
By that point in the Brady-Bündchen-Moynahan timeline, Brady and Bündchen had been married for two years and had a son, Benjamin, who was just over a year old. Moynahan told More that being a blended family was working well for them and that her "son is surrounded by love." Surely Bündchen and Brady's son was, and is, as well.
An (awkward) walk in the park
By the spring of 2014, things between Moynahan and Bündchen were definitely on the up and up. The trio was photographed sitting side by side at a park in New York City. Us Weekly even reported that they greeted one another with hugs — gasp!
All three were at the park to watch Jack's little league game — aww — and apparently decided to sit with each other. And to think in 2009 they weren't even on speaking terms. That's not to say things didn't get a little weird. Really though, how could it not?
According to a report from TMZ, Bündchen and Moynahan's embrace that day was one with "not a lot of feeling behind it." We get that. Then, the New England Patriots MVP and then-supermodel Bündchen shared a smooch. That's all well and good — except they did so while they were "right in front" of Moynahan. Eek!
Are they besties now?
Despite their super awk meet-up at the park (seriously, why the PDA?), Moynahan and Bündchen would continue to foster a healthy relationship with each other. In 2014, both former models were photographed hugging while Moynahan was dropping her son off to visit Brady and Bündchen. And, guess what? The picture shared by E! News proved that it wasn't even awkward. According to E!, "the two ladies exchanged a quick hug and looked like they had nothing but admiration for each other as Brady stood by their side and chatted with his son." Now, if these two can put their pasts behind them and get along, that's a lesson for all of us.
It seems in the time that elapsed since Moynahan first acknowledged her relationship with Bündchen in 2011 and this friendly hug in 2014 that the two ladies are, at the very least, amicable. Though, we wouldn't go as far to call them best buds. Baby steps, right?
Only one still roots for Brady though
As of 2018, not much more in the way of reconciliation has been revealed about Gisele Bündchen and Bridget Moynahan. Even in Bündchen's tell-all book Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life, details about her relationship with Moynahan are omitted, causing some to speculate that they're really not all that amicable.
Moynahan — whether purposefully or not — also added fuel to the fire during the Super Bowl in 2018. While presumably watching, she took to Twitter, writing, "#NickFoles is having an amazing game." Nick Foles was, and is as of the 2018 season, the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles — the very team Tom Brady and the rest of the Patriots were up against in the biggest game of the year. Fans instantly responded, some praising Moynahan for throwing what seemed like shade on her famous ex and others in defense of Brady. Was there really still tension between Moynahan and the Brady-Bündch? Less than an hour later, Moynahan tweeted again — this time congratulating both teams for "an amazing game." Hmm.