(CNN) — Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen, who have been living apart in recent weeks, have hired divorce attorneys and are “exploring their options” regarding their marriage, a source told CNN on Tuesday close to the couple.
CNN reported last month that Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback currently playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and his wife, Bündchen, a supermodel, have been dealing with “marital problems”according to a source close to the couple.
The couple, who married in 2009, have been “living apart,” a source close to Bündchen told CNN in September.
Brady, 45, had retired from the NFL in February but later backed down on the decision. In August, he took an 11-day leave of absence from training camp to “deal with personal issues,” his head coach Todd Bowles said.
In an interview with the elle magazine published last month, Bündchen, 42, said she was worried her husband would return after his initial retirement last winter.
“This is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I would like him to be more present,” Bündchen said. “I’ve definitely had those conversations with him over and over again. But ultimately, I think everybody has to make a decision that works for him. He has to pursue the joy of it as well.”
In a recent conversation on his podcast, Brady discussed some of the personal costs of playing in the NFL for two decades.
“I haven’t had a Christmas in 23 years and I haven’t had a Thanksgiving in 23 years, I haven’t celebrated birthdays with people I care about who are born from August to the end of January. And I can’t be at funerals or weddings,” he told Gray. “I think there comes a time in your life where you say, ‘You know what? I’ve had enough and it’s time to move on, to move on to other parts of life.'”
CNN has reached out to representatives for Brady and Bündchen for comment on this story.
