Why Gisele Bundchen's 'Conflicted Feelings' About Tom Brady & Irina Shayk Are Normal
Accepting that an ex has moved on is never an easy task, even if you're a celebrity.
Everett Collection & Aitor Serra Martin / Shutterstock Reports that Tom Brady and Irina Shayk are dating surfaced on TMZ on July 24, 2023, as the outlet alleged that the two spent the previous weekend together in Los Angeles. Additional reports from TMZ and The New York Post claimed that Brady’s ex-wife, Gisele Bündchen, was experiencing a wide range of emotions regarding the newly-established couple.
Gisele Bündchen’s ‘conflicted feelings’ about Tom Brady and Irina Shayk are a totally normal part of going through a breakup.
Brady and Bündchen were married for 13 years. In October 2022, they announced that they had finalized their divorce. Brady and Bündchen share co-parenting responsibilities for their three children, Benjamin, Vivian, and Jack, who Brady shares with his ex Bridget Moynahan.
In the past, Bündchen has publicly shared just how important her ex-husband’s happiness is to her. In an interview with Vanity Fair, she exclaimed, “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.”
In that same interview, Bündchen also acknowledged how hard it was to end her marriage to Brady, and the intense depth of emotions she felt after the divorce. "It’s like a death and a rebirth," she explained. “It’s tough because you imagine your life was going to be a certain way, and you did everything you could."
According to some sources from TMZ, Bündchen is “not happy” that Brady, 45, and Shayk, 37, are romantically involved. Yet another TMZ source made the claim that Bündchen doesn’t actually care about who her ex is dating.
“Why wouldn’t she be happy for Tom?” The source stated. “She divorced him. It is helpful to her freedom that he moved on.”
It’s possible for Bündchen to feel happy Brady moved on, while also mourning the relationship they lost.
Ending a long-term relationship is never easy, regardless of whether that end is amicable or contentious.
Bündchen and Brady spent over a decade as a couple. They built a life together, one that was assuredly full of highs and lows, as all lives are. Their decision to divorce was most likely in both of their best interests — for whatever reasons, their marriage no longer worked for them.
Yet seeing an ex move on can be a bittersweet experience, especially if you hold affection for them and want them to be happy. There are the inevitable second-guesses, the looping questions of why your relationship didn’t work out.
For exes who co-parent, there will always be an element of re-navigating the ways you connect to each other, once one person starts dating someone new.
Moving forward after a divorce is a complex process, one that’s by no means linear. Healing takes all forms. There could be days when Bündchen hates the fact that Brady’s dating someone else. There could be days when she’s able to hold space for his happiness, apart from her own.
There’s space for her to hold conflicting emotions. After all, that’s what humans are made to do.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.