Twenty years into his record-setting NFL career, Tom Brady still isn’t a huge fan of interviews.
“I’d rather run out in front of 80,000 people and throw a football,” he laughed during Wednesday night’s In the Room series premiere, telling host Jason Kennedy that—contrary to what their intimate chat inside Brady’s TB12 Sports Therapy Center might suggest—he’s “become much more guarded with the media” these last few years.
“I feel like everyone’s looking [to say], ‘I got you man! You said that!'” explained the longtime Patriots QB, who tries to retain some semblance of a private life despite what feels like an exceedingly public occupation. “There are still things that I want to keep to myself,” Brady continued, “so I can enjoy them without sharing them with anyone else.”
Fortunately, the four-time Super Bowl MVP managed to share quite a bit with Jason over the course of their sit-down, which touched on a wide range of topics, from professional insights to personal wisdoms to anecdotal tidbits (he also gave us a shout-out on his Instagram stories! See below). Thanks to the TB12 facility’s comprehensive set of resources, we even collected some technical knowledge about the ins and outs of throwing a football!
Tom Brady/Instagram
For everything this week’s In the Room taught us about Brady—including his secret to sustaining a happy marriage with supermodel Gisele Bündchen, real feelings about his NFL G.O.A.T. status and revelation about recovery as a critical element of athletic progress—scroll through our major takeaways below!
His and Bündchen’s successful relationship recipe involves a multi-step communication method:
“We use a term in our house: CCC. Clear, current communication,” Brady relayed, chronicling his and Gisele’s intentional effort to remain in sync after more than a decade together. Continuing, the dad of three broke it down for us. “Clear, like, ‘This is exactly how I’m feeling.’ And current, not like, ‘This happened six months ago,'” he said. “And you communicate about it. I think that’s helped us a lot.”
He doesn’t want to be called the G.O.A.T.:
In light of Brady’s impressive NFL career, which boasts almost too many record-breaking statistics to count, fans and industry folks alike have understandably started referring to him as the sport’s resident GOAT—Greatest of All Time. Interestingly enough, the guy behind the nickname would prefer they didn’t. “I’d rather you insult me or something like that,” he quipped.
His TB12 Center champions recovery as a critical component of athletic training:
“We say here at TB12, ‘You can only work as hard as your ability to recover,'” said Brady of his sports therapy center’s main motto, constructed out of the star quarterback’s own experiences. “In essence, the harder you work, sometimes the faster you get worse,” he explained. “I was one of those guys, I worked so hard. I wanted to be the best. But I realized I kept working hard at a lot of the wrong things.”
Learning how to take care of his body and prioritizing “health and wellness in a preventative way” helped Brady find balance. And, during his conversation with Jason, he credited that lifestyle shift with allowing him “to really start to push the limits” playing football.
He occasionally eats pizza!
Most of the time, Brady eats clean and conscientious (his super-food smoothie recipes are available on TB12’s website). But, prompted by an inquiry from Jason about his most recent pizza consumption, the athlete chucked as he revealed, “Actually, I had one a couple weeks ago.” He doesn’t make a habit of it, though.
He doesn’t mind the public’s focus on his age:
At 42, Brady is older than most NFL players—especially those with such recent standout success (earlier this year, he became the oldest quarterback in history to win a Super Bowl). As for how he feels about the recent upswing in age-related comments from fans and reporters? Brady said he takes it all in stride. “It’s definitely an honor [to be 42 and still playing football],” he told Jason. “I definitely feel a great privilege to do it.”
Last but certainly not least—his formula for the perfect spiral:
“Throwing a football is all…it’s mechanics, but it’s also the right timing,” Brady said, demonstrating during a quick how-to lesson with Jason before their interview wrapped up. And while he, of course, made the move look easy, the veteran footballer assured his host it’s anything but. “I still work on those things,” he finished. “It’s a hard thing to do.”
In the Room returns in 2020, only on E!