While Tom Brady's career as a football player is one for the storybooks, the seven-time Super Bowl champion revealed he 'screwed up a lot' as a father.
Brady shares 17-year-old son Jack with Bridget Moynahan and has a younger son and daughter - Benjamin and Vivian - with Gisele Bundchen.
The legendary quarterback confessed his parental shortcomings during a panel discussion at the 2024 Fortune Global Forum in New York City.
When asked about motivating his kids despite casting a massive shadow over them with his success, Brady said, 'All of the parents of the room know that being a parent is probably the hardest job all of us have. And we screw up a lot.'
'And I've screwed up a lot as a parent,' he reiterated. 'I don't wanna seem like I'm some sort of expert in parenting, because I'm certainly not that.'
Brady then shared how he strives to be a good father and told the audience his goal is to be 'dependable and consistent' for his kids.
He also stated being extremely supportive of his kids' endeavors as he encourages them, admitting that it 'sucks to be Tom Brady's son' as a boy.
'The blessing my parents gave me,' he said, 'was when I was that longshot as a kid who was a backup quarterback on a freshman team, they never said, 'Man, don't do that. It's going to be too hard. Let's do something different. Let's think about another backup plan.'
'They kind of said, 'You know what? Go for it,'' he added. 'And that's probably my parenting style.'
Brady's confession comes two weeks after Bundchen announced her pregnancy with boyfriend and Jiu-Jitsu instructor Joaquim Valente.
The pair began dating shortly after Brady and the Brazilian model got divorced in October 2022.
Nonetheless, Brady tries to maintain a good relationship with his kids. He also noted how Jack is 6-foot-5 and wants to pursue basketball despite not having the greatest vertical leap.
'I tell him 'Dude, you're gonna be a stud. Wait till you hit your growth spurt, you're gonna be jumping higher, you're gonna be dunking.''
'And whether he does or not, who cares?' Brady continued. 'I want him to know that his dad's got his back.'
'My kids are gonna be faced with their own challenges and they gotta figure out how to overcome them too. And I'll be there to support them a lot like my parents did. And I'll be learning along the way right there with them.'
