I’m the first one to call out a celebrity father for failing to acknowledge or honor the mother(s) of his children on Mother’s Day. I still say that’s really tacky and hurtful! So I guess it would be hypocritical to not call it out when a celebrity mom does the same thing and ignores one of her baby-fathers. So it is with Gisele Bundchen. Gisele was married to Tom Brady for years, and they have two children together, Benjamin and Vivian, both teenagers now. Gisele divorced Tom in 2022 and quickly moved on with Joaquim Valente. Gisele got pregnant and welcomed their son in February 2025. Gisele and Joaquim married later in 2025. Well, Joachim was front and center in her Instagram post about Father’s Day. She didn’t post any photos of Tom, nor did she mention Tom in her caption.
Happy Father’s Day @joaquimvalente !
Thank you for leading by example, and for the values you embody, love, humility, integrity, discipline, kindness and consistency.
You are an incredible role model. We are all so grateful for you, and we love you so much
And dad, thank you for your unconditional love, wisdom, and support through every stage of my life.Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. ❤️
Fair or unfair? Tacky or fine? While I think it’s fine for Gisele to show love for Joachim, her current husband and father of her youngest, I do think it’s quite pointed for her to not mention Tom by name. Plus, she included photos of Joachim with Benjamin and Vivian. The thing is, I don’t even believe that Gisele is necessarily still “mad” at Tom. I think she was mad at him in 2022, when it was clear that their marriage was completely done and that Tom had broken his promise to her to retire at a certain point. But I believed that she was over all of it in the years that followed. It feels like she’s still trying to get under his skin though.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Gisele’s Instagram.
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- Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL – Gisele Bundchen talks to TV Host Angelica, actress Tais Araújo, and blogger Silvia Braz about healthy living and launches her new book ‘Nourish: Simple Recipes to Empower Your Body and Feed Your Soul: A Healthy Lifestyle Cookbook’ in Rio at the Copacabana Palace Hotel. Pictured: Gisele Bundchen BACKGRID USA 3 APRIL 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: AG News / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
I don’t think it is strange to only celebrate your current husband she has moved on. I am just surprised she did not attend her stepsons graduation as she helped raise him.
She has her reasons with Tom. Just let her live. But yes, I am surprised she didn’t attend Jack’s graduation. He grew up with her and she was always said to be a caring step-mother. I hope she didn’t put Jack on the back burner because her relationship with Tom is over. That would be cruel and Jack doesn’t deserve that.
If you’re going to be surprised that Gisele didn’t attend Jack’s graduation, and suggest possible cruelty on her part, it could be good to also speculate about whether or not she was even /actually invited to attend. Jack has a complicated family, with biological parents along with their children and significant others, full, half, and step siblings, grandparents, and other extended family members. Between the possibility that tickets were limited and or that emotional bandwidth might be limited, I’m speculating instead that perhaps Gisele’s lack of attendance might even have been a graceful gift on her part, that might have made a complicated celebration slightly less onerous for Jack.
Full disclosure: I still have a few emotional scars left by the demands made by a parent during my college graduation ceremonies many years ago. While blended — and decidedly unsuccessfully unblended — families are perhaps more easily accommodated now, I ‘m team Jack and team Gisele IF her non attendance made things easier for Jack.
On topic though, Gisele’s kids with Tom are old enough to make their own decisions about how to celebrate and acknowledge their father and father figures in their lives on Fathers Day. I’m also of the opinion that not all acknowledgements need to be public.
Beautifully said, Blithe. Blended families are complex, and this one is also large. Moreover we have no idea of the circumstances around invitations.
I’m betting Gisele congratulated Jack privately. As she should.
The day was for the Moynihans and Bradys, Gisele as a former stepmother left that day for Jack and his parents. (I also doubt she was invited.)
I agree. It seems to me that she doesn’t think Brady has been much of a father to his children since the divorce? If so, I wouldn’t mention him either. As Kaiser said, the inclusion of images of her two older children with her new partner was quite pointed – as are all the qualities she listed. She could have tacked on (unlike…. ), but she didn’t need to. She made her point. Nicely done, I’d say!
I don’t think she’s trying to get under his skin. I think she’s totally done, and this is one way of letting it be known.
I don’t think this is her way of showing Tom Brady that she is done. If it is, why?? She has moved on with a new partner and has a child with him, shouldn’t that be message enough?
The thing with these very, very public declarations is that they are not about the recipient/object of the message, they are about the sender. She is choosing to send a message. Presumably her partner (husband? I wasn’t sure) and her dad know how she feels, so I have never understodd the need to make a public declaration, but if you are going to make it, people will dissect it.
I don’t get why she’d getting grief for this.
She acknowledged her husband and father of her baby.
Her teenagers with Brady can acknowledge Tom themselves, her 1-year old baby cannot do the same for Joaquim.
Secondly Tom Brady is firmly in his modeliser/influencer dating era, unmoored, he can be generous in his shout outs to his exes.
Gisele is in a settled relationship with a man she has in fact MARRIED, why would she in God’s name still shouting out her ex-husband??😕
Winner, winner, chicken dinner. This. All of this.
Totes! Also maybe NOW-with Joaquim-she has something to compare to Brady’s parenting…
Because he is the actual father of the kids she is posting pictures of with her current husband. If she wanted to keep it to her current, then keep the other kids out of it. It is tacky and I can imagine, hurtful, for the erasure. People know who the father of the other kids are; it wouldn’t be a big deal to post a picture of him with his two kids, along with the throwaway “Happy father’s day to all the dads.”
@mumster, no, absolutely not. Completely disagree.
@jegede
Excactly!
Why should she keep ‘the other kids’ out of it???? They are HER kids.
Tom Brady does not get to determine when/how his ex-wife acknowledges her own children, husband, and her own father.
@ Alla – 👍👍👍
Not only has she moved on, but her children with Tom are teenagers. They no longer need her help in celebrating their dad on Father’s Day. They can call him. They can post photos. She’s fine.
In my case, I don’t mention my XH because I don’t poke the bear.
I agree. The kids are teens now so they can wish him a happy Father’s Day! I don’t think any ex has a responsibility to acknowledge their kids dads on social media!
Look, as a divorced woman, I can tell you that what sounds beautiful in theory rarely actually happens in reality. So, in principle, maintaining civil relations with an ex—especially when there are children involved—is an idea we can all agree on. However, based on my own experience, I have to say that what actually happens is so incredibly varied and diverse. The level of suffering during a divorce proceeding can be so deep that when someone tells me—for instance, my ex-husband’s lawyer telling me, ‘It would look great if you were seen out at dinner with him and the kids, it could create opportunities for shared moments… no matter how much you’ve been hurt’—and in my case, there was even abuse.
No, I don’t think so. When children have witnessed such disrespect, and sometimes even abuse, not to mention the absolute indifference of the other party, there is no such thing as that kind of role model. The best role model for a woman to show her children is to be absolutely, completely unavailable to any hypocritical act.
I am happy she moved on, I am fine she does nor aknowledge her ex husband if she does not feel confortable. I simply don’t know what really happened.
AMEN. I 100% agree with this.
I’ve seen some people, including celebrities, do it and write a nice post for the parent of their kid. But every situation is different, and no one should feel obligated to. Especially when the kids are old enough to do it themselves, if they choose to.
Yeah, I guess I’m ok with not publicly acknowledging your ex – from both genders on Mother’s or Father’s day. That’s the kids responsibility. My “job” on Father’s day is MY dad and My husband. Where I do draw the line is if you actively try to insert your issues with your ex, in the middle of the kids relationship with their parent.
Ironically this doesn’t feel pointed to me. It just feels like Tom Brady is such a nonentity in her life she just lumps him in with the generic “Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there” part of her post. During the divorce Gisele bought an adjacent house to make co-parenting easy. Since there was minimal disruption to the lives of the kids there probably isn’t much that Gisele and Tom need to discuss with each other. Besides part of the reason for the divorce was that he wasn’t really present in his family’s life despite his promises to change. She made it easy for him to maintain a relationship with his kids but it would be hella odd if after the divorce he became such a presence in her life that he deserved a personal shout out during father’s day.
He might not have been much of a father to the children in the latter years, probably.
All of his kids seemingly adore him so that is probably not the case..
However, I think in general, you don’t have post your ex on holidays if you don’t want to so good for Giselle.
@sunny, i adored my father too as a child and as a teenager, even though, he was never there in our family life besides holidays, he worked a lot. My mom wasn’t happy in that marriage and i still adored him. Today i understand my mother much better and i still like my dad but my rose coloured glasses are off. Children love their parents, no matter what. only if they do something very very cruel, they distance themselves.
Tom is neither her husband nor her father. She is posting about her husband. Her teenage kids can post about him, not her. She said at the end happy father’s day to all the fathers out there so that can include her ex. I think it would be weird for her to include him. If he was married or partnered with someone else, it wouldn’t even be an issue.
Back when I used to care what others thought of me, I used to do these glowing Father’s Day posts for my ex where I was rewriting history and inventing a new reality lol. But something happened to me in my late 40s and I literally stopped caring. This is the first year I did a generic to all the dads out there post – our child is an adult, he can acknowledge his dad if he chooses to and I reminded him that he should (he has a pretty present dad). Anyway, my ex and I don’t follow each other on SM so the post would have been for everyone else and for the sake of appearances. My ex and I get along pretty well, not that this gives me the years back I lost choosing the wrong man or make up for the economic setback of it all. I could and should teach a class to young women in their early 20s.
Social media is so performative. I get so annoyed seeing these “today I married my best friend” posts from women whose husbands have completely checked out don’t help with the kids are chronic cheaters- and I’ve had to block a few of these great husbands for sending me inappropriate messages unprompted, unprovoked – I am not flirty at all and I’m friends with your wife. It’s so gross and I’m tired.
Kudos to everyone who has stopped performing for others in this manner – it’s exhausting, for the performer and the ones receiving it and by the way we don’t buy it at all. We all know what happened with Tom’s marriage. I’m glad Giselle has found happiness. Her husband seems very present, and it’s all most of us ask for.
I have been really moved by Giselle’s story. She must really have loved Tom, and she took marriage and partnership and commitment VERY seriously, and gave 75%, if not more. She married him even though the girlfriend before her became pregnant with his child. She waited for him to fulfill his dreams, even though she put hers on hold and told him she wanted to pick up her dreams at a certain time after he retired, and he committed to it – then blew right on past his promise and her plans. I’m very impressed that she had enough healthy self-love and self-respect to divorce him, have another child and make the co-committed marriage that she needed and wanted. She owes Tom nothing. What is there that she hasn’t already given? She gave everything, and she is on another page in her life now. I would give a pretty penny to know if he knows what he lost, if he has any regrets. I just don’t get that he is that bright. I see him as very shallow. I don’t like him much. I think he is quite spoiled and self-centered. Obs don’t know the man; that’s just my take. She needs to heal and move on with her new life, and I guess this is how she does it.
@therese I love all of what you wrote…I feel she has truly MOVED ON COMPLETELY and isnt even throwing shade-Maybe she feels all he deserves is the shout out to’ all the dads out there’…
Is this the infamous jiu jitsu instructor that Nikki Glaser so artfully mentioned during Tom Brady’s roast? lol
At 64, I’m still flummoxed that not following someone, liking a post, or acknowledging them on social media is the new cut direct. It’s a level of pettiness I don’t understand. My husband and I weren’t friends on Facebook for years out of who cares.
At just a few years younger, I do not get why anyone feels the need to make a public statement about their spouse. It’s just so weird to me. It always feels so performative, like 99% of all social media. But given that these people build their images on social media, I do think people are going to dissect the posts.
I think it would actually have been weird to mention Tom by name. Anyway – he’s part of “all the dads.”
She said happy Father’s Day to “all dads.”
Tom is part of the “all dads” lol.
It was weird and honestly she could have just kept it to her current husband. Including her kids with Brady made it seem like a snub when she may not have meant it.
In this world today of unkindness and lack of compassion, she could have been more generous.
Blithe, agree. There could be many reasons she didn’t go.