Tom Brady's Wife Says He's Been Playing With Concussions
LOS ANGELS (CBSLA.com) — Tom Brady's wife told CBS This Morning her husband played through a concussion on the way to his fifth Super Bowl championship.
Brady's wife supermodel Gisele Bündchen made the revelation in an interview Wednesday.
"He had a concussion last year. He has concussions pretty much. We don't talk about it. But he does have concussions," Bündchen said.
Those remarks by Bündchen sparked controversy because over Brady's 17-year career he has never been officially diagnosed with a concussion. Now many are wondering: did the Patriots star quarterback or team choose not to report the concussions, or did Bündchen get it wrong?
Concussions have become a health issue in the sport.
Last year the NFL. which has been criticized for not swiftly addressing head injuries introduced new rules concerning its concussion policy. Teams can now be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars and possibly lose draft picks if they fail to take players out of games. Over the last decade researchers have linked the degenerative brain disease CTE to football players and athletes with repetitive brain trauma.
Professor Lee Igel is the co-director of the sports and society program at New York University.
"When a player like Tom Brady, sustains concussions and they go unreported but then are revealed at some point later down the line, it makes it tougher for other players to certainly want to report concussions...not only at the professional level, but it trickles down and out and around to the youth level as well," Igel said.
Bündchen expressed concern for the toll football has taken on her husband.
"I don't really think it's a healthy thing for your body to go through that. You know, that kind of aggression all the time," she said.
The NFL says there are no records that indicate that Brady suffered a head injury or concussion.
Tom Brady, the Patriots and NFL players union have no comment.
