Bundchen said in an interview on ‘CBS This Morning’ with Charlie Rose that the New England Patriots quarterback was concussed last year and had suffered other head traumas but did not elaborate on when they occurred.
The Brazilian supermodel was responding to a question about Brady’s desire to play into his mid-40s.
“I just have to say, as a wife, as you know (the NFL) is not the most, let’s say, unaggressive sport. Football, he had a concussion last year,” she said.
“He has concussions pretty much every — I mean, we don’t talk about it.
“But he has concussions and I don’t really think it’s a healthy thing for your body to go through. You know, that kind of aggression all the time, that cannot be healthy for you. I’m planning on having him be healthy and do a lot of fun things when we’re like 100, I hope.”
Brady, who won a record fifth Super Bowl after guiding the Patriots to a comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons, has never been officially listed with a concussion or head injury in his career.
The Patriots did not list Brady with a concussion at any stage in 2016, although he missed the first four games of the season due to his Deflategate suspension.
The Patriots declined to comment on Bundchen’s remarks.
In a statement on Wednesday, the NFL said the league had reviewed Brady’s file and found “no records that indicate that Mr. Brady suffered a head injury or concussion, or exhibited or complained of concussion symptoms”.
The league said it had contacted the NFL Players Association and would attempt to gather more information from the Patriots medical staff and Brady.
“The health and safety of our players is our foremost priority and we want to ensure that all our players have and continue to receive the best care possible,” the NFL statement said.
Brady, who turns 40 in August, told ESPN earlier this week he hoped to play until he was “around 45,” fitness permitting.
He added that Gisele would likely have a role in any decision to retire.
“She makes decisions for our family that I’ve got to deal with. Hopefully she never says, ‘Look, this has to be it,’” Brady said. “... My wife and my kids, it’s a big investment of their time and energy too.”
The NFL has faced growing scrutiny in recent years linked to the issue of concussions and head trauma, with the league in 2015 agreeing on a $1bn settlement to resolve thousands of lawsuits by former players suffering from neurological problems.
Owners expected to trim OT from 15 to 10 minutes: report
NFL club owners are expected to vote next week to reduce regular-season over-time periods from 15 to 10 minutes even though it could produce more draws, the NFL Network reported Wednesday.
The 32 team owners discussed the idea but tabled a proposal at meetings in Phoenix in March. They are now expected to adopt the plan at meetings next Monday through Wednesday at Chicago, the league-owned television network reported.
Shrinking the extra period played after 60 regulation minutes end deadlocked is a nod to player safety.
The NFL’s competition committee found a great disadvantage for teams that played a Thursday night matchup after playing a full 15-minute over-time session the Sunday before.
Last season, there were six NFL games that went into over-time and lasted beyond 10 minutes, the second-most games to go so long in league history.
Over the past five seasons since strict sudden-death over-time was dropped, NFL research found 83 regular-season games went into over-time with 22 of them, 26.5%, going beyond 10 minutes.
League owners were also expected to approve a change allowing two players a season to return from injured reserve after a minimum of eight weeks sidelined. Only one is now allowed.
