Tom Brady can always count on his family to be his biggest cheerleaders.
In episode 10 of the ESPN series Man in the Arena: Tom Brady, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback opened up about his nearest and dearest and reflected on his relationship with his father, Tom Brady Sr.
"There's a big commitment that your parents make, and my dad made every commitment to me that was, you know, an amazing dad," he said near the beginning of the episode, which debuted April 25. "There was never a moment where he didn't have time to support what I wanted to do and try to achieve because it's a hard thing to do."
Later on in the episode, the athlete—who has two kids Benjamin, 12, and Vivian, 9, with his wife Gisele Bündchen, and shares a son, Jack, 14, with his ex Bridget Moynahan—reflected on his own experience with fatherhood.
"I'm 44. I've got a family that I'm a dad to some amazing children," he said while tearing up. "When I think about being a dad, I think about him because of what my dad meant to me, and I know I'm not as good a dad to my kids that my dad's been to me. And I use them as my example as to how to keep a family together and to care and to support and to love."
When it comes to raising his children, Brady said, "We want our kids to be happy. I want them to be respectful of people. I want them to be kind. I wanna make the world a better place." However, he also expressed his hope that his children learn from his experience.
"I think maybe what I'd wish for my children is to find something that they really love to do like I have, but I think I have taken it to an extreme too, you know?" he explained. "There are imbalances in my life. And you know, I hope they don't take things as far as I've taken them."
As he put it, "I want them to experience great success in whatever they do, but there's a torment about me that I don't wish upon them."
In addition to talking about his family, Brady discussed his 2020 decision to leave the New England Patriots after two decades with the team and join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with his first season with the Florida organization ending with a Super Bowl win.
This past February, Brady announced his retirement from football. But a month and a half later, he revealed he had changed his mind and was coming back for his 23rd season in the NFL.
"I know there's time for me to be sitting in the stands, and I know there's time for me to do other things," he said in the ESPN series, "but there's still a desire to win."