NEW YORK – Star National Football League (NFL) quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bundchen announced the end of their marriage of more than 13 years on Friday over Instagram, splitting up after years of intrigue from fans and tabloids and more recent speculation about Brady’s lengthy playing career and its effect on their relationship.

Brady, 45, said in his post that he and Bundchen finalised their divorce in recent days.

“We arrived at this decision amicably and with gratitude for the time we spent together,” said the American athlete.

“We arrived at this decision to end our marriage after much consideration. Doing so is, of course, painful and difficult, like it is for many people who go through the same thing every day around the world. However we wish only the best for each other as we pursue whatever new chapters in our lives that are yet to be written.”

The former couple have two children together – a son, Benjamin, 12, and a daughter, Vivian, nine. Brady also has a son, Jack, 15, from a previous relationship with American actress Bridget Moynahan.

Brazilian supermodel Bundchen, 42, said in her own post that she and Brady will continue co-parenting their children “to give them the love, care and attention they greatly deserve”.

“The decision to end a marriage is never easy but we have grown apart and while it is, of course, difficult to go through something like this, I feel blessed for the time we had together and only wish the best for Tom always.”

Brady has played professional football for more than two decades, and his team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has slipped at the beginning of this season in part because of a decline in his play. The Buccaneers lost a game on Thursday night to the Baltimore Ravens, falling to 3-5 and giving Brady his first three-game losing streak since 2002.

Bundchen has spoken publicly about wanting him to retire and spend more time with their family.

Brady retired after last season, then reversed his decision and chose to return to the Buccaneers, the team he led to a Super Bowl in the 2020 season.

The divorce was filed on Friday by Bundchen in Glades County, Florida. According to court filings, the couple finalised a marital settlement agreement, which included a parenting plan, earlier last week. The terms of that agreement were filed with the court confidentially.

Both Brady and Bundchen also completed four-hour parent education and family stabilisation courses, which are required in Florida when a divorcing couple has minor children, earlier last week.

Brady did not contest the divorce, waived a trial and any waiting periods required by law, and the divorce was finalised by a judge on Friday.

Mr Chris Melcher, a divorce lawyer and partner of Walzer Melcher & Yoda, said “the couple handled things in an exemplary fashion by settling quickly and quietly”.

“It was important for Tom and Gisele to settle to avoid damaging their reputations by airing out a messy divorce in public,” Mr Melcher said. “It would have been a distraction that could have damaged their reputations.”

Since they met, Brady and Bundchen have been a high-profile couple, constantly under the public eye.

He had already won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and Bundchen was a fixture on magazine covers and one of the top figures in the fashion industry. In 2016, she was reportedly the world’s highest-paid (and richest) model.

In the time they were together, Brady won four more championships, including one with the Buccaneers, with Bundchen often seen supporting him at games and during trophy celebrations.

Brady and Bundchen married in 2009, after meeting through a friend and going on their first date in 2006.

“The moment I saw him, he smiled and I was like, ‘That is the most beautiful, charismatic smile I’ve ever seen!’” Bundchen told Vanity Fair in 2009.

“We sat and talked for three hours. I had to go home for Christmas, but I didn’t want to leave. You know that feeling of, like, you can’t get enough? From the first day we met, we’ve never spent one day without speaking to each other.”

They had two ceremonies, one at a Catholic church in Santa Monica, California, and another with friends in Costa Rica.

“Sometimes I tell people that my husband and I love each other so much we got married twice,” Bundchen wrote in her 2018 book Lessons: My Path To A Meaningful Life.

After 22 seasons in the NFL, Brady announced his retirement in February, but he then announced in March that he would return for another season.

Since then, there has been much speculation over whether Brady and Bundchen fought over his decision to return to football. That has also led to questions over whether their marital struggles have affected Brady on the field.

Before the season began, Brady missed several practices, as well as two preseason games. Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles told reporters in August that Brady had been excused while he was “going to deal with some personal things”.

Bowles told reporters on Friday that he was not sure how the divorce was affecting Brady’s professional life.

“He does his job when he’s out here and he smiles a lot, and that’s really all you can go by,” Bowles said.

“I think everybody – no matter what profession – you go through some things, it’s how you handle it and come out of it. I’m sure he has something weighing on him when he leaves work and everything – I don’t know how much, I guess that’s a question for him.” NYTIMES