New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady got choked up at a Super Bowl LI press conference on Monday, January 30, when a 7-year-old fan asked about his hero. Watch the emotional moment in the video above!
“Who’s my hero? That’s a great question. Well, I think my dad is my hero because he’s someone that I look up to every day,” the NFL star, 39, replied. He then looked down and adjusted the microphone with tears in his eyes. “My dad.”
Brady nodded his head and gave a thumbs-up to the young journalist, Joseph Perez, who was at the event after winning a “Kid Reporter” contest, according to ESPN. A fellow reporter applauded the child, as heard in the background of the video, saying, “Told you it was a good question!”
“My question made him cry!” Perez said, according to Yahoo! Sports. “I thought of it myself.”
Brady’s comments came days after his father, Tom Brady Sr., criticized NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for his handling of the now-infamous Deflategate incident. “For what the league did to him and what Roger Goodell constantly lied about is beyond reprehensible as far as I’m concerned,” Brady Sr. said on KRON-TV. Brady later jokingly told WEEI radio, “I’ve banned my dad from talking, so he’s no longer available to the media.”
Later in Monday’s press conference, a reporter asked the athlete if he shared the same feeling as his dad, causing him to once again get emotional. “I’d say my dad represents his feelings, you know, because he’s a dad and, you know, I’m a dad,” Brady, who shares kids Benjamin, 7, and Vivian, 4, with wife Gisele Bündchen, replied. He is also the father of Jack, 9, with ex Bridget Moynahan.
The football pro continued, “He was just a great example for me, and he was always someone who supported me in everything I did. … And to have a chance to go to [San Francisco] 49er games on the weekend with him and my mom and throw the ball in the parking lot before the games, those are memories that I’ll have forever.”
