Tom Brady and his 13-year-old daughter Vivian were spotted sharing a quirky handshake at the FIFA World Cup on June 13, and cameras caught every second of it. The clip spread fast online, and now Brady has finally explained where the gesture came from. Turns out it traces back to a family trip and one unforgettable dinner in Tokyo.
Where did the Brady-Vivian handshake actually come from?
Brady opened up about it on Tubi's new show The Other Football, sitting down with Jameis Winston and Rob Gronkowski to walk through the story. He called it "a little inside joke we had," and the backstory is more charming than anyone probably expected.
It started during a trip Brady took with Vivian that spanned several countries. "We had this handshake because I took her, basically around the world — we went to the Netherlands, we went to Sweden, then we went to Japan, and we went a restaurant called Wagyu Mafia," he said. At that restaurant, the staff had a habit of hyping up every dish that hit the table. "They'd always say, 'eat sushi!'" Brady recalled, complete with an enthusiastic gesture. He and Vivian liked it so much they turned it into their own ritual. "So we have our little handshake and we always throw the little 'eat sushi' at it together," he explained.
What happened when the cameras caught them at the World Cup?
Neither of them realized they were being filmed when they broke out the handshake in the stands. Tom Brady said the moment actually started with Vivian teasing him about an aging soccer player. He fired back, joking that he himself was still outplaying younger guys at 44. That's when the handshake happened, and the internet ran with it. "Little did I know, we got clipped... it made for a really funny night," he said.
Brady didn't hold back on how much these moments mean to him either. "That little girl and I, we've got something special, and any dads out there who have little daughters, oh my god, they melt your hearts with everything they do," he said.
Tom Brady shares Vivian and 16-year-old son Benjamin with ex-wife Gisele Bündchen, and he's also dad to 18-year-old Jack, whom he shares with Bridget Moynahan. The World Cup outing came right after Brady celebrated Jack's high school graduation, which he marked on Instagram with photos alongside both kids.
