After seven Super Bowl titles and a glittering 23-year NFL legacy, Tom Brady has become one of the most recognizable faces in football, in sport and in the world.
And, thanks to his 13-year, high-profile marriage to supermodel Gisele Bundchen, which ended in 2022, even when off the pitch, we were treated to a steady stream of hunky snaps of his athletic physique on red carpets, frolicking on mega yachts or even sunbathing in the nude.
Now, of course, Brady has secured a post-retirement $375 million contract with Fox as a TV commentator, meaning he’s still never far from our screens.
But for some who have closely followed the now 48-year-old’s career – all the way from when he first burst onto the scene aged 23 – his noticeably taut and ever-youthful visage has become a keen topic of interest.
The former quarterback is pictured aged 24 at the beginning of his career in 2001 (left) and last month at the age of 48
Tom Brady was back on TV on Thanksgiving as part of Fox’s NFL coverage live from Detroit
Certainly, the former quarterback’s vigorous conditioning regime is no secret and has surely helped to keep the years off.
But Brady’s startling facial transformation may have required a helping hand. That’s according to Dr Elie Levine, one of New York City’s top plastic surgeons.
‘Yes, he eats clean, and yes, he exercises. He takes care of himself. But those things don’t really reverse photoaging and generalized ageing that you see in someone nearing 50 years old,’ Dr Levine tells the Daily Mail.
Brady’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Though Dr Levine has not examined or treated Brady, based on photos, the first thing that stands out to him is Brady’s hairline.
Dr Levine, the Director of Plastic Surgery at Plastic Surgery & Dermatology of NYC, suggests the hairline has ‘come down significantly,’ showing no sign of the natural recession that comes with aging in men.
‘No matter how superhuman you are on the football field, hairlines recede,’ he says. ‘Even in people with great hair genetics, their hairline recedes.
‘That temple recession you see as men age is not necessarily an unattractive look. It doesn’t necessarily detract from their aesthetic at that point. But in Tom’s case, that recession has essentially disappeared.’
Dr Levine explains that when performing hair transplants on his own patients, the goal is to ensure that the alteration looks as natural as possible. But he admits that there are tells that can give away the tweaks. In Brady’s case, the glaring perfection of his thick tresses may betray the truth.
Brady is pictured above, left, in 2000 aged 23 at the start of his NFL career with the New England Patriots and again at the end of his sporting career, right, in 2023 at age 46
‘If you have someone who’s nearing 50, whose hairline looks too good to be that of someone in their late 40s, no matter who you are in terms of genetics, it creates a disconnect,’ he explains.
‘So, having too good a hairline, which he has for his age, it looks unnatural. It looks kind of off. And so, there’s no question that his hair has improved or changed.’
The procedure, depending on the practitioner and the amount of grafts required, can cost between $15,000 to $50,000, according to the surgeon.
Brady’s luscious locks aren’t the only thing that may have been achieved through a transplant. Dr Levine also claims his teeth are false additions.
Dr Levine believes that there is a high likelihood Brady has fixed his camera-ready smile with veneers or implants as he claims that the sporting icon now has ‘vastly different’ teeth from his youth.
Aside from his dazzling teeth, one of Brady’s most distinguishable facial features is his incredibly taut and shiny forehead.
Brady’s lower eyelids, cheeks and forehead look pristine for a man nearing 50. Dr Levine notes that there are minimal to zero wrinkles marring the Patriots legend’s forehead, while he is also lacking natural crow’s feet around the outer corners of his eyes.
Dr Levine states that Brady has a naturally heavy brow, but is lacking the creases that should come with such a facial structure.
This means that there is a high likelihood Brady has had Botox to get rid of the lines in his upper facial area, the surgeon explains.
Dr Levine believes that there is a high likelihood that Brady has fixed his smile with veneers. Brady is pictured at the 2018 Met Gala with ex-wife Gisele Bundchen
Throughout his career, Brady has followed a strict regime to maintain his chiseled physique
‘One of the signs of having a heavy brow is that you have to use your forehead muscles a lot more to elevate that brow,’ he says. ‘The only way you wouldn’t do that is if there’s some neuromodulator involved. So something like Botox, definitely appears to be in use here. You’d expect to see more fine lines around those areas if he wasn’t using some sort of neuromodulator.’
Botox uses a toxin to paralyze a muscle beneath the skin, meaning that it doesn’t move and causes wrinkles to deepen in the skin.
It generally lasts three to four months and costs around $180 to $750 per session.
Brady’s flawless skin isn’t reserved to his forehead. The blemish-free skin across his face also allgedly isn’t common for someone who has spent a large portion of his life in the outdoors and exposed to sunlight.
‘Overall, his skin has kind of a great shine to it,’ Dr Levine says. ‘For a guy who grew up in California, likes being outdoors and spent time in Florida, he doesn’t visibly have any real photodamage.
‘There’s a high likelihood that he’s had certain laser work, whether it’s IPL, BBL, or resurfacing lasers. It’s probably a combination of both, because his skin overall looks great.’
Intense Pulse Light (IPL) and BroadBand Light (BBL) are non-invasive light-based cosmetic treatments that use pulsed light to target and improve various skin concerns like age spots, sun damage, redness, wrinkles and uneven tone.
Meanwhile, laser resurfacing uses lasers to remove the outer layer of skin to reduce wrinkles, scars and other imperfections. It helps to stimulate the production of new collagen, which can overall improve skin texture and firmness.
Dr Levine estimates that, depending on the practitioner, Brady’s cocktail of needling could cost between $5,000 to $10,000 each time.
He further gauges that Brady could be receiving the Botox injections and lasering procedures as many as twice or even three times a year, which could see him splash as much as $30,000 on ‘maintenance work’ annually.
The 48-year-old is father to three children, Vivian, 12, Benjamin, 15, and Jack, 18
The seven-time Super Bowl winner’s vigorous, high-intensity conditioning regime is no secret
In recent years, Brady’s increasingly gaunt appearance has sparked a wave of nip and tuck rumors. But Dr Levine isn’t convinced.
The surgeon says that, in his estimation, Brady has not gone under the knife for anything other than a hair transplant. And instead, he believes the footballer has obtained his tight, youthful glow through cheek fillers on top of his recipe of lasering and Botox.
‘He definitely has a much more drawn face,’ Dr Levine says, comparing a photo of Brady in February with his official NFL headshot from the 2001 season.
‘Yes, he probably is in better shape and weighs less, but if someone is that drawn and loses that kind of facial weight through the combination of ageing and maybe weight loss, you would expect the cheeks to be really quite drawn.
‘You don’t really see that. In fact, his cheeks look quite full and look pretty good. It would be reasonable to think that he has kind of volumized that mid-face area.’
Dr Levine suggests that cheek implants could be an option for patients striving to achieve that full, high cheekbone look. However, he deduces it would be an unlikely route for Brady as he is lacking that ‘overdone look’ that cheek implants can often leave behind.
A fat transfer, while also a possibility, is also improbable. The cosmetic procedure moves fat from one part of your body to another to add volume and enhance contours. It uses liposuction to harvest the fat from areas like the abdomen, thighs, or hips, and then injecting it into the desired location.
He is shown again later in his career in 2014 at the age of 37, left, and again in June this year
Given Brady’s relentless conditioning regime and chiseled physique, however, Dr Levine surmises it would be challenging to locate a donor area on Brady to source enough fat from.
To match his sharp cheeks, Brady also has a well-defined jawline. But unlike his cheeks, the analyst hasn’t had a helping hand, according to Dr Levine.
‘Could he have done something procedural to his jaw? It’s possible, but I’m still leaning towards weight loss, because he always had a pretty good jawline, and he had a prominent chin,’ the surgeon says.
In fact, Levine believes that Brady’s weight loss has been so transformative to his face that, if fans weren’t aware of Brady’s dedication to a healthy lifestyle, many would believe he had turned to GLP-1 medication – weight loss drugs such as Ozempic.
‘As he proceeded through his career, he was more and more of a proponent of really clean, healthy lifestyles, in terms of avoiding alcohol and eating foods that were rich in antioxidants,’ the expert says.
‘So, he was always thin. But if you didn’t know that about him, you’d almost wonder if he had gone on a GLP medication.’
While Dr Levine praises the laser and Botox work that Brady has done, he claims that the alterations to the cheeks have left him looking ‘unnatural.’
‘Do I think that his Botox has been done well? I do. I think it looks pretty good. Do I think that his laser work has been done well? Yes, I think they look good. Do I think that his fillers have been good? I don’t think they’ve been great,’ he admits.
‘My concern is that when you kind of volumize the face, there’s a temptation as a practitioner to work on that mid-upper face, because that’s what people come in pointing out often.
‘There has to be at least some focus on the lower and midface so that you don’t create this disharmony and disconnect from the upper and lower face. And that hasn’t been achieved.’
Brady takes the field ahead of the Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018
The surgeon estimates that the majority of the alleged cosmetic work – with the exception of the alleged hair transplant – has occurred since Brady hung up his cleats in 2023.
He says: ‘I think that after he retired, he may have done a lot in a short amount of time. It definitely makes it a lot harder to keep things natural.
‘There’s a temptation as a patient to go into the provider and say, fix me up now.
‘But the right answer for a practitioner is, “I know you’re Tom Brady, and you may be an expert at throwing footballs, but let me run the game plan for this because I know this better”.’