Tom Brady took his daughter Vivian cliff-jumping while vacationing in Costa Rica over the weekend, and quickly came under fire when he took to Instagram to post video of his family’s adventurous trip.
In the footage, the NFL quarterback, 41, can be seen holding his six-year-old’s hand, asking her multiple times if she’s ready to jump.
After a quick countdown, Brady pushes off from the rock ledge, yanking his seemingly hesitant daughter towards the water. She quickly resurfaces and swims over to her dad.
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“If Vivi is going to be an Olympic champion one day, it probably won’t be in synchronized diving,” he captioned the post. “Daddy always gives her a 10 though!”
While it seemed all fun and games for the thrill-seeking duo, the online audience wasn’t too sure what to make of it. Even his starry roster of friends seemed a bit divided.
Fellow athlete and basketball star Stephen Curry simply responded with a number of laughing emojis.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson popped up in the comments section with a bit more concern. “You KNOW I have complete faith in you as a man, friend, player and father – but this just gave me anxiety. Geeezus,” he wrote.
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Brady’s fan base had a lot to say about the incident, with some pointing out that Vivian wasn’t wearing a life jacket and only narrowly missed the rocks, landing awkwardly in the water on her side.
Some even went as far to claim it was endangerment of a child and “irresponsible.”
Many of the athlete’s loyal fans came to his defence on Instagram, dismissing the jump as an adventurous moment with his daughter.
“People have to learn to stop being so over dramatic and protective,” one Instagram user wrote, while another praised him for helping his daughter overcome a fear: “Good for them both! He did it with her so she would have no fear and he made sure she missed the rocks! Now that’s a good dad!”
But all’s well that ends well in Brady’s world, and no children were injured during the holiday.
As of this writing, neither he nor his wife Gisele Bündchen have responded to the backlash.
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meaghan.wray@globalnews.ca