Three failed marriages can change a person, and no one knows it better than NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw. Despite that, he never gave up on love and found Tammy. However, he put himself and his wife through quite an ordeal to ensure that this doesn’t end up being a disaster for both of them.

“I’m embarrassed by it,” Bradshaw said on the Glass Half Full with Craig Melvin podcast on July 7. “I know exactly why I got divorced now. I know exactly why I married those women. And I only know that because I spent three years in therapy to try to figure out what the hell is wrong with me. I dated Tammy, fell in love, and said, ‘Not so fast, Terry. Let’s make sure here.’ So I punished her for 12 years.”

Bradshaw was married to former Miss Teenage America Melissa Babish from 1972 to 1973, figure skater JoJo Starbuck from 1976 to 1983, and attorney Charlotte Hopkins from 1983 to 1999. He said all three of his failed marriages had the same pattern.

He realized he was the problem, not his former wives.  To understand himself better, Bradshaw sought help and worked diligently.

“I started working on me, and that’s what changed my life,” he added. “I did the work. Put in 3 hours of work [regularly].”

Terry Bradshaw took this step because rushing cost him one marriage. He and Babish married in 1972, two years after the Pittsburgh Steelers picked him first overall in the 1970 NFL Draft. However, their marriage lasted only about 18 months. In a 1980 interview with Playboy, Bradshaw admitted that he knew before the wedding that he was making a mistake. He even tried to cancel the wedding just two days before it happened, but went through with it anyway.

Bradshaw later said the marriage failed because he was young and not ready. And he wasn’t faring that well in his career either, which really took off from the 1974 season. His career also ended on a bad note with the Steelers, and his mental health worsened after his third divorce. He has expressed previously that he had to take antidepressants as part of his treatment.

So, after taking all the necessary steps, he finally proposed to Tammy, and both got married in 2014 and have stayed together ever since.

He even saved her contact in his phone as “Tammy, My Good Wife.” Since then, Terry and Tammy have traveled together, written a family cookbook, and stood by each other during hard times, including Bradshaw’s battle with Merkel cell carcinoma and bladder cancer.

“I can’t imagine not holding her hand when we take off on a plane,” Bradshaw told TODAY in 2022. “Or when we land or when we snuggle up when we’re in bed together. Or when she’s sitting over there with our sick puppy.”