Tom Brady regrets roasting and says he’ll never do it again

What was billed as the “greatest roast ever” turned out to be anything but for Tom Brady, who lamented the effect it had on his three children.

“I liked when the jokes were about me,” Brady said Tuesday on “The Pivot” with Ryan Clarke, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder. “I thought it was a lot of fun. I didn’t like the way it affected my kids.

“So, the hardest part is the bittersweet aspect when you do something that you thought was one way, and all of a sudden you realize ‘I’ll never do that again’ because of the way it has, in fact, affected the people I care about the most in the world.”

Brady’s comments came at the end of the 56-minute podcast, when Taylor — a teammate with the New England Patriots in 2009 and 2010 — asked him if he learned anything about himself from roasting.

Taylor’s question was asked more in the context of his relationship with his teammates and how he seems to mirror their bonds formed in the locker room over the years, but Brady instead focused on his children Jack, Benjamin and Vivian.

“It makes you, in some ways, a better parent going through this,” he said. “Sometimes you’re naive. You don’t know, or you might say ‘Oh—‘.”

“I love when people make fun of me. … I just want to laugh, so I wanted to do the roasting. You don’t see the whole picture all the time. So I think it’s a good lesson for me as a parent that I’m going to be a better parent as I grow because of that.”

Brady added: “At the same time, I’m glad everyone who was there had a lot of fun. And I think for me, outside of that, it’s always good ‘if we don’t laugh at things, we’re crying’. I think we should have more fun. We loved laughing in the locker room, so let’s do more, love each other and celebrate each other’s success.

Part of the podcast focused on how May is Mental Health Awareness Month, with Brady acknowledging what he does in this area.

“I’m just doing my best to check in with myself as much as I can — with my physical health, my mental health, my emotional health,” he said. “It’s something I’m working on. I think every year I start something a little different.

“I think last year I wanted to kind of rebuild my body because I lost a lot of weight in my last season. It was tough. This year is full of work stuff. I think I’ll really settle into next year. In a better, more sustainable rhythm of life between all of our responsibilities. When Is it too much? And when is it not enough? You’re juggling all those balls in the air, and certainly for former athletes, we never know what that’s going to be like when we retire.”

Brady revealed another aspect of retirement that challenged him.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m in a washing machine right now, not quite sure where it’s going to go, what the schedule looks like. Structure and habits are positive for us at different times; when you don’t do it, you’re bouncing, you’re like a ping-pong ball,” he said. Also,” he admitted, “not at the center of my attention right now.”

“I feel, of course, as a midfielder, I was in control. I loved flying the plane, being the operator. I think what you realize in life is that you’re not in control that much. What do I need to do more of in my life, I need to be better with control.” Less, I need to do better in that gray area, I can’t get so anxious when things don’t go exactly the way I want them to.