The story of Tom Brady and the strawberry will not be swiftly consigned to the compost heap of history.

As you are likely aware, the New England Patriots quarterback ate one last week on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for what he said was the first time ever. Afterward, he declared it to have been “not that bad,” but his demeanor told a different story. He’d said he hated the smell, but holding a cloth to his mouth as he reluctantly swallowed, he didn’t seem too tickled by the taste either.

Brady was ostensibly on the talk show to promote his health-and-wellness book, The TB12 Method, but the NFL star, who is famous for his strict adherence to a plant-based diet and disciplined avoidance of things like white sugar, white flour, iodized salt, dairy, nightshades and caffeine, is concerned that his reason for, until now, eschewing strawberries has been misunderstood.

It’s not that his regimen forbids the consumption of strawberries. (That’s why he rarely eats cheeseburgers and pizza, which he says are his two favorite cheat foods.) It’s that he simply can’t abide the little red fruits.

“I just don’t like them. At the end of the day, I just don’t like the taste,” Brady told People. “I don’t like the smell, the texture or anything. It doesn’t really have to do with my diet, it’s just more of my preference, but somehow it got wrapped into my diet.”

So don’t expect him to suddenly start scarfing down the berries. In fact, Brady said he is unlikely to change much about his diet, even after he eventually retires from pro football.

“It’s possible,” he told People, but … “I feel really good. It’s hard for me to think that I’m going to be really unhealthy.”

Berry impressive. 

Photo: Patrick Smith / Staff, GettyImages