this is "nightline." >> tonight, tom brady, the legend, stepping off the field for good. >> seven super bowl titles. i don't know if we'll see anything like that in our lifetime. >> how tom brady played so well for so long. >> i was always kind of motivated by people that say, you can't do it, you're not good enough, you're not fast enough. >> why he finally decided to walk away from the game he changed. >> he retires today having crushed father time. nobody does this. plus halle berry, the oscar-winning actress breaking barriers and paving the way for so many. >> my hope is for the tessa thompsons and the zendayas, that their fight will be indelibly easier. >> that new generation becoming power brokers themselves in hollywood.

>> i think one thing is just to foster projects that actually allow black women to be on screen that are all shades, that are all colors. >> the abc news groundbreaking series "soul of a nation" returns with a special "scream queens rising." ♪ ♪ alright, i trust you. ♪ ♪ no, no, no. have some more ♪ ♪ i love you, too. ♪ ♪

♪

thanks for joining us. i'm gio benitez. nfl great tom brady kept us in suspense. would he or wouldn't he retire? now we know. the quarterback who so many consider the greatest to ever play the game has thrown his last touchdown. here's "nightline's" ashan singh. >> reporter: this is the last touchdown the greatest player in the national football league would ever throw. tom brady, after 22 seasons and seven super bowl wins, is retiring. the legendary quarterback making his announcement on instagram, finally ending days of speculation about his future. this is difficult for me to write, but here it goes. i'm not going to make that competitive commitment anymore. i love my nfl career, now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things. the 44-year-old is going out on top. considered the greatest after

time, he holds the most wins of any quarterback in american football history. >> as a fan i'm greedy, i wanted one more. listen, when you look at what tom brady has done through his 22-year career, it's a job well done. >> i thought he'd make it till he was 50 years old. you don't see him falling off at all. i was pretty shocked. >> reporter: a player who transcended the game, becoming a world-famous celebrity and cultural touchstone. his supermodel wife, gisele bundchen, often at his side. some thought the three-time nfl mvp and 15-time pro bowler was still playing some of the best football of his career. >> tom brady has defied all odds. he has beaten all these teams across the national football league, and he has beaten father time. he retires today having rush ed father time. nobody does this. >> reporter: this was an outpouring of support for the quarterback from fans, former coaches, teammates, opponents. seattle seahawks russell wilson tweeting, congrats to the latest. peyton manning tweeting, it was

an honor and a privilege to compete against him on the field, and i truly appreciate his friendship off the field. tom brady lived and breathed football. >> all day just like that! >> reporter: stepping away from the fame once seemed unfathomable to him. want to do after football? what do you mean, after football? there's nothing after football. this is what i was born to do, this is what i enjoy doing more than anything else. >> were you surprised by the news? >> no, i was surprised, he was 44. he's playing with house money at this point. he's given so much to the game of football with all the accolades. i'm thrilled he was able to end his career on a high note. >> reporter: "gma" coanchor and nfl hall of famer michael strahan used to line up. >> people call you g.o.a.t., greatest of all time. >> i don't like that it makes me cringe. >> really? >> it makes me cringe. i guess i take compliments worse than i take -- i wish you'd say,

"you're too slow, you can't get it done no more." and i'd say, "thank you very much" and prove you wrong. >> jimmy: driven by criticism more than success? >> yeah, absolutely. >> reporter: the quarterback's success seemed unlikely in 2000, when brady was chosen in the sixth round, 199th overall, by the new england patriots. >> late bloomer. i struggled in atmosphere college. i strug istruggled the early pat of my career. it's in me, it's deep. >> reporter: underdog status helped propel brady to the top. >> he was not overly toned and all that stuff. i tell you what, from what he was to what he became, i always say it's not where you start, it's where you finish. >> reporter: when patriots quarterback drew bledsoe went down with season-ending injury in 2001, former patriots quicker adam vin teatieri was there. >> that moment when drew bledsoe went down and brady stepped up, were you nervous? >> absolutely.

young guy, hadn't had much experience. we didn't know exactly what we had in tom brady. >> leaps and bounds every single game, he just showed his boys. even though he was a young guy, first time stepping on the field. just watching how calm and cool, and he had all the plays, and he just made it look easy. >> reporter: brady took over, and they won their first super bowl in cinderella fashion. and the rest is history. brady would go on to lead the patriots to an unprecedented six super bowl wins. >> he became a superstar in new england. an icon, a legend. like bill russell or larry bird or bobby orr. and then he went on to become a legend in tampa, helping to lead that franchise to a super bowl victory. >> reporter: over the past 22 years, teams moved cities, players hung up their cleats, and the game itself changed. but brady remained constant. just how unusual is it, what tom brady was able to accomplish? >> he was winning super bowls at 43.

tom brady threw more touchdown passes in his 40s than he did in all of his 20s. that has never happened before. and so listen, i would say tom brady is the american dream. >> what type of toll does it take on a football player to have a career that lasts longer than two decades? >> it's one thing getting hit and knocked around when you're in your 20s, a whole other thing when you're in your 40s. >> what are thins that set him apart, athat allowed to have a long career? >> avocado ice cream. he's the only dude who ever eats that stuff. for that, that's commitment in itself. but seriously, he did all the right stuff. taking care of your body, being a trainer -- i'm sure he learned early and often that you take care of your body because it's your tool. >> reporter: his drive to become the best and stay there was documented in the facebook series "tom versus time." >> i don't need exterior motivations. the ones that i have inside of me are enough. >> reporter: the series focuses on his nearly fanatical

commitment to preparation. heralding his tb12 method which he felt led to his longevity. >> i feel better than i've ever done, so why she stop? >> reporter: from physical workouts and massages to his unorthodox diet. "tom versus time" also gives a rare glimpse at family life. brady has two children from his wife gisele and a son from his relationship with actress bridget moynihan. his family has been front and center at his games. >> i love bringing them to training camp, bringing them to the locker after the game, carrying my pads in. they say, daddy, is this the super bowl? my daughter. is this the super bowl? no, it's week nine. >> reporter: on recent episode of his podcast "let's go," he talked about the toll it was taking on his wife. >> my wife is my biggest supporter. it pains her to see me get hit out there. >> i know he's a great family man. gisele, his wife, and him are

very, very family oriente. >> reporter: brady also opened up to michael strahan about the sacrifices gisele made for his football career. >> a lot of times, you know, things resolve around me in the house. because football's a schedule, you know. it's just, i'm here for this. and you know, in a lot of ways i'm absent in a way. i lose track of my responsibilities in the house. and i think she carries the burden a lot of times. >> you put out the garbage, don't put out the garbage? >> the reality, i don't do much. i think that's the thing that -- you know, i'm going to do a better job. because she deserves it too. >> listen, at some point all athletes go to this phase of, it's time to go home. tom brady playing 22 years, at some point it's time to go home to the wife and kids and enjoy that aspect of your life. you've given so much to the game, now it's time to give it back to your family. >> reporter: brady's career wasn't without controversy. >> we begin today with the patriots' response to the underinflated football. >> reporter: he missed four games in 2016 due to his suspension for the scandal known

as "deflategate." >> i have no knowledge of anything. i have no knowledge of any wrongdoing. >> reporter: at the end of that same season, brady came back with a vengeance. as he orchestrated a super bowl-winning comeback against the atlanta falcons. >> patriots win the super bowl! >> you never wanted him to have the ball at the independent of the game with 1:30 left if you were playing against him. if he was your quarterback on your team, you knew you had a chance to win the game at the end. >> reporter: in a stung move he played his final two years with the tampa bay buccaneers. he became the oldest quarterback to ever win a super bowl at 43. >> so he left new england. there were so many fans who were crushed and devastated by his departure. the fact of the matter is he felt like that would be better for his career. it turned out he probably was right because he won a super bowl there, almost made it to another super bowl in the second season, before he called it quits. >> reporter: while he didn't mention the patriots in his retirement announcement, in new

england his legend will never die. >> he's the greatest of all time. there's nothing that you can say about his on-field performance that doesn't say this guy was the best. >> he's had a great career, good for him. thanks for being so awesome for us, tommy, we love you, we wish you nothing but the best. >> i don't have any insight but i don't think we've seen the last of tom brady. football is such a huge part of his life, i don't think he's going to totally be gone from it, that's for sure. >> reporter: there are no what-ifs with tom brady. one of the few to leave no stone unturned. leave it all out on the field. dominate while doing it. from draft day afterthought to being crowned the greatest of all time. >> our thanks to ashan. up next, the iconic halle berry. how the history-making actress continues to pave the way for black women in hollywood. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible...

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♪ since of dawn of cinema, black actresses have been undervalued in hollywood. but that's all starting to change, both on screen and off. here's a preview of "soul of a nation: screen queens rising." >> that word "beautiful." has been a hard word to get around for me. because when someone is beautiful, that's also aligned

with maybe not so intelligent. maybe not so talented. how i look, i had nothing to do with, i came here this way. i love when someone says, you're a great mother. you are a talented act ev talen but the physical part has become, okay, wat else is out there for me? >> reporter: we think we know halle berry. she's been on movie screens and in our living rooms for 30 years. my colleague, t.j. holmes, sat down with the beauty queen from ohio who'd become a hollywood legend. she broke the mold as a bond girl in "die another day." >> magnificent view. >> reporter: as storm in "x-men." but it was her transformation into laticia musgrove in "monster's ball" that won her an oscar for the best actress, making her the first and still only black woman to ever do so. >> he was a good kid. he was a really good kid.

he was so good. he was -- he really -- he loved me. >> reporter: now miss berry is hoping for another breakthrough, this time in front of and behind the camera. she produced and directed "bruised." >> that's your motivation to get over here. if that's the case, you might stop us back here. >> reporter: stripping herself down to play jackie justice, a disgraced mma fighter and mother. >> 20 years ago, i didn't even dream that i could do this. i didn't think that opportunity would come my way in my lifetime. you know, where black women really got to sit behind the camera and tell their stories from their point of view. >> you weren't trying to be the director on this film either, but you had a vision for it that you finally came around to you being the right person to bring it to camera? >> right. the story was so clear in my mind because i had to reimagine it for someone like me. it wasn't written for a black woman. in the reimagining of it, i

really saw the world clearly. in my research, what i was finding out about why women fight, the world became very clear to me in my mind. and it was a story that was burning inside me to tell. but it was a fight every single day to prove that i could do this. >> i see tears in your eyes. it's not just a labor of love, you went through it. >> i did. i did. i did. but -- the good thing is, i'm a fighter. and my hope is for the tessa thompsons and the zendayas, that because i lived through my journey and i fought all the fights that i had to fight and continue to fight, that their fight will be indelibly easier. >> reporter: actress tessa thompson has crafted a wide-ranging body of work, from memorable performances as superhero valkyrie in "ragnarok"

to "selma." my colleague, deborah roberts, sat down with tessa thompson to hear about her experiences in hollywood. >> is it by design that these characters that you pick are so different? >> it is at this point. i think certainly in the beginning of your career, you are just hoping to get a job, you don't have the luxury of choice. you're sort of throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. but i think at a certain point i started to feel like, i don't know how long i can stay in this industry, because it feels very narrow, the kind of parts that i might have the opportunity to play. >> reporter: ms. thompson is now working to do things her way, with her own production company called viva mod. her goal is to create roles for a variety of women of all races, ethnici ethnicities, definitely all colors. >> is there a different journey for women depending on the tone of your skin, would you say in hollywood? >> absolutely. absolutely. it's undeniable. if you just look at hollywood iconography by and large, you

can see it clear as day. i think that's a part of the design of my company, with viva mod, is really wanting -- looking at hollywood, looking at this problem of colorism. sometimes i contribute to that. i'm certainly the benefactor of that in some ways. what can i do? what is actionable? one thing is just to be able, in whatever way i can, to foster projects that actually allow for a wealth of black women to be on screen that are all shades, that are all colors. >> what do you want to leave to those who now are being inspired by tessa thompson? >> i think freedom to show up more authentically as the fullest expression of yourself, whatever that means. to feel that you can also be of service to your community, to your race, by being free to be who you are. i think that's something that matters to me. that's something i'd like to offer.

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finally here tonight, welcome to the year of the tiger. nearly 2 billion people worldwide are celebrating the lunar new year and saying good-bye to the year of the ox. according to the chinese zodiac, those born in the year of the tiger are considered brave, competitive, and confidant. >> we have marilyn monroe as a tiger. lady gaga as a tiger. amanda gorman. and even the queen was born the year of the tiger. >> food is a big part of the celebrations. >> my favorite things that my family serves is a teamed prosperity cupcake that my grandma makes every year. >> wow! >> the taller it blossoms, the

more luck you'll have in the new year. >> that is "nightline." watch all our full episodes on hulu right now. we'll see you right back here tomorrow at the same time. good night.