In the summer before this year’s football season, on a warm and sunny July day, Tom Brady reclined on a massage table in an airy room furnished with dark wood and stone, a chandelier made of antlers hanging from the ceiling and the lush Montana countryside visible through the windows. His Patriots teammates were hanging around, too, and on this particular trip together they raced ATVs through the stunning landscape and played golf, both on the course and virtually in another lavish, Western-themed room – teasing each other as a Patriots game played on a huge flatscreen TV and swiping snacks from the spread on a table underneath it.
This is the playground of the rich and famous. It’s called the Yellowstone Club, a members-only oasis on its own mountain in Montana – and, while Brady recovers from the Patriots’ devastating Super Bowl defeat on Sunday, at least he can take comfort in the fact that he’s among a select group of people who own homes here.
The Club sprawls across 15,200 acres, and Brady is far from the only famous face walking the grounds. Bill and Melinda Gates have a place here, as does Justin Timberlake and wife Jessica Biel. Google founder Eric Schmidt is another neighbor. Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews and former NHL player Jarrett Stoll got married here last June in a lavish ceremony. Former Vice President Dan Quayle is rumored to own a home in the resort. It was to Yellowstone Club that Ashton Kutcher whisked his latest squeeze after his divorce from Demi Moore; Touched by an Angel actress Roma Downey rang in the New Year here just a few weeks ago.