Celebrity News
Actress and entrepreneur Gabrielle Union is opening up about her personal experience with motherhood and why she felt inadequate early on during her journey.
For context, the 50-year-old shares daughter Kaavia James Union Wade,4, with her husband, former NBA player Dwyane Wade. In addition to the pair's daughter, Union is a stepmother to Wade's three children from previous relationships, including Zaire Wade, 21, Zaya Wade, 16, and 9-year-old Xavier Wade.
The Being Mary Jane star also helped raise Wade's nephew Dahveon Morris, 21, which he had full custody of throughout the couple's relationship. In a recent interview withE! News, Union --who was promoting her new special, Gabrielle Union: My Journey to 50-- shared that the reason why she felt inadequate and feared that she would become a terrible mother was because she failed to meet her own expectations of what a great parent would be.
Gabrielle Union On Her Fears Of Being A Bad Mother
During the June discussion, the Bring It On star revealed that although she had some form of experience with motherhood by raising her stepchildren, when it came time to welcome her daughter Kaavia James with Wade via surrogate in November 2018, she feared that it was going to be a disaster because she didn't feel like she was "living up to the great moms" she had as an example growing up.
"I was afraid of being a bad mom, of not living up to the great moms that I grew up with. I didn't want my lack of understanding or knowledge on every single thing to leave this gaping hole in her life," she said.
But as the years went by, with Union and Wade sharing Kaavia James' journey on social media, many have praised the parents for raising a smart, loving, and unapologetic individual.
Further into the interview, Union disclosed that since becoming a mother and becoming confident in her skills, she realized there's no set way to raise a child and that some situations would require parents to just wing it.
"As I got more confidence. I'm like, 'Oh, we're all winging it? We're just doing the best we can,'" she stated.
Gabrielle On Breaking Old Habits
As the conversation shifted to how Union and Wade prepared to raise their daughter, the L.A.'s Finest star revealed that their family attended therapy to heal from past childhood trauma after they started seeing that old wounds were "subconsciously" being passed onto Kaavia.
"We have committed to raising free girls, but we all have to be on board, which meant a lot of us got back into therapy to really get over some of the things that we didn't heal from in our childhoods, that we started subconsciously passing onto [Kaavia]," she said.
Union further explained how vital therapy was for their family so they can continue to show up for one another.
"It's like, 'No.' We have to heal first so we can be better village members for her, for Zaya, for ourselves, for each other's children. 'Cause we don't have to pass on every single thing and that is our responsibility to [snipping motion] cut those cords when we are made aware."
Since then, Union, Wade, and their entire family appear to be tighter than ever.
Gabrielle Union: My Journey to 50, a special about the lessons the actress' learned in life and during her trip to Africa, is set to debut on June 15 on BET+
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Feature image by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tiffany & Co.
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