
Gabrielle Union's Evening Routine Includes A Guided Meditation For The Entire Family

The Wades have spent much of the pandemic perfecting that art of being one big blended family, their way. The head lady at the table, Gabrielle Union, has somehow managed to balance her career with being a good--and progressive--wife and mother. Union currently lives in Los Angeles, with her husband, former NBA star Dwyane Wade, their two-year-old daughter, Kaavia, and Union's sister, who is a live-in babysitter for Kaavia. Union is also the stepmother to three kids from Wade's previous relationships—Zaire, 18; Zaya, 13, and Xavier, 6. They've also raised Dahveon, 18, Wade's nephew, for the past 12 years.
How sis manages to wrangle this household down at the end of the day, we'll never understand, but she did tell us what happens. In a recent interview, she described how she likes to wind down her evenings, and it's household goals!
Operation Shut-It Down starts at 6pm.
Gabrielle Union toldSELF:
"We call it Operation Shut-It-Down. Sometimes, we call it Operation Shut-It-The-Fuck-Down."
"Operation Shut-It-Down starts around six o'clock when Kaav goes in for bath time.That's kind of when the noise levels drop; everyone's moving in to prepare for the end of the day. By 6:30, Kaav is out. We don't mess with her schedule at all, no matter what happens."
Gabrielle then plays a little R&B to wine down.
"I play my chill-out mix, which is a lot of '80s R&B. It's a lot of Phyllis Hyman, a lot of Anita Baker and Gregory Abbott, that kind of '80s R&B vibe. We might watch some TV and then the candles will start to get lit and we retreat to our separate corners in our bedroom for the nighttime. I light my palo santo, a little sage."
Up next is the beauty routine, because...skincare.
Gabrielle Union's very detailed skincare routine is up next, complete with products to set you up right:
"Then I start my evening beauty routine. I'm not sure if you're familiar with this company called The Things We Do, which I'm obsessed with. I wash my face with the Glow Scrub Cleanser. Then there's this product called Do Over, which, no lie, it is a game changer. It's a retinol, and it's everything. It doesn't leave me irritated, but I generally use it at night, not in the morning, a few times a week.
She plays a guided meditation throughout the house.
"Sometimes we'll put the guided meditations on throughout the house, or meditative music throughout the house.We sort of force everyone to do it with us. We do a guided meditation or just a meditation."
She continued:
"Just give yourself that time to center yourself. For me, instead of looking at social media, because obviously I need my phone to get my guided meditation, I just go straight to my guided meditation—in the bathroom—and just have that time. Before you check and see that the murder hornets are making their way to your hometown, give yourself that space."
Gabrielle encourages everyone in the house to put away their electronics before bed.
The Wades also prioritize therapy and putting away the electronics.
"It started with Zaya, because she would literally be up all night, like overnight, and be dragging during school, and it was just increasing her anxiety. Constantly looking at social media—between the FOMO and feeling like you're not doing a pandemic right, all of that—it was just increasing her anxiety. So we started just putting them away. Just putting our phones away has greatly changed the sleep routine for all of us. And then when you wake up, don't reach right for the phone."
Union also discussed her entire beauty routine, the importance of therapy, and more. Read the full interview here.
Are you a member of our insiders squad? Join us in the xoTribe Members Community today!
Feature image via Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
- Dwyane Wade Daughter Zaya Support - xoNecole: Women's Interest, Love, Wellness, Beauty ›
- How Daily Meditation Benefits Your Career - xoNecole: Women's Interest, Love, Wellness, Beauty ›
Charmin Michelle is a southern native and creative spirit who works as a content marketer and events manager in Chicago. She enjoys traveling, #SummertimeChi, and the journey of mastering womanhood. Connect with her on Instagram @charminmichelle.
Eva Marcille On Starring In 'Jason’s Lyric Live' & Being An Audacious Black Woman
Eva Marcille has taken her talents to the stage. The model-turned-actress is starring in her first play, Jason’s Lyric Live alongside Allen Payne, K. Michelle, Treach, and others.
The play, produced by Je’Caryous Johnson, is an adaptation of the film, which starred Allen Payne as Jason and Jada Pinkett Smith as Lyric. Allen reprised his role as Jason for the play and Eva plays Lyric.
While speaking to xoNecole, Eva shares that she’s a lot like the beloved 1994 character in many ways. “Lyric is so me. She's the odd flower. A flower nonetheless, but definitely not a peony,” she tells us.
“She's not the average flower you see presented, and so she reminds me of myself. I'm a sunflower, beautiful, but different. And what I loved about her character then, and even more so now, is that she was very sure of herself.
"Sure of what she wanted in life and okay to sacrifice her moments right now, to get what she knew she deserved later. And that is me. I'm not an instant gratification kind of a person. I am a long game. I'm not a sprinter, I'm a marathon.
America first fell in love with Eva when she graced our screens on cycle 3 of America’s Next Top Model in 2004, which she emerged as the winner. Since then, she's ventured into different avenues, from acting on various TV series like House of Payne to starring on Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Je-Caryous Johnson Entertainment
Eva praises her castmates and the play’s producer, Je’Caryous for her positive experience. “You know what? Je’Caryous fuels my audacity car daily, ‘cause I consider myself an extremely audacious woman, and I believe in what I know, even if no one else knows it, because God gave it to me. So I know what I know. That is who Je’Caryous is.”
But the mom of three isn’t the only one in the family who enjoys acting. Eva reveals her daughter Marley has also caught the acting bug.
“It is the most adorable thing you can ever see. She’s got a part in her school play. She's in her chorus, and she loves it,” she says. “I don't know if she loves it, because it's like, mommy does it, so maybe I should do it, but there is something about her.”
Overall, Eva hopes that her contribution to the role and the play as a whole serves as motivation for others to reach for the stars.
“I want them to walk out with hope. I want them to re-vision their dreams. Whatever they were. Whatever they are. To re-see them and then have that thing inside of them say, ‘You know what? I'm going to do that. Whatever dream you put on the back burner, go pick it up.
"Whatever dream you've accomplished, make a new dream, but continue to reach for the stars. Continue to reach for what is beyond what people say we can do, especially as [a] Black collective but especially as Black women. When it comes to us and who we are and what we accept and what we're worth, it's not about having seen it before. It's about knowing that I deserve it.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Feature image by Leon Bennett/WireImage
Raven-Symoné & Her Wife Miranda Get Real About Intimacy & Why They Sleep In Separate Bedrooms
Raven-Symoné and her wife Miranda Pearman-Maday are proof that doing marriage your way is the only way.
In a recent solo episode of their podcast Tea Time w/ Raven & Miranda, the couple revealed that they've started to share separate bedrooms, and no, it's not because they're having problems. In fact, the decision has actually brought them closer. "Let's normalize it," Miranda said of sleeping in separate bedrooms, calling it a move that improved their relationship and their marriage for the better.
"We really function in better in separate spaces, especially when it comes to sleep," she explained on the podcast. "And I was like, 'We should have separate bedrooms.' And then we can decorate our bedrooms as we want, number one, which is great because you had a different vibe, so we both wanted to have different style of bedrooms. Now we get to have that. And we aren't fucking up each other's sleep schedules. Primarily, you're not fucking mine up, which is getting up at 2 a.m., 4 a.m. Raven, babes, you love to sleep in the reverse orientation."
She wasn't exaggerating either. Raven admitted that she has always had an issue with sleeping in normal orientation, dating back to her childhood. "When I was younger, I've always had a problem with staying in one orientation when I slept. My mom said that she would not like to sleep with me. And I would kick people when I sleep with them. And so I remember when we got engaged. We slept in my old house and you told me that when you woke up, my ass was in your face because I had turned my body around."
"One night, you literally flipped. I thought you were awake because it was so, it was so violent. Like you were sleeping on your side away from me. You flip yourself up and over, you like kinda sit up, and you had no clue where you were because you put your entire ass on my face. Both cheeks were suffocating me. Boom, it was impact," Miranda recalls. "And I was like, this is, this is going to be a challenge."
Suffice it to say, the incident became an issue. One that they needed to find a solution for. "So now," Raven said, "we've decided I'm sleeping in a separate room from you." The compromise? Whenever they need each other, "We text," Miranda added.
Despite where your mind might go when you hear "separate bedrooms" in someone's relationship, the pair assured that the move has helped their intimacy more than it's hindered it. "I will say it has upped my [feels] for you," Raven told Miranda. "There's a little bit of, I believe, in absence makes the heart grow fonder. We work together, we live together, we eat together, we cook together, we drive together. It's like, I'm going to have a little time to myself, and I think that it's actually helping."
Even with the perks of better sleep and better intimacy that have come with their decision to separate their marital bed, Miranda admitted that if someone had suggested to her separate bedrooms a year ago, she would've panicked.
Together since 2015 and married since 2020, Miranda revealed that the would-be solution initially had her questioning, "Does this mean divorce?" But she chalked that up to programming. "I was very much from a space where I was taking my information from heterosexual [relationships], [and feeling like] this is the best way," she said.
Raven also took the conversation deeper, pointing out how many people conflate sex with love, especially when it comes to intimacy. "I also think if you are basing your entire relationship on sex, then you're not really understanding what intimacy is. You're not understanding what deep love is because you can have a deep, loving, intimate relationship with someone and not have sex. Sex is like a cherry on top. You know what I mean? That's like a oooh, it's built up so much I got to release."
She continued, "I don't think sex defines a relationship. I think sex is lustful. And I think that a deep marriage and a deep intimate relationship is where I can literally be just looking at you, and I can be like... And you know what that means."
"And I know what that means," Miranda echoed.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Featured image by Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock