Notable People
Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade have been together for 17 years, but they’ve been through their share of difficulties — and Union once opened up about the struggles.
Actor Gabrielle Union has been married to former NBA star Dwyane Wade since 2014, but the pair’s relationship goes back much further than that. They first met at a Super Bowl party in 2007 and began dating in 2009. After a brief 2013 split, they reconnected and became engaged by the end of that year.
While the two have a strong relationship, things haven’t always been perfect between them. Union felt betrayed by Wade during their 2013 split, and a different type of betrayal surfaced just before the two decided to have a baby.
Gabrielle Union revealed she felt ‘betrayed’ by Dwyane Wade before they had a baby
Wade and Union’s relationship started off strong, but a 2013 split brought everything into question. The two took some time apart because of their busy schedules, but behind the scenes, Union was also dealing with fertility struggles. And during their brief breakup, Wade got another woman pregnant, which proved extremely challenging for Union to handle amid struggling to conceive.
The pair worked through it; they became engaged at the end of 2013 and wed in August 2014, but Union once revealed that there was a second time she felt “betrayed” by the love of her life — and it was when they were trying to have a baby themselves.
“D made some decisions that made my whole fertility journey just fraught with fear, humiliation, shame,” Union revealed to Jay Williams on his “The Limits” podcast in 2022. She later said that the doctor had suggested surrogacy; she didn’t want it, but Wade did. “By the time surrogacy was broached, I was anti … And when he co-signed with the doctor about, you know, surrogacy, I felt betrayed again. And, you know, it took a while to ultimately get to a place of agreement about the surrogate.”
Union did add that Wade “had seen how much I had put my body through; the emotional, mental, physical, spiritual turmoil that I had been going through.” The couple did ultimately choose to use a surrogate and welcomed a daughter in 2018.
Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade’s relationship has had ups and downs
Wade and Union have a strong marriage without a doubt. But she has been candid that things were difficult back in 2013 and even said that if she’d been the same woman she is today, then she wouldn’t have stayed with him. But they’re happy they got through it.
Wade and Union’s strength was tested again in 2023 when they learned he had kidney cancer. After a routine checkup revealed the cancer, Union told Sherri Shepherd that the family didn’t handle the diagnosis well “at all” at first, but that it ultimately helped them become more vulnerable with each other and get even closer. Wade is now cancer free.
