<p id=”par-1_96″>Actor <a href=”https://cheatsheet.com/tag/gabrielle-union”>Gabrielle Union</a> is known for her plethora of roles in films like “Bring It On” and “Bad Boys II.” But she’s also a successful businesswoman and has been with her husband, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/gabrielle-union-reveals-she-dwyane-wade-keep-spark-marriage-dont-mess-around.html/”>former NBA star Dwyane Wade</a>, since 2008. Between her career and family, Union says that there’s no need to strike the perfect balance. And back in 2021, the same year Union released her powerful memoir, “You Got Anything Stronger?” she had to come to terms with the fact that it was one of her hardest years — even saying it turned her “to dust.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Gabrielle-Union-memoir-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade” class=”wp-image-3789504″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade | Ryan Emberley/Getty Images for RBC</figcaption></figure>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-gabrielle-union-has-always-been-honest-about-not-having-it-all-together”>Gabrielle Union has always been honest about not having it all together</h2>
<p id=”par-2_80″>Something ordinary people don’t often realize is that celebrities’ lives aren’t always as perfect as they seem. But Union has never been shy about keeping things real, which is why she’s so loved by so many people. The actor published her second memoir in 2021, which was released in the midst of another wave of the covid pandemic, and the year proved to be extremely challenging for her. But rather than shy away from it, she opened up about it.</p>
<p id=”par-3_69″>On Jay Williams’ “The Limits” podcast in 2022, Union revealed that things were hard for her the year she released her second memoir, which was likely the <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/gabrielle-union-shared-didnt-want-kids-became-stepmom.html/”>most vulnerable she’d ever been</a>; it detailed everything about her life, including the revelation that she wouldn’t still be with Dwyane Wade if she’d been who she is today. And between the memoir and the pandemic, she admitted it took its toll.</p>
<p id=”par-4_72″>“I just couldn’t collect myself,” Union said of 2021 as a whole. “I was in too many tiny little pieces scattered. And any little thing, whether that was, you know, Kaav gets up late and is, like, late to get to school or, you know, I have an argument with my husband, or something isn’t right at work, and I just — I just couldn’t. I just didn’t have it at all.”</p>
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<span class=”related-article-flag”>Related</span>
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<a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/gabrielle-union-would-not-have-stayed-dwyane-wade-years-ago-who-she-is-today.html/”>
Gabrielle Union Revealed She ‘Would Not Have Stayed With’ Dwyane Wade Years Ago If She’d Been Who She Is Today </a>
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<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-gabrielle-union-admitted-that-things-aren-t-always-as-they-seem”>Gabrielle Union admitted that things aren’t always as they seem</h2>
<p id=”par-5_35″>People love Union for her honesty, and she didn’t hold back in the interview, saying she was tired of “having to be all things to all people and hoping for reinforcements that sometimes never come.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_25″>She said that on the “outside,” everything looked perfect. “Nothing to see,” she added. But, in reality, she was “circling the drain” and “not OK.”</p>
<p id=”par-7_51″>Union and Wade had a difficult year in 2023 as well when he was <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/gabrielle-union-reveals-she-dwyane-wade-handled-cancer-diagnosis-not-well.html/”>diagnosed with kidney cancer</a>, and it took them a while to open up about it. But Union said in an interview with Sherri Shepherd in 2025 that the situation only made them stronger and brought them closer.</p>