Who Is Gabrielle Union’s Ex-Husband And How Many Times Has She Been Married?
Actress Gabrielle Union has been a staple in Hollywood for two decades now. With her latest project, Spectrum Original Series LA’s Finest, she is taking on a new role as executive producer in addition to starring as Sydney “Syd” Burnett, an “unapologetic” cop who is new to the LAPD.
Syd and her partner, Nancy (get it?) lead complicated lives, and one thing that is made clear in the pilot is that Syd refuses to be tied down, shown with both a man and a woman on different mornings following a hookup the night before. Union, however, is happily married, but it hasn’t always been that way. Here’s what you need to know about her previous marriage.
Here’s what you know her from
Union broke out on the scene in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s after appearing in recurring roles in 7th Heaven and Sister, Sister and in beloved teen flicks 10 Things I Hate About You, Love & Basketball, and Bring It On. She continued to act on TV and in film, originating the role of Syd in the 2003 movie Bad Boys II (LA’s Finest exists in the same universe, but isn’t exactly a sequel to it).
Union’s career has continued to prosper over the years. She has acted in Tyler Perry films such as Think Like a Man, and starred in and produced the 2018 thriller Breaking In. Union has also dominated the small screen, leading the popular BET series Being Mary Jane as the eponymous character for five seasons.
What we know about Union’s first marriage
Union was married to athlete Chris Howard from 2001 to 2006. They first met in 1999, around the time she was starting to gain recognition for her roles in the aforementioned teen rom-coms.
She was 28 at the time she got married and has said previously that she “was all about getting the ring” when she was that age. In a Wired Autocomplete Interview, Union said that she walked down the aisle to the song “Endless Love”
Why did they get divorced?
It sounds as though Union was in a rush to get married. She has said in the past that she “hadn’t been making sound choices” in order to help herself in her own life and career. This is a sentiment that she echoed during a recent discussion at The Wing in Los Angeles.
“In my first marriage, the reason he loved me became the reason he hated me,” said Union. She added that it was about her having her own life outside of the marriage, which led Howard to feel like she didn’t “need” him. She also insinuated that Howard may have cheated, saying, “‘Meet my other girlfriend’ while repeating things that he said at the time.
Union has remarried
Chances are, even if you haven’t been paying attention to her career as of late, you know that Union has found love elsewhere in recent years. She married Miami Heat athlete Dwayne Wade in 2014. Through her marriage, she became stepmother to Wade’s three children from previous relationships. The couple also has a daughter, Kaavia James, together, who was born in late 2018.
