She’s continued to balance her busy acting career with being a wife and mother in recent years.
But Gabrielle Union admitted that her children didn’t always want her to try to balance her career with her family life.
The 48-year-old L.A.’s Finest star told Gwyneth Paltrow on a recent episode of The Goop Podcast that her children thought she ‘should not’ work anymore because of how much money her husband Dwyane Wade was bringing in.
Working mom: Gabrielle Union, 48, told Gwyneth Paltrow on a recent episode of The Goop Podcast that her children once wanted her to stop working because her husband Dwyane Wade was ‘rich’ enough; seen in February 2020
‘They had gotten into this stage as pre-teens where they just wanted us to be like other families,’ Gabrielle explained.
‘They had looked up how much their dad made and they thought that I should not work — I should just be at home like the other moms of their friends because “Dad is rich and you should just stay home and we should be a normal family like everyone else.”‘
She added that she thought the kids got a sense of ‘relief’ after she and Dwyane got married in 2014, after four years of dating, though they still wanted the traditional family dynamics they had seen from some of their friends’ families.
‘They just wanted to be normal, whatever that is,’ she continued. ‘By the time we got married, it was just I think relief for them, which isn’t always an emotion you associate with kids in this situation. And they were like, “Ah we’re a normal family! Wait. You’re leaving. And dad’s still rich, so what’s happening here?”‘
Standing out: ‘They had gotten into this stage as pre-teens where they just wanted us to be like other families,’ Gabrielle explained
Conforming: She said her older stepchildren saw friends whose mothers stayed home and didn’t work
Gabrielle had to explain to her children that women can have goals and passions beyond their families.
‘”Sometimes, women want to work and have a career and just do other things and this is what makes me who I am,”‘ she told them. ‘”It doesn’t mean I love you any less or I don’t want the job or I don’t love being your stepmother.”‘
She added: ‘”I will do my best to be here for all of the things that you want me to be here [for] while at the same time, making sure that space for mom or dad is there. It is the golden seat of honor, always. And we just move that way.”‘
She had the most trouble with her oldest step-children, Dwyane’s son Zaire, now 19, daughter Zaya, 13, and his nephew Dahveon Morris, 19, who lives with them.
They’re also raising Dwyane’s seven-year-old son from a previous relationship Xavier Zechariah, and Gabrielle and the basketball star share a two-year-old daughter named Kaavia James, who was born via a surrogate.
Different strokes: ‘”Sometimes, women want to work and have a career and just do other things and this is what makes me who I am,”‘ Gabrielle told her kids. Gwyneth admitted she also had a hard time as a new stepmom, though lucky the kids were the same age as hers
Big family: The Bring It On Star married Dwyane Wade, 39, in 2014. Gabrielle had the most trouble with her oldest step-children, Dwyane’s son Zaire, now 19, daughter Zaya, 13, and his nephew Dahveon Morris, 19, who lives with them
Younger kids: They’re also raising Dwyane’s seven-year-old son Xavier , and Gabrielle and the sports star share a two-year-old daughter named Kaavia , who was born via a surrogate
The Bring It On Star married Wade, 39, in 2014.
Elsewhere on the podcast, Gabrielle admitted that used her family experiences with her stepmother to guide how to be a good stepparent.
She said that she ‘tried to do the opposite of what I thought my stepmother did wrong or could have done better.’
She said that her biological parents, Sylvester and Theresa, had divorced ‘amicably’ after 30 years together, and Sylvester later took a new wife.
She urged new stepparents to share their true selves with their stepchildren.
‘Whoever you are, just be consistent so everyone can get used to who the hell you are really and you’re not putting on an act and then the mask falls off,’ she urged.
She also couldn’t speak highly enough of staying ‘above the fray’ and not saying anything negative about the other birth parent to the children.
Proud: Gabrielle admitted that she does the ‘opposite’ of what her own stepmother did in many situations as she tries to parent her children with Dwyane