Gabrielle Union says she received all the support she needed from her husband, Dwyane Wade, after her father’s passing.
Sylvester “Cully” Union Jr. passed away on April 3 at the age of 81.
You know, my dad and my husband were very, very close. And I don’t know, we just go through pictures and reminisce, and he’s just physically there when I’m crumbling,” Gabrielle told PEOPLE.
In 2023, Cully was diagnosed with dementia and placed in ully was placed in memory care.
“No matter how much you think you know about dementia, nothing prepares you for the painfully slow disappearance of your loved one,” Gabrielle wrote in an Instagram tribute post after his death. “First, it’s repeating words or forgetting little things here or there, then BOOM, he can’t swallow or walk.”
“The them that you know gets smaller and smaller,” she continued. “You hold out hope for sustained eye contact or a smile; even a hand squeeze can make you feel like they could come back to you ‘normal’ at any second. It’s brutal, and it’s what he experienced, but it wasn’t who he was.”
“I swear he never met a stranger, just friends he hadn’t met yet. A lifelong, die-hard Nebraska fan, he taught me the values of teamwork, a fierce work ethic, and that you are only as strong as your weakest link, so tend to them first,” she wrote.
Gabrielle also said Cully “was a perfectly imperfect man and father.” Shen then said that he “acknowledged his imperfections, apologized and made amends for as long as it took for the hurts to heal.”
Gabrielle shared that the cost of Cully’s health care made her more cognizant of the roles she selects at the American Black Film Festival in June 2025
“I have to factor in endorsements and brands and brand building. When you see celebrities have fifty ‘leven jobs, there’s a reason,” she explained. “We don’t get paid what y’all think that we get paid, and that check is split so many ways. You have to have multiple revenue streams to do the job that you really love. So it kind of depends on what I’ve made that year on how creative I can be. And that’s a damn shame, but that’s reality.”