Although it may seem as though Gabrielle Union has hit the jackpot with her marriage to Dwayne Wade, she definitely had to kiss a few frogs to find her prince. The actress opened up in a new episode of Dax Shepherd’s podcast, Armchair Expert, about her struggles in her previous marriage to former NFL player, Chris Howard.
She recalled the marriage as dysfunctional from the very beginning. Shepard mentioned feeling guilty about his own infidelities in his past and Union weighed in on the subject. “I definitely was not getting wife of the year awards,” Gabrielle Union said. “In my first marriage, neither one of us felt like the marriage should get in the way of our dating.”
She also added that a part of her actions was due to the number of times she found out that he cheated on her. “A part of it was like keeping up with his activities, like, ‘Oh, that’s what you’re doing? You’re going to feel this one,’” she added. “And I just felt entitled to it as well.”
The other part? Power dynamics in relationships. “I just felt entitled to it as well. I was paying all the bills. … Like my dad before me, whoever has the most gets to do whatever the hell they want,” she said.
The two were married from 2001-2006. According to Gabrielle Union, the couple “should have never got out of the dating phase.”
Where Gabrielle Union and Chris Howard Stand Now
Howard is currently married to actress Kristen Bell. He has previously shared that he was in an open relationship for nine years. He added that while he regrets some of his actions during that time, he doesn’t regret all of them.
Gabrielle Union has been married to former NBA player Dwyane Wade since 2014. The two share daughter Kaavia James. Wade is also the father of his son Zaire, daughter Zaya, and son Xavier Zechariah, from previous relationships.