Actress Gabrielle Union set social media ablaze two years ago when she declared she wanted to pay 50 percent of the bills after her husband, Dwyane Wade, roared the statement “this is my house” during an argument.
When the couple and their children migrated from South Beach to Los Angeles, Union told Bloomberg news she made a vow to never allow D-Wade to shove that demeaning statement in her face again. Therefore, Union believed at the time that she was taking her power back when she began paying half the marital expenses.
Gabrielle Union changes her mind about paying 50/50
However, after going through a few years of splitting the bills down the middle with the NBA Hall of Famer, replete with the heavy responsibility and anxiety that comes along with that, the Think Like a Man and Deliver Us From Eva star said she’s had a change of heart.
While appearing on the “Balanced Black Girl” podcast, Union admits she no longer desires to split the household bills 50/50 in her marriage with the legendary basketball player.
Gabrielle Union explains what she meant back in 2023
“I famously said, ’50/50 or bust,’ right? And I meant that financially, spiritually, and emotionally,” Union tells host Les Alfred.
“There’s just a lot of days that I have 10 percent and I need him to be 90 percent. There’s days that I don’t have s–t and I need him to be 100 percent. It’s a trauma response. 50/50 is, ‘I’m not going to be vulnerable enough to trust you with 100% of anything. Not my heart, not my cash.’ When I started to really address that, I was like, ‘Do you want to pay the whole mortgage?’ I thought I was about to die. I had such anxiety. I was crying. I was shaking. And he was like, ‘You insisted on that.’ He’s like, ‘I thought it made you feel better.’ I’m like, ‘It did, and right now I want to take it back.'”
Gabrielle Union is philosophical about the power of vulnerability
“Now, it sounds crazy to be like, ‘You — Mr. NBA Superstar, who made a bazillion more amount of money than I do — can pay the mortgage.’ Because I hate the feeling of releasing that to someone,” Union says, explaining the nuances and complexities in her marriage to D-Wade.
“And [when] you release that to someone, chaos can happen. It’s brought us closer. Because he knows it’s not about whether he can afford it. It’s being vulnerable enough, to be open enough to know that I’m okay. I’m okay as his wife. He’s okay as my husband. I’m okay in this family. I’m okay in this home. I deserve it. And so, I’m trying to expand my heart, expand all of the notions of what vulnerability can look like.”
