Gabrielle Union is looking back on the “wild” and “aggressive” backlash she faced after revealing she and husband Dwayne Wade split their finances evenly.
“I famously said, 50/50 or bust, right? And I meant that financially, spiritually and emotionally,” Union said on the March 4 episode of the “Balanced Black Girl”podcast. “It’s a trauma response… and 50/50 is, ‘I’m not going to be vulnerable enough to trust you with 100% of anything. Not my heart, not my cash.’”
Union told host Les Alfred that being “sexually assaulted at 19” and subsequently being “diagnosed with PTSD” led her to be “hyperfocused on efficiency and time,” as well as the need to be “fiercely independent.”
The “Bring it On” actor went on to admit that it took her relinquishing control in their marriage to reach her current mindset, which she says has brought her and Wade “closer.”
“It’s being vulnerable enough to be open enough to know that I’m OK. I’m OK as his wife,” she explained. “He’s OK as my husband. I’m OK in this family. I’m OK 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.”
“There’s just a lot of days that I have 10% and I need him to be 90%,” she continued. “There’s days that I don’t have shit and I need him to be 100%.”
Union first opened up about her and Wade’s financial arrangements during an appearance on “Idea Generation.”
Her comments prompted massive backlash from social media users who were outraged over the actor going 50/50 with the NBA star considering his net worth was reportedly $170 million. Meanwhile, Union’s net worth was estimated at $40 million, according to BuzzFeed.
Wade stepped in to shut down the criticism during a June 2023 interview on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast.
“I have 20 to 50 responsibilities, and my wife has 20 to 50 responsibilities, and when I say that, that means she has her mother, she has her sisters, she has her dad, so she has a lot of things she’s responsible for,” the athlete explained. “She pays 100% of that and you know what I do? I pay 100% of my life.”
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Wade continued, “So in our life, our home we purchased it together 50/50. Our daughter ― anything that goes on with our daughter, we share it together.”
Watch Union’s interview on the “Balanced Black Girl” podcast below.