Gabrielle Union revealed that she has reconsidered her strict 50/50 approach to finances with Dwyane Wade, admitting it was driven by fear.
Gabrielle Union ignited a fiery online debate after revealing that she and her husband, Dwyane Wade, split everything—bills included—but she has since re-evaluated her views on the 50/50 dynamic.
The Bring It On star, who married the NBA legend in 2014, first made waves in 2023 when she admitted on the Black Millionaires podcast that they divide all expenses equally.
“In this household, we split everything fifty-fifty,” she explained, adding that she still has a “scarcity mindset” from her days as a rising actor in Hollywood.
“I struggle with that, still,” she admitted. “I think I just have more responsibilities for my money.”
However, therapy helped her realize it was a “trauma response,” rooted in fear, not equality.
“I famously said, ‘50/50 or bust,’” Gabrielle Union said in a new interview on the “Balanced Black Girl” podcast. “And I meant that financially, spiritually, and emotionally. 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### and I need him to be 100 percent.”
She continued, “50/50 is, ‘I’m not going to be vulnerable enough to trust you with 100 percent of anything.’ Not my heart, not my cash.”
Union explained that she initially struggled with the change, especially when Wade asked her to take over their mortgage payments.
“I thought I was about to die,” she recalled, describing how the anxiety left her in tears and physically 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.’”
Nonetheless, the situation ultimately brought them closer as a couple.
“Because he knows it’s not about whether he can afford it,” Union stated. “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.”
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