It takes a village to support a child’s growth and development, and Gabrielle Union’s family exemplifies that idea.
Union, who is married to Dwyane Wade, is mother to Kaavia, 6, and stepmother to Xavier, 11, Zaya, 17, and Zaire, 23. From mother to actor to activist, the multihyphenate is no stranger to hard work, but she knows her limits. And that’s where her community steps in.
While appearing on “Sherri” last week, an effervescent Union got candid about how she juggles it all.
“I have a massive village,” the “Bring It On” actor said, adding that she and Wade moved both of their mothers to Los Angeles, where they now live “very close” to the couple.
Union also confessed that her younger sister “physically lives” with the family to help with the kids. And, as if that weren’t enough, she revealed that her village includes a smidge of Hollywood magic.
“My daughter took her first steps to who we call Dana, but maybe the world calls Queen Latifah,” she said. “Everybody literally fills in, and that’s how we have to roll, so we can do all the things that we want to do.”
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Union also credits her “best friend,” actor Essence Atkins, who also “pitches in” with love and care for the family.
Alongside her supportive village, Union is focused on instilling positive values in her children. In a 2020 interview with Self, Union shared that she’s raising her kids ”to always center joy, peace, grace, compassion, understanding, and to be a good neighbor and global citizen, but that you are worthy and deserving and validated by birth, by the fact that you exist.”
