Black Millionaires shared to Twitter a clip from last Monday’s episode of the “Idea Generation” podcast in which the “Bring It On” actor revealed that she and her husband, retired NBA star Dwyane Wade, evenly divide their expenses. The clip quickly went viral.
“It’s weird to say I’m head of household because in this household, we split everything 50/50,” Union admitted.
“But in the other households that each of us have to support … there’s always this, like, gorilla on your back, that’s like, ‘You better work, b—, you better work. Oh, you’re going to sleep in? You know, somebody might not eat.’ And it’s hard.”
Union opened up about the way her anxiety and past trauma can be a driving force but said she’s fighting against that.
“I struggle with that still,” she said. “I think I just have more responsibilities for my money. I get nervous like, ‘Oh, God, that movie didn’t open, you know, what does that mean? … Am I going to have enough to hold everybody up?’ And everyone’s like, ‘It’s coming. Calm down.’ I’m trying to find peace in the journey, not using my anxiety and scarcity mindset to be my engine, which is hard.”
Wade, who retired from the NBA in 2019, earned $196 million over his 16-year career, according to CNBC. Union has been acting since 1993 and is a businesswoman, real estate investor and the author of multiple books, including two bestselling memoirs.
The pair, both multimillionaires independently, have been married since 2014.
In January, Union opened up to Dax Shepard on an episode of the “Armchair Expert” podcast about her previous relationship with former NFL player Chris Howard, saying the marriage was “dysfunctional” and that she “felt entitled” to cheat.
“I was paying all the bills,” she said. “I was working my ass off, and I felt like that’s what comes [with] the spoils of riches and, like my dad before me, whoever has the most gets to do whatever the hell they want, is what I thought. And it was just dysfunctional from day one.”
It would appear the “Love & Basketball” star is happier this go around, but once the internet caught wind that she and Wade split the bills down the center, they had some things to say.
“This is sooooo unnecessary,” wrote one Twitter user. “As an independent,career woman, I don’t have a problem with any woman who wants to support herself and contribute to paying bills. However, stop this portrayal as if you’re living paycheck to paycheck! It’s not a good look when hubby’s got mega bank!”
“Women are terrified of 50/50 because the unpaid labour is rarely 50/50 — so women end up being exploited. This is a working class, poor people issue. Please stop projecting onto millionaires Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade,” wrote another.
“Hyper independence is a trauma response,” tweeted one user. “What Gabrielle Union is describing is poverty trauma and/or her inability to trust anyone else.”
Another quipped, “Y’all do understand that multimillionaire Gabrielle Union splitting bills 50/50 with her multimillionaire husband Dwyane Wade is entirely different than you, an hourly worker, going 50/50 with your hourly worker bd/bf/homey/lover/friend, right?”