Gabrielle Union Says Navigating Perimenopause Symptoms Led to Suicidal Thoughts
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Gabrielle Union opened up about navigating perimenopause and how it’s impacted her mental health.
The 48-year-old said she hit perimenopause in her 30s, but her symptoms “reached a fever pitch” in September due to shifting hormones, leading to anxiety, depression, weight gain, and brain fog.
The most concerning side effect was unexpected suicidal ideation triggered by a “stupid” fight with her husband, Dwyane Wade.
This story discusses suicide and sexual assault. If you or someone you know is at risk, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text HOME to 741741 to message with a trained crisis counselor from the Crisis Text Line for free.
In a raw conversation with Gwyneth Paltrow during Goop Health’s latest virtual summit, Gabrielle Union revealed that she’s currently navigating perimenopause, and it hasn’t been an easy journey—especially because she’s managing it alongside her existing mental health struggles.
The L.A.’s Finest star, 48, said she hit perimenopause—marking the transition into menopause—in her 30s, per E! News, but her symptoms “reached a fever pitch” last September due to shifting hormones.
“I thought I was losing my mind, she explained. “I thought I had early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s. I gained 20 pounds overnight of water retention, inflammation—bizarre. I couldn’t think. Now, when I have to public speak in the last few months, I’m so anxious, because I’m like, ‘Am I going to remember words?’”
While those symptoms were hard to handle, the most concerning one by far was unexpected suicidal ideation triggered by a fight with her husband, former NBA star Dwyane Wade. “I’ve had more depressive episodes, but never for a long periods of time. Maybe a couple of weeks,” Union said. “I fell into something so dark in December that it scared me. I had a stupid argument with D, and instead of my usual problem-solving … immediately, my brain, that little inner voice said, ‘He’s never going to get it unless you’re dead.’”
That intrusive thought scared her, to say the least. “Only because I’ve been in therapy for half my life that I was like ‘No, I don’t know who is talking now, it’s not my intuition,’” she added. Thankfully, Union said the episode was “fleeting,” and she overcame the feelings relatively quickly. “I was able to get through it with talk therapy and diving into how I can regulate my hormones,” she explained. “Luckily I was at home and I alerted everyone.”
Still, the last few months have been an emotional rollercoaster as she continues to experience one of life’s biggest transitions. “Separating the symptoms from who you really are … to say that it’s a challenge, I don’t think I really have the words, or I lost them, to describe what these last few months have been,” she added.
And that is just one of many mental hurdles Union has faced—she’s previously opened up about her diagnosis with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after being raped at gunpoint at the age of 19.
“I’ve had so many rock bottom moments as an adult,” she said. “It just felt like every so many years there was some major catastrophic event that was happening in my life. You know, divorce, career setbacks, relationship issues. There’s always something that just lands you on your ass and you’re like ‘There’s no way I can move on from this, I’ll never recover, I’ll never be the same.’”
Over time, instead of allowing those feelings to fester, Union has learned to shed them and move forward with new versions of herself. “You have these mini deaths,” she said. “You have to grieve the person you were before. And there have been times I’ve felt like I had to be reborn out of success, because that comes with its own challenges.”
In a December 2020 interview with People, the actress admitted that the confines of the pandemic have exacerbated her PTSD, but she still refuses to let it consume her. “Each time I tell the story is a revelation that I need to keep sharing since there’s so many more victims than survivors,” she said. “They need to know healing is a process—a slow process like moving a boulder uphill with one hand tied behind your back, but there is hope.”
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