Dwyane Wade Gets Real About His and Gabrielle Union's Ups and Downs Over the Years
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Gabrielle Union appears to be happier than ever with her husband and former Miami Heat basketball star Dwyane Wade.
Just look at her Instagram — it's filled with countless of pictures of her and Dwyane glowing and having a blast with her family. But even though the pair look like they're on solid ground now, they went through some tough times to get there.
How Gabrielle met Dwyane
Back in February 2007, Gabrielle and Dwyane crossed paths while co-hosting a sponsored Super Bowl party. At that point, Gabrielle had reportedly been married to NFL running back Chris Howard for five years and divorced for one. Meanwhile, Dwyane was still married to his high school sweetheart Siohvaughn Funches. The two are parents to a son named Zaire and a daughter named Zaya.
Not long after Dwyane met Gabrielle, he filed for divorce with Siohvaughn. Gabrielle told Glamour in 2014 that it wasn't exactly a love-at-first-sight situation.
"[Wade's resume] looked like crap," she told the publication. "Athlete, going through a divorce, nine years younger than me. Then, after I had a heart-crushing breakup with yet another immature jerk, I thought, it can't be any worse if I date a fetus. Let's just see what happens."
Dealing with divorce and splitting up
Gabrielle and Dwyane officially started dating in 2009, but they didn't make their relationship red carpet-official until June 2010.
Because of Dwyane's three-year long divorce process, Gabrielle came under fire for being the cause of the breakup, though she has vehemently denied that she was the reason Dwyane's marriage ended. It didn't help that Siohvaughn and Dwyane didn't end on the best of terms — or that she later sued Gabrielle for "emotional distress" of their children (the case was eventually dismissed). In 2011 though, Dwyane was awarded sole custody of his children.
Even though Gabrielle and Dwyane got through a tough situation in 2010, they briefly split up in early 2013 because of scheduling conflicts. At the time, Gabrielle was in the middle of shooting her show Being Mary Jane while Dwyane was focusing on bringing home a championship for the Miami Heat while trying to shake a nagging knee injury.
“We kind of took a step back,” Dwyane told Jay Leno in 2013. “We supported each other, but we took a step back for a little while. At the end of day, we came back together and said, ‘Listen, we want to continue this. We want to try to continue to get better each day.’ She’s been with me and I’ve been with her all summer long. We’re going strong now.”
Just a few months later, Dwyane popped the question right before Christmas. As Dwyane told Oprah:
"I decided that she wasn't just marrying me, she was marrying all of us. So I had them down by the pool, and I had them make their own signs. I had each one say, 'Will you marry us?' I took her outside to look at the water, and at first, she's like, 'What is going on?' I get behind her, and I get on a yoga mat because I couldn't put my knees down. I'm sitting there waiting for her to turn around and she's reading the boys' signs, and the boys said, 'Will you marry us?'"
Still, Gabrielle and Dwyane weren't out of the woods yet. Days after their engagement, news broke that the NBA player had fathered a child with actress Aja Metoyer. Dwyane welcomed a son named Xavier in November 2013.
"I had a time, a part in our break, in our pain and our hurt, a blessing came out of it in my life, having a son that was born healthy," Dwyane shared.
Moving on, getting married and growing their family
Gabrielle and Dwyane ended up tying the knot in August 2014. Four years later, they welcomed a daughter named Kaavia via surrogacy in November 2018.
Gabrielle struggled through nine miscarriages and several IVF attempts before Kaavia's arrival. (She found out in the fall of 2018 that she has adenomyosis, which happens when tissue that normally lines the uterus grows into the uterus's muscle wall.)
“It’s okay to bring your child into the world in a way that is not through your body. The world will not consider you a failure," she told Today while reflecting on her infertility issues. "Every route to parenthood is perfect, worthwhile and amazing.”
In recent years, Gabrielle and Dwyane appear to be as strong as ever. In April 2019, Dwyane officially bid farewell to the NBA, and one month later the couple was spotted attending the Met Gala together. In the summer of 2019, the couple appeared together on season 14 of America's Got Talent (Gabrielle was a regular judge, while Dwyane came on as a guest judge).
As for what else is going on in their lives, we'll just have to stay updated via Instagram.
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