Gabrielle Union is not afraid to speak her truth. The actress tells Dr. Oz about her struggles with infertility.
What you see is what you get. I refuse to believe that consistently miserable people are just "keeping it real"… nawww, you are just REAALLYY miserable & want the same for everyone around you. That's a hard pass for me dawg.
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) July 3, 2018
“I didn’t know there was going to be any problems, and there was,” Union says of her experience with trying to have a child with her husband, Dwyane Wade. “I was always having these early miscarriages; some from IVF and some naturally.”
Gabrielle reveals that she endured eight or nine miscarriages over the past few years in her book, We’re Going To Need More Wine. “For so many women, and not just women in the spotlight, people feel very entitled to know, ‘Do you want kids?'” Union says in her memoir. “A lot of people, especially people that have fertility issues, just say ‘no’ because that’s a lot easier than being honest about whatever is actually going on. People mean so well, but they have no idea the harm or frustration it can cause.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A28ZmRqp7kY
Gabrielle goes on to tell Dr. Oz that, while all of the miscarriages were devastating, the first experience was especially hurtful. “The first one was the most brutal because we told people and we were so excited,” Union reveals. “You dream of this moment, and those dreams were just crushed. And then, [the miscariages] just happened in sort of rapid succession over the next few years.”
Although in pain, Gabrielle Union is speaking out in hopes of giving other women going through the devastation of miscarriage a platform. “There’s so many women hiding in plain sight, [and] suffering in silence,” the actress shares. “Nobody wants the world to think that you’re defective or less than a perfect woman, or less than capable. There’s just so much shame, and mystery, and guilt that surrounds fertility issues. That’s why I wanted to include it in my book because I’m tired of it. It needs to stop.”
You can read about Gabrielle Union’s infertility experience in her book, We’re Going To Need More Wine. Stay tuned for more celebrity family news!