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Gabrielle Union is still on the promo trail for her book “Do You Have Anything Stronger,” recently stopping by Jimmy Kimmel to promote it.
The “Being Mary Jane” actress is said to open up about a range of topics in it, including the time her family first met her current husband, Dywane Wade. Union and Kimmel share a laugh as she explains how her family feared that Wade might be “after her money.”
Gabrielle Union laughed and told Kimmel that there was some reason for her family’s concerns, being that her first marriage ended in her having to pay up a heft sum of money to ex-husband Chris Howard. The retired football star and Union wed in 2001.
He was drafted in 1998 to the Denver Broncos, where he played a few years before ending up on the Jacksonville Jaguars. He had a troubled NFL career that eventually led to him being dropped, and left broke right around when he began courting Union.
The pair reportedly got engaged over a bucket of chicken, a red flag for Union. “He had a bucket of KFC on the floor, and he was eating KFC potato wedges with one hand while holding a ring in the other.” She opened up about it in her first book, “We’re Going to Need More Wine.”
Gabrielle Union said the following day, she was giving evidence to suspect that he may be cheating on her but carried on with the wedding plans anyways. What made it worst, on their wedding day, his groomsmen were drunk, and the pastor kept mispronouncing her name.
Howard reportedly continued to cheat on Union, and in her own words, eventually “hated” her for the same reasons he married her. Union and Howard failed to sign a prenup, something that eventually hurt Union when it was revealed that she was the more significant earner in the marriage.
A second cheating scandal arose, and this time Union decided it was time to go after the woman he cheated with presented pictures and videos. Unfortunately, Howard walked away with half her money. Determined not to let their daughter make the same mistake, Union’s family was critical of Wade when he came around.
“Your family was worried that Dywane was going to take your money?” asked Kimmel. “Yes, because it had happened before,” replied Union. “We’re talking about a guy that makes a lot of money!” Kimmel asked. “That’s what we were talking about with the first one too, and then there was a change of fortune. “Bring It On” hit!” she laughed, recalling her big break.
In the sequel memoir, she discusses how that first marriage made everyone side-eye Dwyane when he first came around. When her father first met Wade, he questioned his intentions asking, “what do you want with my daughter.”
However, by Thanksgiving of that same year, she had both their families mixed in together, and they had all warmed up to her now-husband. Going into her marriage with Wade, Union and her team made sure that she had a prenup this time around to protect both of them.
