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Actress Gabrielle Union (left) and NBA player Dwyane Wade speak onstage during day two of Jazz in the Gardens at Sun Life Stadium on March 16, 2014, in Miami Gardens, Florida. Photo by Aaron Davidson/Getty Images for Jazz In The Gardens
3 min read

A tough week in the Wade-Union family

Both have kept it very real in the past couple of days

Clinton Yates @clintonyates
Topics:
Nate Parker All Day Gabrielle Union Dwyane Wade Social Activism An Undefeated Conversation

3:43 PMWhen Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade got married last year, they instantly became one of the biggest celebrity couples in the country. It also came with a glut of Hollywood drama, which made their nuptials feel like a scene from a made-for-TV Tyler Perry movie. There was Wade’s high school sweetheart, whom he had divorced, along with dueling tell-all books and, of course, the unforgettable “break baby” situation.

But in the past week, the realities of their lives have drastically changed their family image — a blended family with a famous baller and activist father and a mother who on Friday penned a harrowing op-ed in the Los Angeles Times about her experience with sexual assault. In it, Union discusses her difficulty in wrestling with the denouement of details from Birth of a Nation director and star Nate Parker’s past coming to light. In the film, Union plays a rape victim. For the Los Angeles Times, she points out that she does not take the allegations lightly.

“Since Nate Parker’s story was revealed to me, I have found myself in a state of stomach-churning confusion,” Union wrote. “I took this role because I related to the experience. I also wanted to give a voice to my character, who remains silent throughout the film. In her silence, she represents countless black women who have been and continue to be violated. Women without a voice, without power. Women in general. But black women in particular. I knew I could walk out of our movie and speak to the audience about what it feels like to be a survivor.”

As for Wade, in late August, his cousin Nykea Aldridge was shot and killed in Chicago, the day after he’d appeared on An Undefeated Conversation: Athletes, Responsibility and Violence, hosted by ESPN, during which he discussed how he felt his hometown of Chicago needs to curb its gun violence problem. It was a sad coda on what had hoped to be an uplifting week. And the next day, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was tweeting about it on the campaign trail.

Thursday morning on Good Morning America, Wade explained how much that situation hurt him and left a bad taste in his mouth. It’s been an incredibly trying week for that family, but also one that reflects the struggles of many black Americans. It’s not all about rom-com marriage videos, courtside seats and banana boats, just because you’re famous. When pressed on issues facing the nation, the two have stepped up and been voices to be heard.

That’s one woke household.

Clinton Yates is a tastemaker at Andscape. He likes rap, rock, reggae, R&B and remixes — in that order.