Gabrielle Union covers the November issue of Essence to promote several different projects. She’s the lead in the TV show Being Mary Jane, but she’s also got a small but significant role in The Birth of a Nation. I’ve said before and I’ll say again: I feel sorry for Union and the many layers of creepiness she’s had to deal with during filming and afterwards. She seems to know it too, and in this interview she says outright that she’s totally fine if you don’t want to see the movie. She’s a rape survivor too, and she doesn’t want anyone to be triggered by it. Some highlights from the interview:

Her career at this point: “I’m at an age where my ego doesn’t live and die by how many lines I have. There’s more to life than line counting. I don’t just want to be a hired gun. I want to have a little bit more control over the narrative. The only way I can be empowered to do that is to be a producer. Now with as many projects that will have me, it’s part of the deal.”

Becoming a producer on Being Mary Jane. “For the first time in my whole career, I’ve actually been invited to the writer’s room. I walked in there as if I was meeting the Pope.”

Stepmother to her husband’s kids, Zaire, 14, Zion, 9, and Xavier, 2: “Teens get teen-y. It’s harder. I never understood that. ‘You won’t sleep.’ I always associated that phrase with babies. Crying, teething babies. No. Until they walk through the door, I’m terrified. Sometimes I just want to stay off my timeline, because it makes those waits until they walk through the door a thousand times worse. One of my biggest fears is them being a hashtag on some bulls—t.”

She’s fine if you don’t want to see The Birth of a Nation: “As a rape survivor and as an advocate, I cannot shy away from this responsibility because the conversation got difficult. I don’t want to put myself above anyone’s pain or triggers. Every victim or survivor, I believe you. I support you. I support you if you don’t want to see the film. I absolutely understand and respect that. I can’t sell the film. This movie has always been about more than one person, and for the outspoken feminist advocates and allies who risked a lot to be a part of this project—Aja Naomi King, Aunjanue Elllis, Penelope Ann Miller—we are okay if you have to sit this one out, and we’re okay if you don’t, and we understand.”

[From Essence & E! News]

“One of my biggest fears is them being a hashtag on some bulls—t.” I take that to mean that her biggest fear is that something will happen to one of her stepsons AND she’ll find out about it first through social media. Which is both a realistic fear and an insane fear. Realistic because that’s actually happening – social media has radically changed the way police-violence issues are seen and discussed in real time, independent of the news cycle. It’s an insane fear because I can’t believe this is the world we live in now, that one of the best “checks” on unaccountable police power is to tweet about it and post videos online.

As for what she says about the movie…she’s saying exactly the right thing. And I have to think that even if she’s proud of her performance in the film, she’s no longer proud of the film as a whole because of Nate Parker.

Photos courtesy of Essence.