Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade got engaged in December, just two months after Wade’s divorce was finalized (the “cause” of the divorce was widely believed to be Gabrielle). Then, just one week after Gabby was showing off her crazy ring, Wade announced that he had fathered a baby with another woman during a brief “break up” with Gabby last year. The whole thing seemed super-shady, and further investigation by TMZ led me to believe that Dwyane cheated on Gabrielle in February 2013, then told Gabby about the baby in April, after which they broke up for about a month, then got back together. I also believe Dwyane has probably cheated on Gabby multiple times and that she just pretty much accepts it because, in the end, she got the ring.
But that hasn’t stopped Gabby from pulling out the Empowered & Financially Secure Woman Card. Gabby went on The Arsenio Hall Show earlier this week to discuss how she and Wade are going to have a prenup… at her request. Because she worries about HER assets.
Forget the starry-eyed romance. Gabrielle Union says she plans to marry NBA star Dwyane Wade with an open heart – and an iron-clad prenup.
“I’ve got to protect my stuff,” the Being Mary Jane star matter-of-factly told the ageless Arsenio Hall on The Arsenio Hall Show Monday night. Union, 41, has made it clear she’s hoping to avoid repeating mistakes she made when her first marriage, to NFL star Chris Howard, ended in divorce in 2005.
“The biggest difference between this and the last marriage will be a prenup – at my insistence,” she bluntly told Hall as the audience giggled. “The reality is, I’ve never seen Dwyane balance a checkbook.”
Wade, 32, proposed to Union in December after presenting her with an eye-popping engagement ring. Two months later, it appears wedding planning is in full-swing (she even cops to adhering to a porn diet to stay in shape), and Union vows it won’t be anything like her first nuptials.
“The last time, I just wrote checks,” she admitted. “I was working, I had a wedding planner, and I just showed up and was like, ‘Ooh, that’s nice. Who picked that out?’ ”
This time, she says, she’s determined the keep things small, which means no bridesmaids and a pared-down guest list.
“There’s a lot of people who think they’re coming,” she said, calling Wade the “executioner” who is not afraid to cross people off the list. “If you’re not about us and we don’t both have a relationship with you, you’re not going to make it.”
So I take it Dwyane’s baby-mama is not going to be invited? And of course there won’t be any bridesmaids. Gabrielle doesn’t want any more whoopsie pregnancies. Not on her watch! Ugh, I could not live like that. Imagine that marriage – not being able to trust your baller husband around any woman, not even being able to trust him around a joint checking account? Yikes.
Anyway, do you believe her that the pre-nup was her idea? I’m not so sure. I have no doubt that Gabby’s financial house is in order – she works a lot and I’m sure she’s got a nice nest egg, probably somewhere in the $15-20 million range. But Dwyane Wade’s most recent contract with the Heat was $107.5 million for six years. Then he’s got all kinds of crazy endorsements too, plus profit-sharing in a Chinese sneaker company, and on and on. Yeah. I’m not saying Gabrielle is a golddigger, but I am saying that the pre-nup probably wasn’t her idea.
Here’s the video of the Arsenio interview.
Disturbingly, after I wrote this up, CB sent me this Radar story about Wade’s ex-wife Siovaughn. Siovaughn claims – in court documents – that Wade was abusive for years throughout their marriage, that he would hit her, slam her into walls, lock her in rooms, and other types of abuse. Siovaughn claims: “I tried to leave Dwyane Wade, but when I did, he made sure I did not have access to my own home and he cut off all my bankcards and denied me access to any money. This exerting of power and control has continued to this day.” She also says he was cheating on her throughout the marriage and he gave her an STD. YIKES.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Gabrielle, if you want to really protect your stuff, use condoms.
PREACH!!!1 Some ‘ballers’ are straight up nasty.
There’s a whole lotta’ superficial going on here: neither want a partner with no money. Both gravitate to fame and beauty. Just look at that giant rock! But I suppose after both coming from failed marriages, romance is on the back burner since they’ve learned the reality of what makes them unhappy and doing their best to avoid those elements, and hoping happiness follows by default. Especially if they know and trust what each are capable of – cheating, golddigging, etc. Better to go into it with your eyes open. Best of luck to them.
This potential marriage sounds incredibly shaky. I’d just not marry him in the first place and save all the trouble of learning down the road that he’s been cheating with other women. If she does make the stupid decision to marry him, then she’s going to have to be very careful about her finances, what they buy together, etc. Living together is going to entitle him to substantial assets. What a hassle – just dump the guy, already. All she has to do is look at his track record. Isn’t that enough for her?
Putting all the shakiness/shadiness of the actual relationship and both members to one side, that’s probably the best way of explaining a pre-nup that I’ve heard. I see so many people give side-eyes to pre-nups and people who get them (“oh, you’re thinking you’re going to fail right from the outset, that’s so bad!!”) and I can’t for the life of me understand why they would.
I think prenups are awesome for a few reasons. One: they are very practical, Two: you’re hammering out terms of a divorce when you’re still incredibly in love, so people tend to be kinder and more generous, and Three: It gives you some insight into the other person. If they’re an @s$hole through that process, they’re not going to make a good partner.
Very well said.
It may not be romantic but I really think marriage agreements, or pre nups, are a good idea for anyone getting married who has any assets of their own. No one ever expects their partner to be the one trying to take their stuff if it all goes awry, but as a lawyer I can tell you that all sorts of people get unexpectedly vindictive. They can be as simple as just setting out who has what at the beginning and what you’ll do with any accumulated wealth.
I think of it as an insurance policy. Hopefully you’ll never need it but if something bad happens you’ll sure be glad it was there.
Ok you got the man, the ring, now go away. Seriously, do people care about her and her upcoming nuptials? It sounds like a disaster or the plot to a Tyler Perry movie
I just watched the video. I don’t know why I even did. I’m not familiar with this actress. I guess I just find this topic interesting (marriage and pre-nups and all that). But god, she’s annoying. I’m not sure if she was nervous or what but her facial expressions are so awkward. And as an aside, Arsenio doesn’t seem to have aged a day in decades! I remember when he first had a show I was in my teens. He’s such a nice, gentle man.
How do i put this delicately, his ex wife seems to have had some kind of mental breakdown,including sitting on street corners with signs saying she is broke. She was his childhood sweet heart and her family even took him in as he had no where to go. I can understand why she is trouble by him leaving her for someone else. However she files lawsuits with new claims all the time,but only the two of them know their truth.
A man who has screwed you over time and time again after you supported him for years is enough to make a woman go “crazy”. She probably feels used, abused, and betrayed. She knew him for so long. She probably went through some sort of break down. It’s horrible what divorce can do to some people. Now she seems him living good and on to the next wife…
What a smart cookie Gabby is. She wants to make it seems as if she’s the one initiating the pre-nup so she don’t have to hear Wade made you sign a prenup. She can say it was all her idea. Gabby Wade don’t want your 10 mil when he’s worth 10 of you.
It really says something (not what she wants it to say, but it says something) about their relationship.
It would be different if she were to say, “He makes a lot more than I do, but we discussed it. We agreed that it would be best for us if we went into the marriage with clear boundaries regarding which finances are separate and which are combined, and that goes for the solid marriage we hope to have or if–God forbid–we were to divorce. Anyone with a lot of assets should do this…it’s the smart thing to do and we want to be smart.”
Instead, she’s trying to put a good face on things and it gives the impression that he’ll let her pretend she has some control (“go ahead baby, say it was your idea”) but really, that she has no control at all.
SMH
Why would she need to protect her assets? He clearly is worth more than she.
In the event that she’s telling the truth, which I have no idea if she is, she might legitimately be afraid that he is outrageously irresponsible with money and will be the next MC Hammer. How many idiots in showbiz and pro sports don’t have a pot to relieve themselves in despite making tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of their careers? She might have a point if she knows him to be an idiot.
Your most professional athletes are said to be broke 5 years after retirement.
Yes I heard that but they were mainly talking about Football player’s. Maybe they got hit in the head one too many times and let the wrong people manage their money.
Football players end up broke because they let to many people from before hang on and “man, I gotta pay property taxes” or “you know my birthday is coming up!” or “so my play cousin’s best friend is opening a bikini car wash and grilled cheese place” starts to come up. That or drugs.
Sounds like she wants to lock down a guaranteed payment for when, oops I mean if, she catches him cheating.
In all seriousness though, I agree with nicole – a prenup is a smart move. I’ve seen too many people get royally screwed over in a divorce, it make sense for both parties to protect themselves and maybe save some trouble down the road if the marriage ends.
Exactly. If nothing else it at least gives people a starting point for the bickering as each one has agreed what they had to start with. There’s no, “you only had $100 in 2006”.
My sister married a moron who came into the marriage with zero dollars and no assets. She paid for the house, the bills for years before he finally got a job (a crappy one). She makes A LOT more money than he does. He’s done a lot of crap to her, abusive, stolen money from her, alienated her from her own family…yet she won’t divorce him because he will take half of everything…he’s even entitled to half of her damn pension when she retires years and years from now. He can also get spousal support because he makes nothing compared to her. He also wants to go after future inheritance money she might get. He’s an a$$hole to the fullest. Pre-nup is ALWAYS the way to go. Actually, never marry someone who can’t bring into the marriage the same things you are. Keep it equal from the beginning.
He needs the prenup, not this twit.
Just because the pre-nup protects HER assets doesn’t mean that it also doesn’t include exactly how much she’s going to get out of him in the event of a divorce due to his cheating OR if the marriage makes it past 5 years or 10 yrs or whatever before the divorce. Good thinking for her to spin it that way.
Exactly what I was thinking….she is going to have a cheat clause put in pre-nup…so when he cheats (and we all know he will)…she will get a nice hefty settlement! This whole relationship is so shady…
That’s what I was thinking—if he gets someone else pregnant, then she’s going to get some money outta that. I still say drag the engagement out, get as much jewelry out that sucker as she can, and then dump him right before the wedding.
Get married in Cali–No Fault State. That’s what Kobe’s wife did. She hit that ten year mark and went, “Cheat again and get caught. I got something for your behind.”
Baller’s wives don’t care if they cheat; they know it’s coming. Only if they get caught.
@Monicaq, all 50 states are no fault divorce states. The one thing Cali has that many states don’t is a 50/50 split sans prenup.
This. I fully believe she initiated the prenup so that WHEN he cheats on her she can score enough of a settlement to double her worth. If he’s that bad with money he probably doesn’t mind going along with it. She actually is smarter than she looks, and she’s probably pissed he didn’t wait until after they were married to father a lovechild. Plus, the support for all his current kids shouldn’t have to come from her relatively small bank account–another good reason for a prenup.
Let me just say that I think this couple is disgusting and they deserve each other. But his ex-wife is also completely nuts. Anything she says has to be taken with a grain of salt.
I agree about these two. I cannot stand her & he is a cheating (w/ & on her) sleezebag. This is solely about her payoff when the time comes. Period. Don’t forget she is 10 years older than he. She is v v pretty but he will trade her for a younger model eventually
Well when a jerk keeps cheating on you and fathering tons of kids, you better protect yourself if you refuse to leave. Because his fortune is already split several ways for the children.
A pre-nup is always a good idea. I think everyone should get one. Dwayne is paying child support for 3 kids I believe. That should come out of his income and not both of their incomes. She should keep her money separate. Gabby was married before and she didn’t get a pre-nup the first time around. She may have had to pay spousal support who knows. Do I agree with her chose of husband? No way. But I guess that doesn’t bother her. She’s also 10 years older than him and a lot more mature…but her decision making is awful (except for the pre-nup part, that’s a smart move).
So in other words, she’s content to marry scum as long as the scum doesn’t get her money?
Like I said in another comment: Call me old-fashioned, but I find this really sad. I find it sad that women can’t expect — and get — anything better.
She’s an adult though, so no one can tell her what to do. She’ll learn when he cheats again (and you know he will).
I’m wondering if this prenup will be less about protecting her $ and more about how much money he’s going to have to cough up when he cheats so much/so often/so indiscreetly that she pulls the plug.
Forget the freaking pre-nup! She needs to have her head examined, why on earth would you marry a man that cheated on his ex wife supposedly some say with you……and he fathered a child with another woman while with you…..
I hate women who claimed to be strong and still make the choice of being with a no good cheating scum, when they can just walk away.
We see it happen over and over and over, don’t we? Among celebs and “regular” people equally. You know what I think the secret is? For reasons known only to these women they think they can’t do any better.
If they divorce, she won’t be hurting. If she has kids with him, she’ll get custody and a big fat child support check every month. Looking at what his ex-wife says about him, and if it’s true, this man is not fit for marriage.
Call me old-fashioned, but I find her comments really sad.
Maybe if she hadn’t taken up with the sort of man she’s engaged to, she wouldn’t be so cynical about the future of her “stuff”.
My parents have been married for 35 years (both were previously married and had about 10 years in between their previous marriages and their marriage to each other). No pre-nup, no worry about “my stuff”. Shared bank accounts and everything. Same with my grandparents. WHAT HAPPENED to my generation?
No offense, but your parents weren’t multimillionaires (I’m guessing).
If you have multimillions of dollars in the bank, no shit you would want to protect that.
I think you really, really missed the larger point.
It’s not about money. It’s about marrying someone you trust and treating that relationship and that marriage and that person like they’re for life. If you can’t do that then maybe you’re marrying the wrong person. On some level, Gabrielle knows her man cannot be trusted.
Furthermore, my father paid alimony to his first wife until she re-married. Paying out sucks no matter what level your personal finances are at.