I used to really like Gabrielle Union, and then all of the Dwyane Wade stuff happened, and I’m not such a fan anymore. To be clear, I think Wade is the shady one, but I think Gabrielle stayed with him and married him – even though he cheated on her and fathered a child with another woman while he was with Union – because she liked the lifestyle, and the cachet of being “Dwyane Wade’s official.” After they married, Gabrielle even tried to play it like she doesn’t need his money and she was the one asking for a pre-nup to protect HER assets (he’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars). So, anyway, Gabby has a new interview with Yahoo, and long story short… I kind of liked her here. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Playing a journalist on her TV show: “In my real life, I watch a lot of CNN. It’s on right now. It’s kind of one of those things that’s always on in the background in general. Most days I read three newspapers. I read the Miami Herald, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times. I’ve always been very interested in the news. It’s about wanting to be informed, and wanting to hear different perspectives on thing. A lot of people think about the same thing a lot of different ways.”
America’s race relations: “There’s a bit of a gap between what I really want to say and what I know is responsible to say. The general lack of compassion for your fellow man is really frustrating. I think what the protesters are saying, or at least some of them, is it’s not just about police brutality. It’s about a widespread systematic crippling of some people in this country by birthright, and no one’s acknowledging it. There may be a power shakeup if you’re really going to do something about it. A lot of people aren’t interested in that. They say, “It’s not that bad. We have Barack Obama. We’re good.” Or, “You’re not getting lynched.” They’re not acknowledging the institutional racism that impacts daily lives.
Makeup choices for all skin colors: “It has gotten better. There are so many more lines that create shades for a wide range of hues and understand our green money works as well. And that we count. We want to look pretty, too.”
Why it’s important for her to protect her assets: “For women in Hollywood, when they’re coupling, everything is about the brand. Everything is about latching on to a rising star, so you can kick your heels up. That’s never been my story, ever. I make sure to let people know all of the hard work that’s gone into my career. I want people to know the work that it took to get through UCLA, that I had student loans and worked. I was eating Top Ramen and lived well below my means. Now that it’s time to get married to a man who happens to play basketball and has done well for himself, I want to make it clear that I have in no way hitched my wagon to his star. I have my own wagon and star.
Her thoughts on the NFL & Roger Goodell: “The biggest thing is that the NFL is a business. It’s professional sports, and there are 55 guys on a team. If there’s one guy out of 55 who’s done something horrible, you can’t taint the other 54 with the same brush. But in the sense that a guy committing domestic violence received a less harsh penalty than players did for smoking weed, in that regard [NFL commissioner] Roger Goodell has failed miserably in bringing the NFL to a more enlightened time. If he’d talked to his customers, they’d much rather have Cheech and Chong on the field than the villain in a Tyler Perry movie. The NFL is a microcosm of all industries. Domestic violence affects Wall Street, teachers, and policemen. We have a lot of work to do as a league, but we also have a lot of work to do as a society.
Comparing her show, Being Mary Jane, to Scandal: “What bugs me is that they’re making the comparison because they’re both shows that star black women. It’s such apples and oranges. It’s like comparing True Detective and Law & Order — you would never do that. What it says is we need so much more diversity in TV. We need shows starring women of color or women of a certain age or women who aren’t a size 2. If that happens, the world isn’t going to end.”
She also talked about Chris Rock’s THR interview where he name-checked her (she starred with Rock in Top Five) as one of the African-American actresses who should be offered more work. And she talked about the stupid controversy where the Star Wars geeks were freaking out about a black stormtrooper in the trailer. While I like what Gabrielle had to say about race and Hollywood and race and sports, I’m reminded of what Mindy Kaling always says: it’s wrong when minority women have to spend the entire interview talking about race and misogyny while all of the white guys in Hollywood get to talk about their art. It’s not that Gabrielle shouldn’t be asked about this stuff, but reporters need to ask Bradley Cooper and JK Simmons and Eddie Redmayne about institutional racism and misogyny too.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
She’s a beautiful woman and I like what she has to say here. Good for her for speaking up.
+1 🍄
Agree wholeheartedly.
“It’s not that Gabrielle shouldn’t be asked about this stuff, but reporters need to ask Bradley Cooper and JK Simmons and Eddie Redmayne about institutional racism and misogyny too.” <– quote of the year right here.
+3
Loved the interview and she’s really stunning!
She is really well-spoken here. Makes great points very clearly. Good interview!
For once her weaves doesn’t look thirsty.
She looks awesome for 42. She looks younger than Wade who’s only 33
Goddell should go, he has made some really bad decisions as the NFL Commissioner.
It also bugs me the way Patriots owner Robert Kraft has him in his back pocket. No wonder why Bellichick is always able to get away with cheating, he knows there will never be any serious repercussions for his actions, hence the slap on the wrist for Spygate, etc.
Time to step down Mr. Goddell and don’t let the domestic abuse door hit you on the place where you make your decisions from on the way out.
Great interview, very thoughtful and insightful responses. She really is beautiful. Her comment about people saying “at least you’re not getting lynched” makes me want to cry.
I’ve been hearing a lot of interview footage from Ernie Banks, the first black Chicago Cub, who just passed away, and I had no idea how much racism he endured not just early on but throughout his life. We still have such a long way to go.
This was a really interesting interview, I liked what she had to say here. I agree with you Kaiser that the same way Gabrielle is asked about institutional racism and diversity, Redmayne or Miles Teller should be asked as well. The same goes for the new trend of asking actresses about feminism, it should be the same for actors, it should be required imo. I remember that Hollywood Reporter roundtable with directors where Steve McQueen was asked about diversity in films and he said “you should ask them” pointing to the white directors. They were absolutely silent, clearly embarassed because they didn’t want to answer and didn’t even want to think about it. Very awkard.
Oh, I didn’t see that roundtable, but that’s a great response. It’s especially important to ask directors and producers those questions. I suspect all actors can see are the parts that they get, the parts that they don’t, and the parts they’re not even able to audition for. Directors can actually do something to change things, and we shouldn’t just be asking directors of color about their casting decisions.
Oh wow, awesome response by McQueen. And yes, awkward.
I remember that. Besides McQueen, and one other director (who was a foreigner), all of the other directors work right here in Hollywood. And none of them wanted to answer the question of why there isn’t more diversity in films and tv shows. I remember McQueen brought up the idea of having a tv show set in New York City, and there not being a single non-white person as the main cast (I can’t remember if this WAS a reference to “Friends” or not), and none of them wanted to touch it. I need to get their names, because I respected them a whole lot less. I think Christopher Nolan was part of it (because he said something about his wife being able to be on the roundtable….)….
Great interview.
She is very well spoken and I like what she said. Also she is very beautiful and I like Being Mary Jane and she’s right you can’t compare the 2 shows.
That’s a really good interview. She was asked about a pretty wide range of topics, some of them potential minefields, and she came off really well throughout the interview.
As for her marriage…eh. It seems pretty clear that she and Dwyane have some sort of arrangement and that she’s not being misled or taken advantage of. If that’s the set up that makes them happy, so be it.
I like her here. And I like what she says about the NFL and domestic violence. Because it wasn’t just the Ray Rice incident, but Adrian Peterson’s alleged abuse of his son. That one truly disgusts me.
I also want to point out that the arrest and crime rate for NFL players is lower than the general population. Although it’s a problem, I often hear it spun into how there are so many criminals in the NFL. I think that needs to be put into perspective.
Then building on that, I’d argue that the athletes paid millions of dollars for entertainment and are held up in society should be held to a higher standard than the national average.
That crime statistic about the NFL versus the general population may be true, but even more important is the fact that those who are actually penalized in the NFL (celebs in general, really) oftentimes face way less harsh consequences – missing a game or two and then doing a 30-second PSA, then it’s right back to the locker room is way too much a slap on the wrist for many of the infractions various players have been popped for.
She was completely reasonable here and I have absolutely nothing bitchy to say. Kudos to her!
A rarity, huh? And I agree. Great interview.
Agree this is a good interview for her, and I could not agree more about EVERYONE being asked questions about diversity and gender. It is not just a question for those directly affected by it.
I didn’t know or forgot that she has a show, but agree she should get more work.