Gabrielle Union is defending herself after apparently catching backlash for recent comments she made about her past cheating in her first marriage.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the 50-year-old “Bring It On” actress showed no regrets after opening up about infidelity and the role it played in her first marriage to Chris Howard, which she recently reiterated on a recent appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast.
“If you’re gonna get your panties in a twist about something I’ve been talking about since 2005 — in not one but two New York Times best-selling books — at least listen to the whole thing,” Union said, doubling down on her claims. “Just so you know where your anger actually is.”
The “Breaking In” star also claimed that “people really felt anger that a woman would dare be just as dysfunctional as a man.”
Earlier this month, Union and Shepard got real about past infidelities, with Shepard declaring themselves “identical” in some of their past behaviors … and justifications.
While she agreed that cheating proposed a moral dilemma, Union admitted she wished she felt more guilt for her own infidelity later in her relationship with Howard.
She called their union “such a stupid relationship that should never have gotten out of the dating phase.
“I definitely was not getting Wife of the Year Awards, I had some focus issues, you know.” Gabrielle explained. “In our first marriage, neither one of us felt like the marriage should get in the way of our dating.”
At the time, for her, it felt like a combination of trying to keep up with her husband’s behavior, and battling her own sense of entitlement. “I was like, Oh, that’s what you’re doing?” Union shared. In response, she’d hit back with, “You’re gonna feel this one.”
More than just trying to get him back with the same behaviors, the “LA’s Finest” alum admitted that she also felt “entitled” to cheat because she was paying the bills and working hard in life.
“I felt that that’s what comes, the spoils of riches,” she said. “Like my dad before me, whoever has the most gets to do whatever the hell they want, is what I thought.”
Union and Howard were married from 2001 to 2006. She later tied the knot for the second time with Dwyane Wade in 2014 and went on to welcome their daughter Kaavia, 4. Gabrielle is also stepmother to Wade’s children: Zaire, 20, Zaya, 15, and Xavier, 9.
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