I don't know about you, but I can't get enough of Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade's relationship timeline. Not only do they have a beautiful family, but their romance is a like a fairytale that should be told over and over again. The pair has been married since 2014, and even though they've encountered some hard times along the way, they've managed to stay together and be the best parents they can be for their children.
One thing Union loves about Wade is that he supports her no matter what. "He motivates me," the actor gushed to Entertainment Tonight in June 2017. "I married a guy almost 10 years younger than me, and I assumed I would be the teacher, and here I am the pupil learning and being motivated by his work ethic … He inspires me."
And it's clear the feeling is mutual. "I think the one thing is, we are imperfect, just like every couple in the world," Wade told People during an October 2015 interview. "We stick together through it all — through the great times, through the bad times." Aww. Though no relationship is perfect, Wade and Union's romance comes pretty close to it, and here's their love story from the very beginning.
In 2007, Union didn't know that she was going to meet the man with whom she would spend the rest of her life. After divorcing her ex-hubby, Chris Howard, in 2006, Union was asked to host a Super Bowl party with Wade, and that's when they met for the first time. But even though they looked cute together, Union wasn't interested in dating Wade because at the time, he was going through a divorce with his ex-wife, Siohvaughn Funches, and his life seemed a little bit... chaotic to her.
"When I met Dwayne, his 'résumé' looked like crap: athlete, going through a divorce, nine years younger than me," Union recalled to Glamour in January 2014. "None of that screamed, 'Let's have a lasting relationship.'" So Union didn't pay him any mind at all. "I stayed on one side of the room with my people," she jokingly told Essence, per E! News. "We like to party and he doesn't drink at all. He was on the other side of the room holding bible study."
More than three years after their 2007 Super Bowl party, Union traveled all the way to Miami to attend Wade's "Summer Groove" charity event in July 2010. Photographs emerged of the couple together, leading fans to believe they were dating, and Wade's ex-wife later filed a lawsuit against the athlete and Union for "emotional distress," according to the Boston Herald. Luckily, the case was thrown out.
Union maintained that she had nothing to do with Wade and Funches' split, though Funches reportedly claimed otherwise. "My life is just too easy to track," she explained to JET magazine in 2012, per Us Weekly. "So, we were submitting plenty of proof for the times she said I was in Miami. So, it was like, obviously you're not telling the truth. And then the courts dismissed the case."
Wade and Union's relationship hit a speed bump in early 2013, when the duo decided to call it quits. During a January 2014 interview with Glamour, Union explained the breakup was due to "distance and scheduling," as their lives had become too hectic to spend time together. However, it wasn't long before Union changed her mind. "Over the summer, I reassessed priorities," she added. "I'd always wanted an awesome career with back-to-back projects, but I realized I wasn't willing to sacrifice my relationship for it." By the end of 2013, the couple was back together.
In December 2013, Wade finally made it official with the Being Mary Jane actor when he got down on one knee and proposed. He explained how it happened during his December 2018 interview special, Oprah at Home with Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade & Their New Baby.
"The boys had been pushing for us to be a 'real' family,” he said, referring to his three kids from previous relationships. "I had them down by the pool, and I had them make their own signs. I had each one say, 'Will you marry us?' I took her outside to look at the water, and at first, she's like, 'What is going on?' I get behind her, and I get on a yoga mat because I couldn't put my knees down. I'm sitting there waiting for her to turn around and she's reading the boys' signs, and the boys said, 'Will you marry us?'" How cute!
Less than a year after getting engaged, Wade and Union traveled to the Chateau Artisan in Miami to get married in front of all their friends and family. On their one-year wedding anniversary, Union shared pics from the big day on Instagram.
Once they were married, Union and Wade decided they wanted to have a baby together. But sadly, Union ended up experiencing multiple miscarriages over several years. "For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant," she wrote in her 2017 book, We’re Going To Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True, per ABC News. "I've either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle."
After years of struggling, Wade and Union finally welcomed their daughter, Kaavia James Union Wade, via a surrogate in November 2018. While speaking with Winfrey in December 2018, Union opened up about how happy she was to finally have a daughter. "We want her to understand that she was so loved, wanted, desired, protected, and nurtured when she was just a thought," Union said in reference to her daughter. "We want her to know everything it took to bring her into this world, usually around the time she starts talking back. We want her to really understand what we went through."
During a February 2020 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Wade proudly announced that his daughter, Zaya, had come out as transgender. "Zaya, our 12-year-old, came home and said, 'Hey, so I want to talk to you guys. I think going forward, I'm ready to live my truth. And I want to be referenced as she and her. I'd love for you guys to call me Zaya,'" Wade explained. Since then, both Wade and Union have shown their daughter plenty of support and love.
Despite bad first impressions, temporary breakups, and fertility struggles, Wade and Union seem more in love than ever, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for these two.
