Actress Gabrielle Union keeps it all the way real about her “dysfunctional” first marriage and why she felt “entitled” to cheat.
The Bring It On star appeared on Monday’s episode of the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard, where she opened up about her marriage to NFL player Chris Howard and admitted that neither of them was faithful, ABC News
reports.“In our first marriage, neither one of us felt like the marriage should get in the way of our dating,” Union told Shepard. “A part of it was keeping up with his activities, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s what you’re doing? Oh, you’re gonna feel this one.'”
Union, who is currently married to NBA champion Dwyane Wade, explained why she felt justified in cheating on Howard throughout the five-year marriage.
“I just felt entitled to it, as well,” she quipped. “I was paying all the bills, I was working my a– off and I felt like that’s what comes, the spoils of riches.”
Union likened her infidelity to her father, feeling justified in cheating because she was the breadwinner in the relationship.
“Like my dad before me, whoever has the most gets to do whatever the hell they want, is what I thought,” she said. “It was just dysfunctional from day one.”
According to the Being Mary Jane
star, the marriage was “a stupid relationship that should have never gotten out of the dating phase.” Union even referenced a therapist who said the only thing she and Howard had in common was their interest in “other people.”Union met Howard, a former running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars, at a party in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1999, People reports. The pair married in 2001 and separated in November 2005 after four years of marriage.
Shepard admitted to his own past infidelity and noted how he and Union are “identical” in how they approached cheating in their old romances.
“I wish I had more guilt for some of that,” Union said.