Gabrielle Union's Parents Have Been in the Spotlight Lately — Here's Why

Gabrielle Union-Wade is obviously a famous actor and model in her own right, but her family is famous as well. Gabrielle Union was formerly married to Chris Howard, who was a running back for the NFL, and she is currently married to former NBA player Dwyane Wade. Upon marrying Dwyane, Gabrielle became a bonus mom to his three kids, who each have their own public-facing careers, and the pair have a child of their own, social media personality Kaavia James.

Despite her own blended family constantly making headlines, Gabrielle's family of origin has stayed out of the spotlight. However, the actor has recently shared some information about her parents with the public, and she did so for a very specific reason.

Gabrielle credited her mother, Theresa Union, and her father, Sylvester "Cully" Union Jr., for teaching her strength and independence. Theresa was a phone company manager and social worker who often took Gabrielle to Pride parades, which presumably planted the seed for the actor's LGBTQ+ activism today. Sylvester was a military sergeant whom the actor has credited with teaching her a strong work ethic and the importance of teamwork.

Sylvester and Theresa raised their three children in Nebraska, in a Catholic household, which was passionately devoted to the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Although the pair quietly divorced after three decades together, Gabrielle says her parents never allowed their conflict to affect her or her siblings, and they always kept the split classy and amicable. She's spoken about keeping her parents' divorce in mind when dealing with her own split from Chris, and eventual blending of families with Dwyane.

On April 5, Gabrielle shared the tragic news that her father had died two days prior. Sylvester was 81 years old and had been diagnosed with dementia. He was placed in a memory care unit back in 2023. Gabrielle made an Instagram post commemorating her father. The beautiful tribute, full of clips and photos of Sylvester's life, included a glimpse into how the actor felt watching her dad's struggle with his condition.

Gabrielle captioned the post, "No matter how much you think you know about dementia, nothing prepares you for the painfully slow disappearing of your loved one." She went on to describe, "You hold out hope for sustained eye contact or a smile; even a hand squeeze can make you feel like they could come back to you 'normal' at any second. It’s brutal, and it’s what he experienced, but it wasn’t who he was."

The actor then went on to share who Sylvester truly was. She described a man who cared about everybody, righted his wrongs, and was the life of every party. She shared that her parents were "the first allies and comrades I saw in action, and I vowed to follow in their footsteps." One particularly poignant piece of the post stated that when Sylvester was around, "No one was ever left behind or unseen."