A few people played Cupid in bringing Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union together, with the late pop legend Prince playing an important role, said the Hollywood star. Union revealed the full story on The Daily Show six years back.
Advertisement
Union was doing a promotional run for her book, We’re Going to Need More Wine, at the time. One of the stories that caught host Trevor Noah’s attention was how she first met Wade.
Gabrielle revealed that a party hosted by Prince in LA facilitated the initial banter that led to their meeting.
Union was heading to the party with a few of her friends when D-Wade’s brothers got on the same elevator. The NBA legend was in town for a game. As soon as they saw her, one of them said, “My brother has the biggest crush on you.”
A star like Union keeps hearing such compliments. She recalled responding, “Okay, that’s very sweet.”
At that point, she had no idea she was talking to Wade’s brothers. Union explained the reason for it as well.
“They’re step-brothers so it’s not like, ‘You bear an uncanny resemblance to the young fellow from Miami’,” she said.
Subsequently, she was asked if she’d like to co-host a Super Bowl party with Wade. In February of 2007, D-Wade and Union met for the first time at that Super Bowl party. The star said they didn’t have an instant connection.
“I stayed on one side of the room with my people,” she told Essence. “We like to party and he doesn’t drink at all. He was on the other side of the room holding bible study.”
Another thing that made her maintain distance initially was the situation Wade was in at the time. During a 2014 interview with Glamour, she detailed her initial thoughts.
Union said, “When I met Dwyane, his résumé looked like crap: athlete, going through a divorce, nine years younger than me. None of that screamed, ‘Let’s have a lasting relationship’.”
However, it didn’t take long for them to start dating. Three years later, they made their relationship public and got married in 2014.
