Gabrielle Union reveals husband Dwyane Wade's family was skeptical about their 10-year age-gap at first
The actress, 52, opened up about her relationship to Dwyane, 42, on the IMO podcast this week, which is hosted by Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson.
The Bring It On star said Dwyane's mother, Jolinda, and sister, Tragil - who is five years older than him - were skeptical of her when she first started dating him.
'When I first met his family, the older sisters who are closer in my age immediately got it good, we're good in the hood,' she recalled.
'But with Tragil, she's been the protector, she's been the watchdog, she's been the gatekeeper to keep him sane and to keep him doing everything he needs to do without interference from anybody,' she continued.
'And I'm like, but I'm not just anybody, I'm [going to be] his wife,' she said indignantly.
Gabrielle explained that before she tied the knot with Dwyane, she thinks Tragil and his mother weren't sure of her intentions and were concerned about their 10-year age-gap.
'I think before I got to the wife stage, when we were [at] the very beginning, I think, [Tragil] and his mom were like, "What do you want? Who are you, you older lady?"' she admitted.
The actress and producer (seen) said it took 'some years' to really earn her mother-in-law Jolinda and sister-in-law Tragil's trust and, but it eventually worked itself out
The actress and producer said while it took 'some years' to really earn their trust so that they were all 'comfortable,' it eventually worked itself out.
'Now it's easy because we're all on the same side,' she said happily.
'So his mom, and his sister Tragil, we tend to all have the same complaints about the same things that we then want to take to him,' Gabrielle joked.
The She's All That actress added that once Tragil got married, she understood the relationship between herself and Dwyane more.
'She was coming into a relationship where he'd been married before and he has kids,' she explained. 'And I was like, "Not so easy is it?"'
'You want that grace, you give that grace and eventually, you receive that grace,' Gabrielle added.
Gabrielle and Dwyane have been together for over 15 years, initially meeting in 2007, two years before they started dating.
The couple briefly broke up in early 2013, but reconciled and married in 2014.
'I think before I got to the wife stage, when we were [at] the very beginning, I think, [Tragil] and his mom were like, "What do you want? Who are you, you older lady?"' she admitted
The ex-NBA star shares children Zaire, 22, and Zaya, 17, with ex-wife Siovaughn Funches, and son Xavier, 10, with ex Aja Metoyer, whom he fathered while he and Gabrielle were on a break.
He and Gabrielle share one daughter Kaavia, who is six.
Dwyane previously said the 'hardest' thing he ever had to do was tell Gabrielle he got another woman pregnant during their break.
'I couldn't sleep. I wasn't eating' from the stress of having to inform Gabrielle, he said in his doc D. Wade: Life Unexpected, according to Entertainment Tonight.
'I had a child with someone else and I had to tell her,' continued Dwyane.
'Hardest thing I've ever had to do is man up and tell Gabrielle Union that I've had a child with somebody else,' he revealed.
'When you hold something in that you know is going to come out and you have this information and you know it's gonna f**k somebody's life up, that you care about, that you love, if it don't hurt you, then you're not human.'
'Me and Gab just went through something that you never want to go through and we still came out of it,' said the sports star.
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