Gabrielle Union is the very definition of ageless beauty. Through work, marriage and motherhood she somehow finds the time to balance it all.
The 44-year-old actress opens up in the September issue of Health about her husband Dwyane Wade, social media trolls and her secret to a long, happy life!
On the surface it may seem as though Union has everything she could want and more but she says that it's not possible. "A mother, to have it all, has to somehow also provide a check, also be superfreak Kama Sutra down to the ground," she explains to the mag. But that's not all, she says you also have to "be a size double zero, be super present in the PTA but still putting in extra hours at work. There are literally not enough hours." It makes us exhausted just reading it.
But when it comes to social media, she's not the type to brush off the negativity. "I need to know who said it," she admits about people who send rude comments. "No one who's ever said anything super negative to me has an amazing life." Union jokes that if were Jennifer Lopez writing that her "squat form wasn't right," it would be okay because, "she would know."
Union says that social media haters paired with tabloids and others "who cannot wait to circle your fat and draw an arrow," are what keeps her motivated in her workout routine. That and her competitive nature. If you ever find yourself running on a treadmill next to her at the gym, you will lose.
"I basically have the Olympics happening in my mind with strangers," the actress confesses. "They don't realize we're competing, but I usually take gold—mainly because they've left."
Union also has ways to block out any feelings of guilt in her life. "I have figured out how to say no," she explains and says she's begun to "create comfortable spaces where I have real joy in my work, in my home, in my marriage, with the kids." She cares for her three children—two of whom are stepsons from Wade's previous marriage—and insists that she is living her best life.
Her secret to happiness? She's following in her grandmother's footsteps. "If somebody's like, ‘Shots!' I'm like, ‘Yes!' If someone says, ‘Bacon!' I'm like, ‘Yes!' She lived. I definitely live." Not bad advice from a woman who lived to be 110!
The September issue of Health will be on newsstands Aug. 11.