Gabrielle Union gets candid in her new book about her trouble with pregnancy over the past few years.
In We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True, Union dedicates an entire chapter to an issue many women face when it comes to child-bearing that she titles "Get Out of My P---y."
The star of BET's Being Mary Jane blends her well-known candor with a very raw tone when she tells readers about suffering through eight or nine miscarriages over the past three years and dedicating time and money to failed IVF procedures in the hopes of getting pregnant with NBA star husband Dwyane Wade.
When the two lovebirds married in 2014, Union became a step-mom to Wade's three boys (two sons from a previous marriage to Siohvaughn Funches and one son from a brief relationship with Aja Metoyer) that's when the actress realized how much she love being around kids.
But her path to motherhood has not been an easy one...
In her book, Union details how bloated the hormones made her, how messed up her body cycles felt, how she'd have to sneak to doctor appointments to avoid rumors, and how the failed IVF treatments eventually would lead to losing the child in a heartbreaking miscarriage.
She spoke to People recently, saying, "For so many women, and not just women in the spotlight, people feel very entitled to know, 'Do you want kids?'" she says. "A lot of people, especially people that have fertility issues, just say 'no' because that's a lot easier than being honest about whatever is actually going on. People mean so well, but they have no idea the harm or frustration it can cause."
At a Barnes and Noble book event, Union spoke to E! News about the possibility of a baby now that a little time has passed, to which Union replied that ultimately she and her husband want to keep that "space safe and sacred and personal" moving forward. She still loves babies and being a mom, but she likes to think of herself at the time as a "sacrificial uterus."
Union wants to tell her story so that women don't feel alone in their struggles, and also so that people will stop asking and pressuring women about the private spaces and struggles when it can already be so challenging.
When it comes to Wade's thoughts on Union's honesty in the book, Union jokes that he didn't really care about any of it. She thought he might care about her talking about her sexual history, but she laughs that "when you marry a seasoned citizen, you assume that she's seasoned."
We wish the couple the very best.
We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True is in bookstores now.