As a veteran in the industry, it’s natural to feel a certain way about the up and coming creatives in your field. Whether it’s the old heads throwing shade toward the new age rappers or the veteran ballers putting a little extra heat on the rookies, it’s normal. While sometimes the emotion comes from a place of hate, as many can feel threatened by the success of the next best thing. Others use the new generation to keep themselves in touch with what’s hot, because in the words of Jay-Z “would you rather be a trend, or you rather be forever?”
In Gabrielle Union’s new book, “We’re Going to Need More Wine,” she talks about meeting Fox’s Star actress, Ryan Destiny, who has been said to resemble her. Although the meeting went well, Union shared her thoughts about Destiny during the meeting and explored her insecurities in realizing she wouldn’t always be the next hot thing.
“I admire you so much,” Ryan said to Union, as explained in her book. “If you could mentor me…,” she added, prompting Union to fire back in her head while keeping it classy in real life. “Bitch, fuck you, I thought,” Union wrote. “You want me to mentor you? The press is literally calling you the next Gabrielle Union…’except she can sing and dance!’ I smiled, and the photographers came over. They needed to document this moment of ‘Look who’s old!’ And I get it because I have a reputation for never aging. And God, do I love that rep. But as the flashbulbs went off, I was suddenly terrified that the ruse would be up.”
Although Ryan was caught by surprise by Union’s reaction to meeting her as described in her book, Ryan told LiveCivil their relationship is “great right now.”
“That was very weird to me,” Ryan said of Union’s recollection of the moment they met. “Weird in a good way because I didn’t expect her to put me in her book period. I remember the time that we did meet, which is the situation she was addressing in her book and she was very nice. I wouldn’t have known that she was thinking any of the stuff that she said she was thinking in her head at all.”
“It’s interesting because she was just talking to me and we were just chopping it up about what I was filming at the time and I was just struggling mentally with stuff within the show because there is always some drama and she was just being supportive of that and she told me to push through,” she said.
“Our relationship is great right now, we’re very supportive of each other. She’s supportive of me, thankfully and I appreciate her vulnerability in the book and how she expressed how she truly felt about it all and overcoming certain things within that. So it’s cool.”
