Gabrielle Union Gets Candid About Her Mental Health Struggles

Over the weekend, actress Gabrielle Union opened up about her own mental health struggles, which included battling the idea of suicide. 

At the Goop Health virtual summit, Union spoke with Gwyneth Paltrow on her challenges since entering adulthood. Union tells Paltrow that her first “rock bottom” of adulthood came when she was raped at gunpoint at 19. 

However, Union revealed her mental-health took a hit last December following a fight with her husband, basketball star Dwayne Wade.

“I fell into something so dark in December that it scared me,” she said. Luckily, with the help of talk therapy, Union was able to triumph over her challenges. 

“It just felt like every so many years, there was some major catastrophic event that was happening in my life,” Union shared. “You know, divorce, career setbacks, relationship issues. There’s always something that lands you on your ass, and you’re like, ‘There’s no way I can move on from this, I’ll never recover, I’ll never be the same.'”

Union also revealed that she is currently experiencing perimenopause, the first stage of the transition to menopause. 

To cope with this, Union has once again taken advantage of talk therapy and adopted hormonal regulation practices.

 “Separating the symptoms from who you really are…to say that it’s a challenge, I don’t think I really have the words, or I lost them, to describe what these last few months have been.”

Union first opened up about her mental health in 2018 when she shared she was diagnosed with PTSD after being raped at 19. 

“I’m here to tell you that I am PTSD survivor, thriver, badass motherf—– I was diagnosed with PTSD at 19 after I was raped at gunpoint — and I didn’t let it stop me,” Union shared at the time, reported by People.