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Gabrielle Monique Union Wade is an American actress and a wife of a professional basketball player Dwyane Wade. Here are 50 interesting facts about her.
1. In high school, Union was an all-star point guard and a year-round athlete participating in soccer, basketball, and track.
2. Her mother is Theresa (Glass), who managed a phone company, and Sylvester E. Union, a military sergeant and business executive.
3. After high school, Gabrielle attended college at University of Nebraska, where she played on the soccer team.
4. Gabrielle had a college internship at a L.A. modeling agency, she thought it would be an easy way to pick up some extra credits. Upon the completion of the internship, she was asked to become a client with the agency.
5. Her first job was landed without any headshots, on popular Saved by the Bell.
6. Gabrielle believes that, "Hollywood needs to recognize all shades of African-American beauty".
7. Gabrielle graduated from UCLA with honors, in sociology.
8. Was a cheerleader in the eighth grade.
9. Was on the debut cover of Savoy Magazine.
10. Union likes music group called New Edition.
11. Didn't want to do acting but did it to pay off her university debts and found that she enjoyed it.
12. She has two sisters, one older and one younger.
13. Gabrielle wanted to be a lawyer.
14. She is praised by Oprah Winfrey for being an activist for women.
15. Gabrielle is fluent in Spanish.
16. Two of her uncles were on the University of Nebraska's national championship football team.
17. She told ESPN Magazine: "I can run, catch, throw - pretty much anything. I'm like an Arena Football guy. I can play both sides of the ball. In powder puff flag football I've never lost".
18. Appeared in a Neutrogena commercial.
19. She married Chris Howard in May 2001, and the couple divorced.
20. In 2014 Union married Dwyane Wade after 8-month-long engagement.
21. Their wedding was a classic black and white one. All guests also wore black and white as well.
22. She likes directors who have worked as actors because they know the experience.
23. The actress starred in Bad Boys II and played a role in Deliver Us From Eva with LL Cool J.
24. She married Chris Howard in May 2001, and the couple divorced in 2006.
25. Dwyane Wade wore white poplin boxer shorts to the afterparty on their wedding day.
26. On her wedding day Gabrielle wore custom-designed Dennis Brasso dress.
27. Dwyane's sons also wore white tuxedo blazers designed by DSquared2.
28. Actress Essence Atkins is Gabrielle Union's best friend.
29. Atkins officiated the wedding for Gabrielle and Dwyane.
30. Their romantic wedding was held in a 19,000 square foot castle in Florida.
31. Faith Haslem, Kevin Hart, Chris Paul, DJ Irie, Ludacris were just a few of the celebrities in attendance of the wedding.
32. There were 5 themed open bars during the wedding: Battier Bar, Bar Melo, Bosh's Brewery, Ray's Retirement Home and a "Cleveland, this Way!"
33. John Legend performed at the wedding.
34. Gabrielle is Roman Catholic.
35. She starred in 10 things I hate about you.
36. She likes to have her own life even after the marriage. She thinks it keeps it interesting for both when their schedule allows them to miss each other.
37. She is in a book club with her girlfriends.
38. She drinks a gallon of water a day.
39. In 2000 she played a medical doctor in the CBS drama series City of Angels.
40. Union ran in the Global Race for the Cure in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 2, 2012, in honor of her friend Kristen Martinez, who died from breast cancer.
41. Her parents divorced after thirty years of marriage.
42. Union grew up with self-esteem issues relating to her appearance, as she believed growing up that blonde women were "the ideal of beauty" and "if I looked nothing like that, then I must be ugly."
43. She longed to be acknowledged for her physical appearance.
44. Union starred with Jamie Foxx in the film Breakin' All the Rules in 2004. The film was unpopular with critics.
45. She appeared in the 2005 film Neo Ned, costarring Jeremy Renner and portraying an African-American woman with delusions that she is Adolf Hitler.
46. Union likes Janet Jackson since her childhood.
47. Union enjoys the music of Lil' Kim, 50 Cent and Luther Vandross.
48. Union has insisted that she would not have survived her victimhood after her rape had it not been for watching Winfrey's talk show.
49. From college onward, Union has reread The Autobiography of Malcolm X every year after a professor told her to read it continuously because of it being relatable to different aspects of a person's life. Union, after reading the autobiography several times throughout the years, concluded that the professor was correct.
50. Union attended the World AIDS Day event at Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City on December 1, 2010.
