Yesterday afternoon, Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade announced on Instagram that they had welcomed a baby daughter via surrogate.
God, I LOVE a surprise drop. Emily sent Lainey and me this post over text and I immediately burst into tears. I don’t know Gabrielle or Dwyane personally. There probably isn’t a good enough reason for me to be crying over the happy news of two people I’ve never met but I do have reasons. Gabrielle is one of those celebrities who has been so candid and open over the past few years of her career that she feels like a friend. You know when you see someone in real life that you just follow on Instagram and it takes you a minute to remember if you’re childhood friends who know all of each other’s secrets or if you just feel like they are since you’re creepily watching their kid grow up on the ‘gram? Just me? That’s what seeing Gabrielle’s post felt like. The tears came before my brain had the chance to remember that she’s a celebrity and not my best friend Gab from high school.
The other reason I have for getting so emotional over Gabrielle Union’s “lovely day” is that Gabrielle has been very frank abouther struggles with infertility. In her bookWe’re Going To Need More Wineshe details the three years of failed IVF treatments and the “eight or nine miscarriages” she and Dwayne Wade went through before their lovely day. EIGHT OR NINE. Whew. I can’t even fathom the strength it would take to move past those heartbreaks. In sharing her story, Gabrielle shed light on something so many women can unfortunately relate to. We don’t talk about infertility enough. For my girlfriends who have struggled to conceive, there is still shame there. There’s loneliness. Gabrielle’s story is one of resilience that I’m sure gives hope to the women who feel like they are alone in their own struggles. Not all infertility stories end with a baby and that’s OK too. At the very least, Gabrielle’s story might make the women going through it feel less alone.
Since Gabrielle has been so candid in the past, some may be wondering why she kept this a secret. I think the short answer is because it was none of our goddamn business. The long one may be that this joy was so personal and precious to Gabrielle and Dwyane that they decided to keep it to themselves for as long as they could. Maybe they wanted to protect the privacy of their surrogate. A decade ago, the reveal of this news would have been a PEOPLE cover with the world “surprise!” emblazoned across it. As Laineyhas pointed out,塞林上校g baby photos is unnecessary in the IG era. Gabrielle and Dwyane are two of my faves to follow on Instagram. They’ve done a great job of using the app to show off their personalities. The way they revealed this news felt authentic to the relationship they’ve created with fans on IG.
We can add this reveal to the long list of examples we have of celebrities who can keep their sh-t locked. If they want to, they CAN. Don’t let them tell you otherwise. Gabrielle and Dwyane wanted to and they did. This is why Gabrielleis allowed to hang with Beyoncé. She knows how to keep it tight.
We don’t know the name of Gabrielle and Dwyane’s “miracle baby” yet but we do know it’s their first girl. Dwyane has three sons from previous relationships and he raises his nephew. Gabrielle has talked in many interviews about her stepsons and what it means to herto be raising black boysin America. It makes me tear up thinking about this baby girl entering the world to so much love, including the love of her big brothers. F-ck, I’m crying again.
This was perfect the uplifting post to end the week. Congratulations to my dear friend Gabrielle Union.
