[VIDEO] Gabrielle Union Says Watching Her Parents Divorce Helped Her Be A Stepmom to Dwyane Wade’s Kids

This week, Gabrielle Union, stopped by The View promoting her new BET series, Being Mary Jane. In addition to chatting about her upcoming nuptials, the newly engaged star chatted about being a step mother.  She explained that since her parents handled their divorce responsibly, she knew that it was her responsibility to be mature when being a step mother to D.Wade’s three sons.

She explains:

I’m lucky that I come from a family that went through divorce. My parents were married for 30 years before they got divorced and I’m sure after 30 years there were bitterness, anger, and resentment and fear and all sorts of things. But I don’t know because they never made it our issue, they handled their divorce and our subsequent transition into a blended family with grace and dignity and respect and always put us first and didn’t involve us. So I’m lucky that i can just mirror what my parents did and always put the kids first.

Playing a mistress or ‘side chick’ in Being Mary Jane has caused a few critics to suggest that she’s glorifying that role.

She suggests that the role also shows the entire picture, explaining:

I would say keep watching and for everyone who is like ‘Mary Jane and Olivia Pope are the new side chick #2 role models’, watch the show and you will see that there are some consequences.

Gabrielle gives insight on how she learned not to be a victim, after being raped at 19. She says:

I got sick of people letting me off the hook, because being a victim is so comfortable. People give you attention, people are nurturing, they’re basically are the way you wanted them to be your whole life without something bad happening. So when something catastrophic happens in your life everyone rallies around you. Your getting the all of the attention, love and support that you always wanted but its not for something positive and I hated that. I hated feeling like a victim, I hated the cloak of victim-hood. And I realized that they were going to allow me to be a victim and not succeed and achieve any of my goals or not step outside of the box and I wanted that cloak of victim-hood off. I want to embrace being a survivor, I wasn’t raised to be cuddled, I was raised to be an independent woman standing on my own two feet and thats the road I opted to take.

Here’s the full clip:

[The View]

@YouKnowItsJah