In a recent interview with Glamour, actress Gabrielle Union opened up about the lead-up to the split during which she says her now-fiance, Dwyane Wade, impregnated his ex-girlfriend, Aja Metoyer.
“[When Dwyane and I broke up briefly in 2013], it was because of distance and scheduling,” she told the magazine. ”I finished filming the show [Being Mary Jane], then I flew to Vegas right away to start shooting Think Like a Man Too. I couldn’t take time off, and I missed some quality togetherness we desperately needed.
“Over the summer, I reassessed priorities. I’d always wanted an awesome career with back-to-back projects, but I realized I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my relationship for it,” she added. “Moving forward, I decided my work schedule has to make sense for our family.”
Her assessment is causing quite the buzz, having already been characterized as an attempt on Union's part to "blame herself" for the split and its resulting "love child." Which sounds pretty depressing.
Cue the thought pieces on work-life balance, feminism and fidelity.
But, read separately from the rest of the celebrity-saga, her words actually sound like a practical, everyday reflection on a once-broken union—one that you don't have to know anything about fame to understand. Being together is difficult when you're, well, not together.
Maybe the actress is being forthcoming here and maybe she's not. But, taken at face value, her consideration of a busy career's effect on connectedness is hardly self-flagellation.
Wade and Union have given us plenty of recent developments and revelations made for the gossip blogs and armchair relationship experts. This interview with its everyday observations about love isn't one of them.
Jenée Desmond-Harris is The Root’s senior staff writer. Follow her on Twitter.