Gabrielle Union Opens Up About Difficult Journey To Parenthood

Gabrielle Union in Breaking In

Gabrielle Union is a mother now, and she earned that title through the surrogate process. After years of difficulties to conceive and bare a child herself, Union opened up about pursuing this particular method of motherhood. Now, she's the adoring mother of Kaavia James Union Wade, who was born on November 7th. In a new video posted on the Bring It On actress' Instagram, Union talked openly about her challenging road to motherhood, and how grateful and humbled she is to finally become a mother to a newborn child. Here's what Gabrielle Union wrote on IG:

Every family is unique. How each family is created and comes together is special. Kaavia James Union Wade's journey into our arms was long and at times brutal. There were heartbreaks that nearly broke us and streams of tears that turned into raging rivers. And then came Kaavia James. This is our birth journey. Thank you all for the love, support and understanding and all the people who held us up when we lost hope. Watch it with love. Watch it with hope.

As Gabrielle Union admits in the Instagram video, motherhood didn't come easily for the actress. Though she didn't have trouble getting pregnant, it was staying pregnant that proved heartbreakingly challenging for the celebrity. She claims she was pregnant upwards of eight or nine times, as she admitted to Dr. Oz in a clip found in the social media video. Now, thanks to this surrogate process, Gabrielle Union can welcome a child who'll call her "mom" someday. She is overwhelmed with gratitude and joy to become a loving, caring mother to a young baby girl whom she considers a "miracle."

Check out the heartwarming video from Instagram with Gabrielle Union below.

A photo posted by on

In addition to her newborn 1-month-old, Gabrielle Union is also the stepmother of three stepchildren she helps raise with her husband, professional athlete Dwayne Wade. The couple got married in 2014, and they've been given an opportunity to raise a child together through this surrogate process. It was through becoming a stepmother that Union reportedly realized she wanted to become a mother. She has wanted to continue building the family.

Here's how Gabrielle Union previously described her difficulty with staying pregnant last year when she talked openly about the challenges she faced.

I have had eight or nine miscarriages. For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant -- I've either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle.

Gabrielle Union has been open and forthcoming about her struggles with motherhood over the years, and I'm glad to know it's a happy conclusion. We'll be sure to hear more updates from Union as she continues to accept the joys and trials that come with motherhood into her life -- particularly on her social media pages and elsewhere. When those updates arise, we'll be sure to keep you posted on the latest details right here at CinemaBlend.

Will Ashton

Will is an entertainment writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. His writing can also be found in The Playlist, Cut Print Film, We Got This Covered, The Young Folks, Slate and other outlets. He also co-hosts the weekly film/TV podcast Cinemaholics with Jon Negroni and he likes to think he's a professional Garfield enthusiast.