- Gabrielle Union says she’s been in therapy for nearly 30 years.
- The Bring It On actress, 48, first sought professional help after being sexually assaulted at age 19.
- “It was about wanting me to be OK as fast as possible,” she told Health. “That was my lifeline.”
Gabrielle Union has long been open about her mental health—she’s previously revealed the devastating symptoms of perimenopause and her own anxieties about motherhood—and now she’s getting even more candid about her almost 30-year long journey in therapy.
When asked how she takes care of her mental health in an interview with Health, the actress was clear: “Therapy.” Union said she first sought professional help in 1992 at age 19, just days after she was raped at gunpoint while working at a shoe store. (She revealed the assault in her book of personal essays, We’re Going to Need More Wine, which was published in 2017.)
In fact, she sought therapy only four or five days after the harrowing incident, she said in the interview with Health. “I think for everyone, it was about wanting me to be OK as fast as possible.” Soon after she started attending classes at UCLA, where her therapist recommended she seek help from the UCLA Rape Crisis Center. “That was my lifeline—you’re with people who can relate to everything you’re talking about.”
The actress described this experience in greater detail in the book of personal essays. “Group therapy was the only place I could feel ‘not crazy,’” Union wrote. “Wow, that girl is getting straight A’s. That girl got a great internship. This girl is engaged. It gave me the calm I so desperately needed. I saw the possibility of hope.”
When she started acting in the years following school, she mostly saw therapists covered by her insurance, not looking for a professional with a specific background, she said in the interview. She eventually noticed the lack of Black women therapists in-network—and once she started making more money, she sought a mental health provider she could build a solid foundation with. “I found my therapist who has now been with me for, like, 20 years,” she said.
Outside of therapy, the star also uses a few time-honored tools to help bolster her mental health. “I rely heavily ... on guided meditation, on positive affirmations, and trying to create enough of a routine that I don’t ever feel overwhelmed,” Union told Woman’s Day last year.
Now, Union is an advocate for both mental health awareness and sexual assault survivors—and she refuses to let her platform go to waste by staying silent. “I find that the more painfully honest I am, the more impactful I am,” she told Health. “You just have to talk about it. And finally, I’m ready. I’m as ready as I’m going to be.”
If you have experienced sexual assault and need help, visit RAINN.org or call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673).
Jake Smith, an editorial fellow at Prevention, recently graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in magazine journalism and just started going to the gym. Let's be honest—he's probably scrolling through Twitter right now.
