Decisions, decisions! When it came down to choosing the surrogate to carry her daughter, Gabrielle Union wanted one specific box to be checked.
“Some people care about the race, religion, or food habits of their surrogate. I was like, ‘I want a reader,’” the L.A.’s Finest star admitted in her Women’s Health March cover story.
The actress, 46, who welcomed Kaavia James in November 2018 with her husband, Dwyane Wade, was not always open to the idea of using a gestational carrier. However, she went that route after nearly ten miscarriages and a diagnosis of Adenomyosis, a condition characterized by severe uterine cramping and chronic pelvic pain.
“There’s nothing more that I wanted than to cook my own baby,” the We’re Going to Need More Wine author admitted. “The idea of it felt like surrendering to failure.”
She added: “People want to see the bump, hear that you got hemorrhoids — they want to know you’re like them. I was like ‘This is going to seem like the most Hollywood shit ever. Will I be embraced as a mom?’ It’s terrifying.”
Now that Union and the former NBA player, 37, have their baby girl at home with the help of a surrogate, the new mom has the freedom to think about what kind of parent she wants to be to Kaavia.
“I want to let her be free,” she revealed to the outlet. “I want to instill in her morals, values. And then I want to give her space to fill in those gaps, fall on her ass, and make mistakes. Get an F because she didn’t study. Pick the wrong dude. Pick the wrong friends and figure it out. I don’t want to be super judge-y.”
The Nebraska native has fully embraced motherhood since welcoming Kaavia, bringing her daughter to set, making the infant an Instagram account and sporting matching mother-daughter looks.
