Gabrielle Union opened up about her “dysfunctional” marriage to her first husband Chris Howard.
The actress, 50, was previously married to ex-NFL player Chris Howard, 47. They divorced in 2006 after 5 years of marriage.
The actress sat down with Dax Shepard during his Armchair Expert podcast and said her marriage to the ex-NFL player was “dysfunctional from day one.”
Union, who was married to Howard from 2001 until 2005, said that she “felt entitled” to cheat and was “horny for validation and having certain kinds of guys like me and want me” during the marriage.
She added that her own cheating was inspired by Howard’s infidelity.
“In our first marriage, neither one of us felt like the marriage should get in the way of our dating,” she told Shepard, after he shared his “complicated” feelings in regards to his own infidelity in past relationships.
Gabrielle then revealed how she cheated to get back at Howard.
She explained: “A part of it was like keeping up with his activities, like, ‘Oh, that’s what you’re doing? You’re going to feel this one,’ and I just felt entitled to it as well.”
The actress added that because she was paying “all the bills” she felt it was her right to do whatever she wanted.
She said: “I was working my a** off, and I felt like that’s what comes, the spoils of riches.”
“Like my dad before me, whoever has the most gets to do whatever the hell they want is what I thought.
“It was just dysfunctional from day one.”
“I wish I had more guilt for some of that,” she said of her past infidelity, adding, “It was such a stupid relationship that should have never got out of the dating phase.”
Gabrielle noted that they sought couple’s counseling and a therapist told her they should “probably look for a way to amicably dissolve… because you have not one thing in common, no morals, no values. The only thing you have in common is other people, so why don’t you just go be with other people?”
The actress also said that her infidelity was also due to the fact that she had many guys like and want her.
She said: “In hindsight, yes, I absolutely needed something from them that I was not providing for myself, and neither was my marriage, but I think I provided something for them too.”
She added: “Guys can be just as big as groupies – if not more – than women, so it was a trade off… We were both crappy people going through s*** and clearly not going to enough therapy.”
The couple split in 2005 and their divorce was finalised in 2006.
The financial blow from the divorce inspired Gabrielle to make sure she had a prenup before she married Dwayne Wade, 40, in 2014.
Gabrielle noted she was tensely negotiating her prenup agreement for months before she and Dwayne finally agreed on terms in her book “We’re Going To Need More Wine”.
She wrote: “My team and I were adamant that we have a prenup to protect myself, because I got taken to the cleaners in my first marriage.”