Words: Shamika Sanders
Interview: Tarana Burke
You think you know Gabrielle Union, but you don’t. Yes, she is the beloved Hollywood actress with classic credits like Love & Basketball, Two Can Play That Game, Bring It On, Bad Boys 2 and Being Mary Jane on her IMDB, but underneath her youthful glow and sartorial style is a woman in a constant state of self-reflection. Union is as gutsy as they come.
The outspoken beauty and advocate for women’s rights joins season three of Apple TV+’s true crime drama Truth Be Told — a role unlike any we’ve seen her in before. As “uniquely qualified” as the actress-turned-author is to take on the part, she quickly learned it wasn’t exactly what she had signed up for. “The job shifted,” she explained during a candid conversation with friend and founder of the galvanizing “me too.” movement, Tarana Burke. I’m a proverbial fly on the wall as the equally accomplished women navigate topics that span the gamut of hair, mental health, trauma, marriage and motherhood with sisterly familiarity.
In Truth Be Told, Union submerges herself in Eva — a high school principal driven by her steadfast commitment to raising awareness around missing Black girls in her community. During filming, the charming screen queen experienced the 30-year anniversary of her own rape. She was confronted with suppressed feelings that seemed to rupture like aggravated blood vessels.
Union felt so raw in the final days on the set of the Octavia Spencer led-series, she’d run away “like she was chasing the ice cream truck,” as she joked at one point. Her behavior was so “prickly” at times, she felt it necessary to apologize to the crew. It begs the question of why anyone would ever subject themselves to re-living their trauma on a daily basis. But feeling a sense of responsibility to take on projects that make an impact, Union signed on to portray a character who resonated with her, and it uprooted the…
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