Gabrielle Union Opens Up About Suicidal Thoughts With Gwyneth Paltrow
Gabrielle Union revealed some of her dark struggles to Gwyneth Paltrow at her In Goop Health virtual summit, which launched over the weekend, according to Daily Mail.
The summit, as described on Goop’s website takes place “Over the course of eight in-person wellness summits, a season of virtual sessions, and our first intensive digital experience, we’ve been fortunate to bring together a community of seekers who want to connect more deeply with themselves, others, and the world around them.”
48-year-old Union participates in the role of a Goop staffer, joining 13 other experts, practitioners, and editors.
Union discussed with Paltrow her mental health journey throughout the years, experiencing suicidal ideation, and the aftermath of hormonal issues related to a perimenopause diagnosis.
In their candid video chat call Union says, “I’ve had so many rock bottom moments as an adult, starting with being raped at 19 at gunpoint at my job. It just felt like every so many years there was some major catastrophic event that was happening in my life. You know, divorce, career setbacks, relationship issues. There’s always something that just lands you on your a– and you’re like ‘There’s no way I can move on from this, I’ll never recover, I’ll never be the same.'”
Fast forward to her being diagnosed with perimenopause in her 30s, Union discussed the hormonal disruptions and symptoms that reached a “fever pitch” in September last year, Daily Mail reported. Perimenopause is the end of a woman’s reproductive years as she transitions into menopause.
“I thought I was losing my mind. I thought I had early onset dementia [or] Alzheimer’s,” is how Union described the effects of perimenopause. Going on to say, “I gained 20 pounds overnight of water retention, inflammation, bizarre. I couldn’t think. Now, when I have to public speak in the last few months, I’m so anxious, because I’m like, ‘Am I going to remember words?'”
After experiencing a dark moment after arguing with husband Dwayne Wade, Union realized that she was not in a healthy place: “My brain, that little inner voice said, ‘He’s never going to get it unless you’re dead.’ Only because I’ve been in therapy for half my life that I was like ‘No, I don’t know who is talking now, it’s not my intuition.'” Therapy allowed Union to get through it, along with learning how she could regulate her hormones. Union added, “Separating the symptoms from who you really are…to say that it’s a challenge, I don’t think I really have the words, or I lost them, to describe what these last few months have been.”
