Dwyane Wade’s Fiancée Gabrielle Union Talks About Being Raped as a Teenager
Dwyane Wade's fiancée has spoken about the traumatic experience of being raped as a teenager before. Recently, when Gabrielle made an appearance on the talk show "The View," she openly talked about the issue again and how she has successfully coped with it.
Gabrielle revealed that she got tired of people booting her out of all the responsibility. "Being a victim is so comfortable, it makes you lazy," she said. "People give you attention, people are nurturing, they are basically the way you have always wanted them to be your whole life," she added. The 41-year-old actress said that as much as she liked all the attention and support that she was getting from everyone around her, she hated it too because everyone seemed to be rallying around her not because of something positive.
"I hated feeling like the victim, I hated the cloak of victimhood." Thus, Gabrielle made a decision to become not a victim anymore because if she didn't, she felt she wouldn't have succeeded and accomplished her dreams.
"I realized that they were going to allow me to become a victim and not succeed and not achieve any of my goals or not step outside of the box." She said that she wanted to embrace being a survivor. She chose not to remain a victim and it is a rational decision. She doesn't need to stay in pain. Being a rape survivor that she is, she has definitely got through with it. In addition, Gabrielle's openness to talk about her feelings about being raped, makes the situation less overwhelming.
Gabrielle was working as an attendant in a shoe store when the rape incident happen. She was 19 at that time. The suspect turned himself in and was sentenced to 33 years of jail time.
Gabrielle is set to marry National Basketball Association (NBA) player Dwyane. The duo got engaged in December, however, there is no definite date yet as to when they will walk down the aisle. Meanwhile, her hit drama series Being Mary Jane aired its last episode for the season on Tuesday. According to Los Angeles Times, the TV show is up for another season after the network decided to renew it because of its amazing ratings.