May is Mental Health Month in the United States and superstars Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade are using their platform to speak about the importance of mental health and why #wcw (woman crush Wednesday) is an important part of that mental health journey. The couple appeared on Thursday’s episode of Tamron Hall to discuss how taking care of their mental health is helping them achieve success in their newest endeavors.
While both talked about the importance of good communication and the benefits of therapy, the couple noted that they both had different strategies for focusing on their mental health.
Wade, who is the newest owner of the Utah Jazz, detailed the important role that meditation has played in his mental health, describing how after retiring from the NBA, he had to find a new outlet to channel his energy and to express himself. He said that he began therapy at the suggestion from Union, who has been a longtime advocate for the benefits that therapy provides. He notes that he surprisingly found himself drawn to the meditation aspect of it, saying “I think what we do as people, we give off so much energy to everyone, every day, and so to recharge ourselves we have to find a moment of silence. We have to find some things for ourselves. So for me, meditation, whether it’s six minutes, whether it’s 20 minutes, to be able to kind of quiet my mind, kind of set myself, set my intentions, is something that I needed to do. I needed to make sure that all of this energy and all of this anger that I had at times, I want to make sure it goes somewhere and can’t go to people I love all the time.”
For Union, the primary answer to the most important aspect of mental health is simple: “therapy, therapy, more therapy.” Union describes how her therapist proved to be a useful alternative during the pandemic when her normal positive outlets of working out or physically seeing friends were limited. She also described how lifting up other women has played a key role in her positive mental health. She described her weekly #WCW posts on Instagram as a way to share in the success of other women, saying, “I think for so long we’re conditioned that there can only be one. And if one person is shining, or everything is going right for them, it feels like it can’t go right for you because there can only be one. And so it kind of conditions you to tear people down. And when you realize shining a bigger or brighter light on others in no way diminishes your life, I’m going to lean into that, because pouring into others actually feeds my soul. So why not do that?”
The couple also promoted their new children’s book, titled “Shady Baby.: