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Featured Image Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo / dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Celebrity, Sex and Relationships
Ali Condon
Topics: Celebrity, Sex and Relationships
Gabrielle Union has confessed that she used to feel 'entitled' to cheat on her ex-husband Chris Howard since she 'paid all the bills'.
The Bring It On actor was married to NFL player Chris Howard, 47, from 2001 to 2006 and apparently shared a 'dysfunctional' relationship.
Gabrielle, 50, described infidelity as the 'spoils of riches' and was able to trace the damaging habit back to her father.
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Speaking to actor Dax Shepard on his podcast series Armchair Expert, the film star recalled thinking: "I was paying the bills, I was working my a** off and I felt like that's what comes [with it]."
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She added: "Like my dad before me, whoever has the most gets to do whatever the hell they want, is what I thought."
Looking back on their five-year marriage, Gabrielle described the relationship as 'stupid', and something that 'should have never gotten out of the dating phase.'
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She alleged that Chris also cheated during their marriage, telling Dax: "Neither one of us felt like our marriage should get in the way of our dating."
She laughed: "Part of it was keeping up with his activities. I was like, 'Oh, that's what you're doing? Oh, you're gonna feel this one'."
Explaining why she ended up in a marriage with the football player, Gabrielle analysed herself as someone who had been 'horny for validation.'
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She admitted: "Having certain kinds of guys like me and want me... made me feel like I was worthy and good and valuable and deserving."
As a result, Gabrielle said that she and her ex had 'not one thing in common, no morals, no values, no scruples.'
After splitting from Chris, Gabrielle went on to marry former NBA star Dwayne Wade in 2014.
And four years later in 2018, she and Dwayne, 40, welcomed their daughter Kaavia via surrogate.
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Gabrielle is also stepmother to Dwayne's three other children Zaire, 20, Zaya, 15, and Xavier, 9.
Meanwhile, Chris has no hard feelings towards Gabrielle, despite everything they went through together.
Speaking to E! News, he said: "What I do know is that she appears to be very happy with her new family and she's continued to do very well with her career and activism.
"I wish her and her family nothing but best."
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Chris told Merging Vets & Players of his relationship with Gabrielle: "After I retired, I got married to an up-and-coming actress... I was still trying to find my identity. I still had this professional athlete mentality. I was still partying and abusing painkillers.
"By 2005, my wife and I and I were leading separate lives, and quite frankly, I was still living the life of an NFL player, even though I was retired. We separated in 2005, and our divorce was finalised in 2006.”
Chris has been engaged to his partner Sonia Arena since 2009.