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Gabrielle Union Quotes on Having a Surrogate

Gabrielle Union on Surrogacy: "I Made Peace With Getting Over My Fear"

After welcoming a beautiful little girl named Kaavia in November, it seems like Gabrielle Union and her husband Dwayne Wade can't get enough of parenthood. Although the actress has been more than candid about having several miscarriages and ultimately getting diagnosed with adenomyosis — when the tissue that normally lines the uterus starts grows into the muscular wall of the uterus — she told Shondaland that she wasn't sold on surrogacy in the beginning.

The conversation began once Gabrielle first learned about having adenomyosis. "I just froze. Everything was in slow motion," she said. Although her doctors suggested that going the surrogacy route was the easiest path to motherhood for her, Gabrielle was concerned that people would judge her for not being a "real" mother. "Over time, and with therapy and communication with my husband, I made peace with getting over my fear," she explained. "But that was a tough one to let go of."

While the actress certainly didn't know what to expect from her surrogate — who was actually a gestational carrier — she was pleasantly surprised to learn that she and the woman carrying her child had similar interests. In fact, the 46-year-old mom still keeps in touch with her.

"So when we met, she walked in and was like, 'Oh!' I didn't know what that meant, and she was like, 'I have your book on hold at four different libraries.' In that first meeting, we talked about the books we love, the stacks of books we want to get through," she said. "Little Fires Everywhere, so many more. That, for me, was the sign."

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