Actress Gabrielle Union welcomed her first child with husband Dwyane Wade only two years ago, but her journey of motherhood began years before the couple ever wed. 

With just a little over four months to go before celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary, Union is opening up about what it was like to become the stepmother to Wade’s three children, which includes his nephew Daveon — whom Wade adopted in 2011.

For Union, the promotion from girlfriend to a consistent female figure in the lives of Wades’s children — Zaire and Zaya from Wade’s previous marriage to Siovaughn Funches — was somewhat of a whirlwind experience that came with expectations of her leaving Hollywood behind for her new role of stepmom.

“Being that person as the girlfriend, by the time they, my husband and the kids proposed to me, I was like, they had gotten into this stage as preteens where they just wanted us to be like other families,” Union explained to fellow actress Gwyneth Paltrow on the “The Goop” podcast.

“They thought I shouldn’t work, I should be at home like the other moms,” explained Union. She added with Wade’s children realizing their father’s wealth, and seeing other women as stay-at-home mothers led to their thinking their reality might include the latter following the couple’s August 2014 nuptials. 

“Then they were like, ‘Ah. we’re a normal family. But wait, you’re still leaving and dad’s still rich, so what’s happening here?’ ” leaving Union to explain that both her being a stepmom and a working woman were parts of her that could co-exist. “I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, sometimes women want to work and have a career, and do other things, and this is what makes me who I am. And it doesn’t mean that I love you any less or that I don’t want the job, or I don’t love being your stepmother.”

In fact, Union’s career received a boost around the same time she was adjusting to married life with the success of “Being Mary Jane,” “Think Like a Man Too,” and countless other acting opportunities that came her way. Since that time, Union has made two more major life adjustments, one being the birth of her daughter Kaavia, and the second added up to her discovering what being a stay-at-home mom is all about while the world adjusted to lockdown orders during the pandemic.

“To actually just be home and to have a reason to be home with our family it was like, ‘Oh my God I wanna get to know you!” But as expected, Union and Wade both found themselves overwhelmed at times with the lack of opportunities to work and escape their new day-to-day routine.

“We’re both used to being talent, for all of what that means, so being home and having to be of service to our families all the time was a big challenge for us.”

Now, with 2021 underway, Union is back to her ‘day job,’ as she works on the filming of the latest remake of “Cheaper by the Dozen.” Judging by one of her Instagram posts, she couldn’t be happier to get back to work.