Gabrielle Union is our authentic Queen. Don't believe us? Read her explanation as to why she works out.

Union is our beautiful, stylish, woke bae who never shies away from those hard truths, and has just proven her tough brilliance once again after revealing her tremendous loss, having suffered miscarriages.

She has been married to NBA player Dwayne Wade since 2014 and became stepmother to his three sons from a previous relationship.

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She told People that, prior to becoming a stepmother, she had no desire to be a mother explaining:

'I never wanted kids…Then I became a stepmom, and there was no place I'd rather be than with them.'

Union has written a memoir titled We're Going To Need More Wine, in which she reveals the details of her struggle to have children. She is extremely candid in her work, and writes:

I have had eight or nine miscarriages…For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant—I've either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle.

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Gabrielle Union

This isn't the first time Union has gone public with her fertility struggles. In 2015, she told Redbook magazine:

So far, it has not happened for us…A lot of my friends deal with this. There's a certain amount of shame that is placed on women who have perhaps chosen a career over starting a family younger. The penance for being a career woman is barrenness. You feel like you're wearing a scarlet letter.

Again in 2015 she told the Today show:

I think TV shows and films kind of make [out that] the frigid, single-focused career woman, that her career is the root of all problems in her life. That's just not the case…Fertility is an issue, period. Having a career is not the price you pay for any ill.

Her role in the public eye has meant that the pain of losing her babies is arguably harder to deal with.

She told People magazine,

Once a month I look like I'm in my second trimester because I'm bloated. It leads to the questions and it leads to the rumours and anytime I go into a doctor's office I feel like I'm a member of SEAL Team Six undercover because I don't want people to speculate.

Being under that kind of pressure must be horrible for the actress, but she is sharing her story in the hope of de-stigmatising the issue and helping others:

For so many women, and not just women in the spotlight, people feel very entitled to know, 'Do you want kids?' A lot of people, especially people that have fertility issues, just say 'no' because that's a lot easier than being honest about whatever is actually going on. People mean so well, but they have no idea the harm or frustration it can cause.

We're sure as more women speak up about these issues, there will be less shame and loneliness surrounding the struggles of infertility and lost pregnancies.

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Daisy Murray
Digital Fashion Editor

Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.