Gabrielle Union Had Poignant Thoughts on Ayesha Curry and Athlete Wives

Gabrielle Union did an interview with Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders, and the whole thing is worth a read. Union talked about her acting career, abuse from fans – “never in person” – and her husband Dwyane Wade’s decision to leave Miami for Chicago.

One particularly interesting section of the conversation was when Kennedy asked about the misconceptions that go along with being the wife of an NBA player.

“There’s the idea that everyone is a dim gold-digger who is just in it for a buck,” Union said. “Women who are married to professional athletes get a bad rap.”

Her follow-up was fire:

"There’s so much diversity within the wives of athletes. There’s just an enormous amount of diversity. I could go through so many stereotypes, but I’d just like for people to know that there are lovely, intelligent, amazing women who happen to be married to an athlete. And being married to an athlete isn’t the most interesting thing about them. You have to actually get to know people beyond, ‘Oh, this is Dwyane Wade……. and his wife.’ A lot of people will dismiss you, or act like just marrying this guy was some accomplishment. No, that’s not an accomplishment. Having a successful marriage is an accomplishment. I don’t liken getting down the aisle with graduating from UCLA (laughs). We didn’t luck out or hit the jackpot. D and I happen to be each other’s best friend, so we lucked out in that sense. But him being in the NBA or me having a job and my own money, that wasn’t a major selling point. Well, I guess you’d have to ask him (laughs). I’d like to think that it wasn’t a major selling point. There’s just a lot more to us than the stereotypes or the reality shows. “Also, this idea that women can’t formulate their own ideas when it comes to sports is the biggest load of shit I’ve ever heard. If I tweet something about sports, sometimes people will say something like, ‘Okay, Dwyane can hand the phone back now.’ The thought that we aren’t watching the same games as everyone else, the thought we aren’t capable of having sports knowledge or having a high sports IQ is absurd. The idea that we’re somehow speaking for our husbands or saying things that they wish they could say is insane. If I’m at the game, then nobody is freaking telling me what to say, obviously. I’m from Nebraska, where if you don’t know Cornhuskers football, it’s preferred that you just don’t speak. I come from the kind of family where you have to know sports. So my opinions are based on facts, not just willy-nilly like, ‘Oh, I like this guy better than that guy or this team better than that team.’ I’m pretty honest and reasonable as it pertains to anything, including sports."

She continued with the real kicker:

"“And this idea that, ‘Women need to stay in their own lane’? Get the fuck out of here with that. My lane is whatever the fuck I want it to be. How about that? For myself – and I’d imagine any other wife of an NBA player – I’m watching at least 82 games each season. Even if I didn’t have any sports knowledge, by the end of 82 games, I probably would’ve developed an opinion! I probably would’ve been able to see patterns! I probably would’ve been able to spot tendencies. From that alone, I’d be able to put together a 140-character tweet!”"

After that section, without specifically citing the infamous Stephen A. Smith rant, she mentioned displeasure with the juxtaposition of Ayesha Curry and Savannah Brinson, the wife of LeBron James:

"“Yeah, and it pisses me off that [Stephen Curry’s wife] Ayesha has to deal with this stuff. And it pisses me off that people have ‘decided’ who [LeBron James’ wife] Savannah [Brinson] is just because she opts to not be heavily involved with social media. Whether or not you use social media doesn’t define your soul! You know what I mean? There are dope, cool, amazing mothers and businesswomen – let them live! But this idea that your tweets define who you are or that your lack of tweets define who are is insane. And for people who say that ‘a woman should know her place,’ stop it. Stop. It. My place is where I determine it to be. If I opt to use my voice, good! If I opt not to use my voice, that’s okay too!”"

Now, it should be noted that Ayesha Curry did not act with the utmost decorum during the NBA finals, between insinuating that the games were rigged and waking up a sleeping giant in mocking a LeBron James press conference when the Cavs were down 3-1. Nevertheless, the totality of Union’s point is valid, and the abuse that Ayesha Curry took did probably outweigh the severity of her actions.

Again, the whole interview is well worth checking out.