Actress Gabrielle Union is speaking out about how Dwyane Wade’s cancer diagnosis sparked unexpected worries about parenting.

In an interview with Marie Claire, for their first “Motherhood” issue, the Bring it On alum opened up that when she found out Wade had to have a cancerous tumor removed from his kidney. Although the NBA legend has since recovered and is now cancer-free, the 52-year-old revealed that the diagnosis brought on unexpected fears about what she would do if the worst happened.

“It was hard to navigate publicly the things that were happening privately,” Union said in her interview. “Even though we all know plenty of survivors, immediately you go to death, immediately we all internalize his cancer. It’s our cancer.”

“I’ll speak for myself when I say that the decisions that he was making hurt me about his cancer. It felt like, ‘Oh, you’re trying to kill me. And I’m going to be alone raising these kids,’ ” she continued. “It’s a very selfish response that I had, and it caused all kinds of problems, but [so did] his need for secrecy about his cancer decisions. It just starts sowing the seeds of distrust.”

Union clarified her perspective at the time, adding, “It just felt like he was trying to leave us—not in a marital sense, but a life and death sense. By the time he got it removed, I felt like we were more on the same page.”

Wade revealed that he had 40% of his right kidney removed after undergoing surgery on Dec. 18, 2023 in a January episode of The WY Network podcast. Union admitted that a cancer diagnosis and “being faced with your own mortality,” unquestionably takes a “toll” on a relationships of all kind. 

Wade and Union share daughter, Kaavia James, 6. Wade is also father to Zaire, 22, and Zaya, 17, with whom he shares with ex-wife, Siohvaughn Funches. He is also father to son, Xavier, 11, with whom he shares with Aja Metoyer and is the legal guardian of his nephew, Dahveon Morris, 21.

Photo: Gabrielle Union Instagram; Wisteria Jade