Gabrielle Union has some regrets, and one of them is the “stupid” first big purchase she made after achieving success in Hollywood.
While speaking on a panel at the American Black Film Festival in Miami, Florida, on June 12, Union told the crowd, “So stupid. I went on the Mazda lot. I’m like, ‘Oh, I’ve made it when I have a Mazda.’ My dad’s like, ‘Don’t buy a brand new car. It depreciates the second you drive it off the lot.’”
“I walked into Mazda and I bought myself a black on black Mazda Miata with leather seats,” she continued. “Lemme tell you about leather seats in Los Angeles. Do you know I scorched myself every time I got out? Yeah, that was my first purchase. And it depreciated the second I drove it off the lot!”
Union was joined by moderator Kelley L. Carter for the “Sisterhood & Savings: A Conversation with Gabrielle Union” panel.
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Union’s career really took off in 1999 and 2000 when she starred in a series of movies including Bring It On, Love & Basketball, and 10 Things I Hate About You.
In 2021, Union admitted she didn’t completely embody her Bring It On character as much as she could have.
“I do think it was a mistake. I was given full range to do whatever I wanted with Isis in Bring It On, and I chose respectability and to be classy and take the high road because I felt like that would make her be appropriate, the right kind of Black girl,” Union told Good Morning America in September 2021. “Black girls aren’t allowed to be angry. Certainly not demonstratively angry and I muzzled her.”
She went on to add that if she could do it again, she’d play the part differently — and that she’s learned a lot about herself thanks to the experience.
“I would have allowed her her full humanity, and part of being a full human is the ability to express rage when harmed,” Union explained. “When you don’t really allow yourself your full range of emotion and you muzzle your own emotions, it allows people to think, ‘Maybe what I did wasn’t that bad.’ I would have given her all the anger. I had muzzled her and made her this gracious, decent leader and I was still a villain in that movie. I did all that shape-shifting for a character, and then I realized I was doing that to myself too. I wasn’t allowing myself the full range of my humanity.”
