Her father, Sylvester “Cully” Union Jr., died at age 81 on April 3 following a dementia diagnosis

NEED TO KNOW

• Gabrielle Union shared how her husband, Dwyane Wade, has been supporting her as she grieves her father, who died on April 3 at age 81
• Her father, Sylvester “Cully” Union Jr., had dementia and was placed in memory care in 2023
• Gabrielle reflected on her father’s legacy, describing him as the “life of the party” and a “lifelong” Nebraska fan

Gabrielle Union has been leaning on her husband, Dwyane Wade, following her dad's recent death.

Her father, Sylvester “Cully” Union Jr., died on April 3 at the age of 81. While at the 2026 Tiffany & Co. Blue Book Gala on April 16, Gabrielle, 53, opened up to PEOPLE about how Wade, 44, has been supporting her through it all.

"You know, my dad and my husband were very, very close, and I don't know, we just go through pictures and reminisce and he's just physically there when I'm crumbling," she said about her husband.

Cully was placed in memory care in 2023 following a dementia diagnosis. “No matter how much you think you know about dementia, nothing prepares you for the painfully slow disappearing of your loved one,” Gabrielle, 53, wrote in an Instagram tribute post after his death. “First it's repeating words or forgetting little things here or there, then BOOM, he can't swallow or walk.”

“The them that you know gets smaller and smaller,” she continued. “You hold out hope for sustained eye contact or a smile; even a hand squeeze can make you feel like they could come back to you 'normal' at any second. It's brutal and it's what he experienced, but it wasn't who he was.”

The Bring It On star said that her dad was always the "life of the party" and "loved music, traveling the world, and spending time with extended family and friends.”

“I swear he never met a stranger, just friends he hadn't met yet. A lifelong, die-hard Nebraska fan, he taught me the values of teamwork, a fierce work ethic, and that you are only as strong as your weakest link, so tend to them first,” she wrote. 

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Gabrielle also said Cully “was a perfectly imperfect man and father,” adding that he “acknowledged his imperfections, apologized and made amends for as long as it took for the hurts to heal.”

In October 2025, Gabrielle honored Cully's birthday with an Instagram carousel. “It's my Dad's 81st birthday and I don't think I've ever been more grateful to be his daughter," she wrote in the caption. Wade and other family members, including her sister, Tracy Union, were also there to celebrate with him.

"His eyes lit up when he saw me and @dwyanewade standing at his bedside," Gabrielle added. "He still chuckles when his grandsons bag on him. He's still here and that's enough."

Gabrielle previously explained at the American Black Film Festival in June 2025 that the costs of Cully's care led her to be more intentional about acting roles she took on.

“You know, nursing homes, what's covered by insurance, what's not, home health aids — like that all adds up and having to really be cognizant of an additional output, I have to go where the money goes," she said during the “Sisterhood & Savings: A Conversation with Gabrielle Union” panel discussion. “I don't have the luxury of taking all the independent films that I want because I can't afford to pay for my extended family in the way that they have grown accustomed to."

“I have to factor in endorsements and brands and brand building. When you see celebrities have fifty 'leven jobs, there's a reason,” she added. “We don't get paid what y'all think that we get paid, and that check is split so many ways. You have to have multiple revenue streams to do the job that you really love. So it kind of depends on what I've made that year on how creative I can be — and that's a damn shame, but that's reality.”

Gabrielle and husband Wade first met in 2007 when they were co-hosting a Super Bowl party.

"I stayed on one side of the room with my people," the actress recalled during an interview with Essence, according to E! News. "We like to party, and he doesn't drink at all. He was on the other side of the room holding Bible study."

They began dating two years later and went public with their romance in 2010. They married in August 2014 during an intimate wedding ceremony in Miami. They share one child, daughter Kaavia James, whom they welcomed via surrogate in 2018.

Gabrielle is also a stepmom to Wade's children from previous relationships — Zaire, 24, Zaya, 18, and Xavier, 12.

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