Fans are seething over actress Gabrielle Union's recent admission that she felt "entitled" to cheat on her first husband.
Union was married to former NFL player Chris Howard for five years, from 2001-2005. When she appeared on Dax Shepard’s "Armchair Expert" podcast this week, she got candid about her past infidelities, suggesting Howard had been unfaithful as well.
"In our first marriage, neither one of us felt like the marriage should get in the way of our dating," Union said. "A part of it was like keeping up with his activities, like, ‘Oh, that’s what you’re doing? You’re going to feel this one.' And I just felt entitled to it as well."
Union added that she also felt comfortable with doing what she wanted since she paid "all the bills."
"Like my dad before me, whoever has the most, gets to do whatever the hell they want is what I thought," Union said. The "Bring It On" star also said that she wished she "had more guilt" about her cheating.
Social media users fumed over her comments. Several agreed that her behavior was "toxic" and argued that staying faithful in marriage should have nothing to do with finances.
"Cheating isn’t about money, it’s about values & respect," one user said. "That’s so toxic."
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"And people say there's no such thing as toxic femininity," another agreed.
Several male users suggested that if a man had said what Union did, there would be an even bigger "uproar."
"Lord knows what woulda been said if it was the man who did the exact same thing," another user tweeted.
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Union later married former NBA player Dwyane Wade in 2014. The two have been married for eight years and have a child together.
The media has tracked the evolution of marriage in recent years. A growing number of Americans, for instance, are embracing a marriage trend called "living apart together" in which spouses stay in a relationship but live in separate households. The New York Times claimed the trend was primarily driven by women wanting independence and personal space to seek self-fulfillment. The arrangement grew in popularity by more than 25% between 2000 and 2019, according to Census Bureau data.
Fox News' Stephanie Giang-Paunon and Kristine Parks contributed to this report.
