Gabrielle Union has gotten her groove back.
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Once upon a time, some 10 years ago she admits she wasn’t feeling herself in the skin she was in. But now a decade later, she’s balancing life as the new mom of Kaavia James after years of battling infertility issues, she’s written a bestselling book, she’s happily married to a baller, Dwyane Wade and the best has yet to come.
“At first it was kind of terrifying, to be honest,” the L.A.’s Finest star, 46, tells PEOPLE in this week’s Beautiful Issue about her experience 10 years ago when she was asked to go make-up free for the issue.
“I think sometimes we use makeup as a mask to insulate ourselves from reality. But once I kinda got comfortable and we were outside, it was the beach, and I had a bike, and I just let it ride. I thought the pictures turned out great and I had a great time that day.”
Now Union said she is much more confident than she used to be.
“Once I kind of made peace with who I am and where I’m at and being 46, I actually feel pretty, pretty solid about being back here 10 years later, shooting again with no makeup,” she says. “Because I’m finally really okay with me.”
“For the most part, I feel most like myself without makeup,” she adds. “It’s how my friends and my husband and my loved ones appreciate me most. Again, because I think makeup can be a mask, and I think the older we get, that we feel like the more makeup we have, the better we look. Sometimes it just looks like an older woman with a lot of freaking makeup on. I’ve made peace with: this is my face and I’m okay with it. It does all right by me.”
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Union says she’s grateful for how her life has evolved.
“Since I first did that shoot, I got married, I have a daughter, I’ve had jobs, I’ve lost jobs, I’ve got some more jobs,” Union says. “I have my own line at New York and Company. Yeah, it’s just when I thought my career was supposed to be starting to taper off, I’ve never had more of a career resurgence at a time when most people were saying, ‘Pack it in. You’re not the ingenue anymore. There’s not going to be a lot of great opportunities for actresses your age.’ Crazy enough, it’s been the absolute opposite. So it’s been good.”