In a recent interview promoting her new memoir, Gabrielle Union shared a story about an interaction with the late Michael K. Williams that left her “bawling”.
Williams, of The Wire and Lovecraft Country, tragically passed away earlier this month, theGrio previously reported. Since his passing, there has been an outpouring of loving tributes dedicated to the late actor. One of his close friends was actress and producer Union, who has been busy promoting her new book, You Got Anything Stronger?. Her second memoir after We’re Going to Need More Wine, this book promises to dive “even deeper” into her life.
While doing an interview on Power 105.1’s The Angie Martinez Show, Union opened up about an experience she had with Williams.
Union appeared in the 2018 film, The Public, with Williams. In the interview, she shared a story from when they filmed the feature.
“I think because the root of so many of our relationships with Michael was that he saw us in a way that, I mean to this day I don’t know how he knew the things about me that he did,” she told Martinez. “I hadn’t shared them with anybody. Things I still wouldn’t share.”
She proceeded to tell a story from filming when the two went out to dinner, and while heading out of the restaurant.
“He stops on a dime and turns and looks at me and proceeds to tell me about myself. I’m trying to scan my brain like, ‘Who do we have in common and who would just share this willy nilly with him?’ Then I was like, ‘Wait, I haven’t shared this with anybody. I was like, ‘How do you know this?’ And he was like, ‘I see it. I see you.’ And I was bawling on the streets of Cincinnati,” she explained.
She added, “That was our relationship. He saw me, and he was so present and so amazing. But he also was brutally honest about his own demons and challenges. So nothing is ever a surprise in that way, because he just led with his truth in a way that was so radical and brutal and uncomfortable. You could never claim you didn’t know — not with Mike.”
Union also opened up about when she received the tragic news while on a trip to France. She revealed that after hearing the news, she went to a special spot to pray and “talk to” Williams. A tree was shown to Union by a winemaker, who shared that his ancestors planted it and call it, “The Wisdom Tree.”
She shared, “I swear to God it was like he was standing next to me, and immediately, I was like, ‘Oh, his spirit never dies.’ His shell is no longer here but his spirit and everything he has been to all of us is never gonna die. And then I felt relief that I hadn’t lost him.”
She concluded, “I truly believe he was one of those angels on earth. He had a purpose that was beyond anything we could imagine.”
Watch her complete interview here:
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