Gabrielle Union: "My body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant. I have had eight miscarriages."

Actress Gabrielle Union has opened up about the multiple miscarriages she has suffered while trying to have a baby with her husband, Dwyane Wade.

The Bring It On actress, who is now 44, writes about her struggles to conceive through IVF in her new book We’re Going to Need More Wine.

“I have had eight or nine miscarriages,” she writes, in an excerpt printed by People magazine.

My ????. My MCE @dwyanewade

A post shared by Gabrielle Union-Wade (@gabunion) on Jul 17, 2017 at 5:34pm PDT

“For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant — I’ve either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle.”

Union acts as stepmum to her NBA star husband’s two sons from a previous relationship Zaire, 15, and Zion, 10, plus his nephew Dahveon Morris, 16, who lives with them.

She told People magazine that she never wanted children, “then I became a stepmom, and there was no place I’d rather be than with them.”

While the Being Mary Jane star has spoken about trying for a baby through IVF, it is in the pages of her book that she details how truly crushing the experience has been.

My ????. My MCE @dwyanewade

A post shared by Gabrielle Union-Wade (@gabunion) on Jul 17, 2017 at 5:34pm PDT

She says constant speculation and media attention hasn’t helped.

“For so many women, and not just women in the spotlight, people feel very entitled to know, ‘Do you want kids?'” she says.

“A lot of people, especially people that have fertility issues, just say ‘no’ because that’s a lot easier than being honest about whatever is actually going on.

“People mean so well, but they have no idea the harm or frustration it can cause.”

Her husband Wade, 35, remains supportive, sending a Tweet out in support of her opening up about her miscarriages.

Union is not the only woman in the public eye who has spoken out about their struggles with miscarriage over 40.

Last month Lisa Wilkinson told Today viewers about the miscarriages she had suffered after her 40th birthday, while her and her husband Peter FitzSimons tried for their fourth child.

“And all of the advice that I got was, well at that age, one in three pregnancies isn’t going to stick, you are going to lose it to a miscarriage. So we waited six months, we tried again. Exactly the same timeline. Lost that baby. Waited another six months and had it again.” 

The 57-year-old said at that point, “I had that moment when doctors said to me, “Lisa, it looks like your eggs are too old”.”  

It was then, Wilkinson said, that they stopped trying for a fourth child.

If you would like to speak to someone about pregnancy or newborn loss, you can call SANDS on 1300 072 637.

Listen: Megan Malkiewicz speaks about her IVF miscarriages then falling pregnant naturally, and donating her embryos.