In our Sleeping With… series, we speak to people from different career paths, backgrounds, and stages of life to find out how they make sleep magic happen.
Gabrielle Union has spent the pandemic in her roost, hunkering down at home with her big, blended family. The actor, producer, and author, who was also our June cover star, lives in Los Angeles with her husband, former NBA star Dwayne Wade, their two-year-old daughter, Kaavia, and Union’s sister, who helps care for Kaavia. Union is also the stepmother to three kids from Wade’s previous relationships—Zaire, 18; Zaya, 13 (who photographed Union for our cover); and Xavier, 6—and has raised Dahveon, 18, Wade’s nephew, for the past 12 years. So one might imagine bedtime in the Union-Wade household is a big deal, to say the least. “We call it Operation Shut-It-Down,” Union tells SELF. “Sometimes, we call it Operation Shut-It-The-Fuck-Down.”
Here, Union—who recently…
