Gabrielle Union on PTSD, Social Anxiety, and Navigating Fame

The Anxious Achiever

Morra Aarons-Mele

Business, Careers, Management, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.7 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it take to tell the truth when the world punishes you for it? In this conversation we're bringing back from 2021, Gabrielle Union talks about living with PTSD and social anxiety, the experiences in toxic workplaces, and what it means to keep speaking out even when fear follows close behind. She shares how activism triggers anxiety, the coping tools to keep you grounded from therapy to mindfulness, and how to redefine success through truth, purpose, and self-acceptance. Get ready to see how courage and healing can coexist and how learning to be alone doesn’t mean being lonely. In this Episode, You Will Learn 00:00 What does a toxic workplace look like, then vs. now? 06:30 The emotional cost of telling the truth in an industry built on silence. 11:00 How trauma survivors navigate social anxiety, boundaries, and life in the public eye. 16:00 Tools to calm anxiety and regain control. 21:45 How intentional alone time restores peace, clarity, and self-trust. 24:30 The powerful distinction between being alone and being lonely. 28:15 How Gabrielle’s 2012 Essence speech became a turning point toward truth and self-acceptance. Resources + Links Get a copy of my book - The Anxious Achiever Watch the podcast on YouTube Find more resources on our website morraam.com Follow Follow me: on LinkedIn @morraaronsmele + Instagram @morraam Follow Gabrielle: on LinkedIn @gabrielleunion + Instagram @gabunion

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today on The Anxious Achiever, an actress that we all know talks openly about her experiences
0:12.4	with PTSD and social anxiety, navigating toxic work experiences, and managing fame when sometimes you just want to be alone.
0:24.6	I'm Maura Erin's Mealy, and this is the anxious achiever, the show that looks at the intersection
0:30.4	of mental health and leadership and work and asks, how can we do it all better?
0:37.4	Gabrielle Union is someone who, if you're around my age, you've known almost all your life.
0:44.3	And actually, I thought of this episode because it is the 25th anniversary of one of my favorite films that she is in.
0:53.3	Bring It's such a great movie. I recommend
0:56.5	watching it again. But Union, in addition to being a super successful actor and activist
1:03.3	is a New York Times bestselling author, an advocate for reproductive rights, sexual assault
1:09.0	survivors, and the LGBTQIA community.
1:12.5	I invited her on the show to explore some themes that you told me you wanted to hear about,
1:17.4	like how PTSD affects anxiety and our relationships at work and beyond.
1:23.8	What told is a lifetime of trying not to offend people in power have on your mental health.
1:29.8	And what's the impact of a toxic workplace?
1:34.1	Here's my conversation with Gabrielle Union.
1:39.8	So, Gabriel, I want to start.
1:42.7	How would you define a toxic workplace in your mind, in your experience?
1:48.3	You know, I've been in so many.
1:51.4	I've been in the entertainment industry for, geez, 25 years.
1:57.5	Thank you for that reminder.
1:59.4	Oh, sorry.
2:00.4	Since I'm only 26. Yeah, so for 25 years, I've worked in the
	...

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