American actress and model Gabrielle Union-Wade has opened up about an intense spiritual encounter during her family’s first visit to Ghana, describing moments that felt supernatural and deeply transformative. Speaking on ReclaimingwithMonica, the celebrated actress revealed that everyone on the trip was deeply emotional during the life-changing experience.
The family visited the “River of No Return,” a historic location believed to have been used to prepare and cleanse enslaved Africans before their forced shipment during the transatlantic slave trade. Union-Wade described the visit as both physically and spiritually taxing, offering her a deeper appreciation for her ancestors’ suffering and resilience.
“We were at the River of No Return in Ghana, where they would, you know, after basically marching our ancestors the distance from New York to Florida, they would put them in this river to cleanse them. They’d lather them in grease to create the appearance of good health to fetch the highest price,” she recalled.
The trip took a dramatic turn when Union-Wade’s 70-year-old mother suddenly collapsed while walking toward the river. “My mom collapsed. My mom is in her late 70s, and I thought, ‘Oh no, this is it. My mom just died.’ And everyone was, you know, the cameras were rolling, so it was all being caught,” she explained.
At that frightening moment, Union-Wade heard the voice of her late grandmother, who had passed away years ago. “Very clearly, I heard my grandmother’s voice, who’s been gone many, many years, say, ‘She’s all right. She’s all right,'” she recounted. After tour guides assisted her mother and brought her numbers back to normal range, she insisted, “Take me to the river.”
The experience reached its climax when her husband, retired NBA legend Dwyane Wade, had his own spiritual moment. “I kind of lost track of where my husband was. It was a beautiful, hot, sunny day. Suddenly, I hear him scream. I looked over and saw him in the river, arms outstretched like Christ. The sky opened up, and it started to pour out of nowhere,” Union-Wade described. She called it “the most cleansing experience—it felt like something out of a movie.”
