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  • Our next guest is an actress and bestselling

  • author who just wrote a new children's book.

  • Please welcome Gabrielle Union.

  • [CLAPPING]

  • Yay.

  • Yeah, let me give you applause.

  • I have applause here.

  • [SOUND BITE OF CHEERING, APPLAUSE]

  • There.

  • Just to make it--

  • yeah.

  • It's so good to see you.

  • I haven't seen you in a while.

  • And this is what I've heard.

  • I've heard that that-- well I knew that Dwayne, your husband,

  • retired.

  • But I hear that maybe you're ready for this quarantine

  • to end so he could go do some other things.

  • I need the vaccine yesterday.

  • I mean, this is, like, his dream.

  • He retired so he could be with the family.

  • So he's living the dream.

  • He's super well adjusted to this new normal.

  • And this is my nightmare.

  • To be honest, Ellen, it's actually my nightmare.

  • Oh, well, I bet a lot of women would

  • love to have that nightmare.

  • He's a great guy.

  • And he was on the show recently, and talking

  • about your daughter, Zaya, and her transition.

  • And I know this is silly to say, because who doesn't love

  • their children unconditionally-- but I guess a lot of people

  • don't--

  • but it's so amazing how supportive you've both been.

  • Yeah, I mean, to us, it's a little odd

  • to get any kind of recognition for doing what you're

  • supposed to do, which is love, and accept, and embrace

  • your kids.

  • So it's odd to get recognition for that.

  • But unfortunately, there are so many people who just don't.

  • They just don't.

  • And so many people who really truly feel like their kids

  • are disposable.

  • If they're not perfect images of them, they're not interested.

  • And it's heartbreaking.

  • So for us, we're just doing what is natural to us,

  • and loving her.

  • There she is.

  • There's our girl.

  • [CHUCKLES]

  • But yeah, we just want happy, healthy, compassionate kids.

  • So that's what we-- we try to lead with that.

  • And Zaya is very, very lucky to have both of you as parents.

  • And it is unfortunate that a lot of people

  • have children thinking they can mold them and make them

  • who they want them to be, and have

  • a certain idea of what they're supposed to turn out like.

  • But they all turn out different.

  • And speaking of that, you have a new baby

  • that I've seen pictures of--

  • OK, so it's the most adorable baby,

  • and yet I've never seen a more serious baby in my life.

  • She's like the George Carlin of babies.

  • That is our little nugget.

  • She's pure comedy, but absolutely dead serious.

  • She's just stone face.

  • She is unbothered and unimpressed at all times.

  • Exactly.

  • Yeah, so she has her own Instagram.

  • How many followers does she have, like a million?

  • I think she's at 1.2.

  • Yeah.

  • 1.2 million.

  • Andy--

  • Yeah.

  • How many Instagram followers do you have?

  • Not that.

  • I don't know.

  • But definitely nowhere close.

  • How old is the baby?

  • A year and a half, right?

  • She's almost a year and a half, yeah.

  • Yeah.

  • Yeah.

  • Year and a half.

  • Good for her.

  • [CHUCKLES]

  • He's very angry.

  • So she's a year and a half almost.

  • And she jumps into a pool.

  • Now, has she had swimming lessons?

  • Was that something that you let her do?

  • Yeah, we started swim at, like, five months old.

  • So she's had some experience now.

  • Oh yeah.

  • Look at her go.

  • Wow.

  • She looked like a little sperm.

  • I can jump in the water.

  • Just going.

  • Just like a little sperm.

  • Andy, she said she looked like a little sperm.

  • [ALL CHUCKLES]

  • Just like that.

  • That's what a sperm swims like, like that.

  • Exactly.

  • She really wasn't using her arms.

  • So it was really just all her little legs.

  • Right.

  • I want to hear about the children's book, Ellen.

  • OK, Andy.

  • I'll ask her about the children's book.

  • Let's talk about the children's book.

  • Yes.

  • "Welcome to the Party."

  • "Welcome to the Party."

  • Yeah.

  • Why did you want to write it?

  • You know, we wanted to be able to show Kaav--

  • aw, there she is--

  • that we were so excited for her, and we

  • were so excited to welcome her into this family.

  • Even though she was sort of brought into our lives

  • in a more nontraditional way, we wanted

  • to celebrate her in the same way that every baby--

  • or most babies are sort of celebrated and cheered on.

  • And from there, we started thinking

  • about my mom, who at 60 years old,

  • adopted three kids in successive years.

  • And she's now 73, with teens and preteens.

  • And there's no one that really celebrates

  • different kinds of family creation,

  • whether you have a chosen family.

  • So as an LGBTQ-plus ally, I see a lot of my friends

  • have chosen families.

  • And nobody really celebrates them.

  • And I want to be able to celebrate all of our families,

  • no matter how they're created.

  • And just letting everyone know that they are welcome

  • at this party called life.

  • And we wanted to start the little, little guys

  • off knowing that they're welcome and they're celebrated.

  • What a great book.

  • What a great, important book to read to kids.

  • And I have to go back to your mother, at 60.

  • Yeah.

  • Wait, so at 60 years old, she got how many babies?

  • So she adopted her first child at 60.

  • And then, the next year, another baby girl.

  • So she has two girls.

  • And then a couple of years later, she adopted her son

  • and my little brother, Amari.

  • And so now she's 73, divorced, single parent,

  • raising two teens and a preteen at 73, all on her own.

  • And there's not a lot of people that

  • are going (ENTHUSIASTICALLY) yeah, way to go.

  • And there's certainly not children's books

  • that celebrate--

  • we create families and all different kinds of ways.

  • And they're not all celebrated.

  • If it's not the traditional way, we just

  • don't have the words, or the language,

  • or even books that kind of help us

  • navigate being OK with celebrating

  • all kinds of different families.

  • That's fantastic.

  • This book should be mandatory reading for every children's

  • pre-school.

  • It really should.

  • I agree with Andy.

  • That should be mandatory reading for parents and schools.

  • Because what an important message to send.

  • We're going to take a break.

  • And when we come back we are going to play a game.

  • Yes.

  • We'll be back.

Our next guest is an actress and bestselling

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